Can Horses Eat Asparagus?

After a lovely salmon dinner the other night, with a healthy serving of green vegetables, we had quite a lot of leftover asparagus.

We weren’t sure what we were going to do with it as we had vastly overestimated how much we would eat.

As I often do, the first thought I had was whether or not we could feed the leftover asparagus to our horses.

I guessed it would be fine and they would love it, but I always like to be sure first, so I decided to look into it.

So, can horses eat asparagus?

While asparagus is very good and healthy for us, horses would have quite a tough time digesting it. It is hard and stalky, and horses’ diets are mostly grass and hay—much softer than asparagus. There are ways to make it safer, but there are much better alternatives.

So, while we ended up having asparagus again the next day, at least our horses weren’t having digestive issues.

Asparagus is just too difficult for horses to digest, and there are so many better alternatives that there’s no real reason to feed them asparagus.

In any case, all horses are different, so let’s look at safer ways to feed your horse asparagus and why it might be a potential problem in the first place.

Why shouldn’t horses eat asparagus?

The main reason horses shouldn’t eat asparagus is that it’s simply too tough for them to easily digest.

As I said, a horse’s diet should be almost all hay, grass and forage; at least 75%.

This gives you an idea of how a horse’s digestive system is equipped to deal with harder, less fibrous plants like asparagus.

The simple fact is that asparagus has a very hard time breaking down in your horse’s gut, and this can cause a whole host of issues.

Intestinal gas, for one thing, is a huge problem for horses and cause serious pain and discomfort.

When asparagus struggles to be broken down, it produces a lot of excess gas.

Mature stalks of asparagus also pose a considerable choking hazard, especially for younger or smaller horses.

So, asparagus doesn’t necessarily contain any substances that aren’t fit for horse consumption.

Rather, they are simply too tough for horses to easily digest and this then causes manifold problems.

If you see that your horse is visibly uncomfortable or even experiencing diarrhea after eating asparagus, stop feeding it asparagus.

Is asparagus toxic to horses?

Asparagus is not exactly toxic to horses, but it does contain a number of problematic compounds.

Many plants contain saponins, a naturally occurring compound common in legume plants.

Saponins are potentially toxic to a number of animals, including horses.

A very large quantity would have to be eaten before any serious problems arose, but these saponins are one of the main culprits of gastrointestinal discomfort.

As I said, this can be an especial problem for horses because of their digestive systems.

So, in other words, asparagus is not so toxic that one bite will kill your horse.

And, in all likelihood, your horse simply wouldn’t want to eat asparagus.

But it is more than enough to cause major discomfort, and there are plenty of great alternatives.

Therefore, it’s simply better avoided.

How to feed asparagus to horses

That said, if you do still feel inclined to try feeding asparagus to your horses, there’s a couple of things you should be aware of first.

Firstly, raw asparagus is definitely better than cooked asparagus.

From a horse’s point of view, all the relevant nutrition is lost when cooked.

Also, we tend to cook asparagus in oil or with herbs and spices, which are all potentially unsafe for your horse.

So, first off, make sure the asparagus is raw.

Secondly, you shouldn’t feed them whole asparagus.

There are a couple of reasons you would want to do this.

First of all, cutting it up simply makes it easier to digest.

Again, the major issue for horses with asparagus is that these little stalks are tough and hard to digest, and cutting it up would certainly speed that process along and minimize risk of indigestion.

Secondly, whole asparagus poses a considerable choking hazard for your horse.

Horses may look big and like mighty eaters, but they are notorious for choking on small, hard treats like asparagus.

Chop it up as small as you can and it will be much safer.

The point still remains, though, that you should really look for an alternative use for your leftover asparagus, and if you’re buying it just as a treat for your horse, you should really be looking into a different treat—apples, carrots, grapes, raisins are all classic horse favorites that don’t pose the same digestive issues.

There are plenty of great, healthier alternatives to asparagus as a treat for your horse.

Asparagus is tough and while our own digestive systems are more than capable of breaking it down, horses’ are simpler, and have a much tougher time with it.

There are countless great alternatives to asparagus that your horse will love and that won’t cause it any problems.