Can Horses Eat Green Beans?

It’s been a great year for green beans at my allotment.

It was my first time growing them, so I didn’t have particularly high expectations, but they grew like wildfire and now I have more green beans than I know what to do with!

I managed to gift some to friends and family and have been using a lot to cook at home, but I still have a lot left over.

So, my usual go to when I’m in a situation like this is to share them with my horses; I wasn’t sure if horses could eat green beans safely, so I looked into it first.

So, can horses eat green beans?

Yes, horses love green beans. They’re full of all sorts of healthy vitamins and minerals. Moderation is still important, though, and they should never be a replacement for their ordinary food. Green beans are great as an occasional snack for your horse. Moderation is always key.

So, green beans are certainly a great addition to your horse’s diet when fed in good moderation.

They’re really healthy and your horse will almost certainly love them.

Let’s look at the question in more detail, then.

What are the health benefits of green beans for horses?

The main thing that makes green beans a great snack for your horse is the fiber content they boast.

Fiber is really the main staple of a horse’s diet, and though they should be getting most of what they need from hay and grass, a fiber boost in their treats is always welcome.

Fiber is essential for digestive comfort and smoothness.

Beyond that, green beans are also naturally low in sodium.

This means that horses can eat a bit more of it, without worrying about the huge sodium content.

Moderation is, of course, still important, but a fair few green beans is still safe.

The quantities of folate, a B vitamin, in green beans comes with many benefits including even aiding in the development of horse fetuses.

Folate is, again, somewhat hard to come by in a horse’s diet, and though again, they do not need very much, a little bit still helps a great deal.

Green beans are also high in Vitamin C and A, both of which are vital to immune system health, reproduction and healthy vision.

Getting these vitamins in your horse’s diet is really important.

So, with all that in mind, let’s examine the natural caveats to the question.

Whether or not horses can eat a certain food is rarely a yes or no question.

Are green beans safe for horses?

In general, yes, green beans are totally safe for horses.

There is nothing in them that your horse will have a negative reaction to, in the right quantities.

That said, the thing to remember is that a horse’s diet should always be quite simple and uniform.

Most of it should be made up by grass, hay, and forage, and anything else should represent an occasional treat.

Feeding your horse some green beans once or twice a week would be adequate, as it’s also important to factor in other treats.

If you just keep giving it green beans, it won’t have access to a full spectrum of nutrients, and furthermore is likely to simply become bored.

Changing things up is always important.

Finally, though they are very small, they can also be quite tough in raw form.

For that reason, I would advise chopping them up before feeding them to your horses as they could present a choking hazard.

However small that hazard may be, it’s still not worth the risk.

So, what about how to prepare them?

Let’s take a look.

Can horses eat raw green beans?

In general, it is better to feed your horse raw veg than cooked veg.

They are likely to prefer it this way, and it won’t have been cooked in any kind of oil or fat which may be detrimental to your horse’s health.

Raw green beans are generally considered the better option, although given that they are much tougher when raw, we would absolutely advise chopping them up first.

Choking is always a hazard for horses, however small it may be, so you should still take every precaution.

Can horses eat cooked green beans?

Cooked green beans aren’t necessarily bad for your horse, but in general, my advice would be not to cook veg for your horse.

If you have some leftover from your own dinner that are already cooked, a little bit won’t be harmful.

However, as I said, the main issue with cooking is whether they’ve been cooked with an oil or spice that is harmful to horses.

Just be careful of how they were cooked, and cooked green beans will not be a problem for your horse.

So, when fed in the correct way, your horse will love green beans.

They are full of essential vitamins and minerals which might be difficult to get into your horse’s diet without them.

Still, though, the very fact of how nutrient rich they are means that moderation is all the more important.

If you overfeed them, it will quickly become a problem. In careful moderation, green beans are an excellent addition to your horse’s diet.