Can Horses Eat Marshmallows?

Marshmallows are a great candy, and one almost everyone loves.

Recently, while out at a local fair, I saw a horse show on and went over to have a look.

I noticed that a few of the horses had gone over to a kid with a big bag of marshmallows, and he was handing them out to the horses.

Unsurprisingly, the horses seemed very happy with the treats! It got me thinking, though, about whether this was really safe.

I’d never seen horses eat marshmallows before but I figured they’d be a great treat for mine if they were safe.

So, can horses eat marshmallows?

In very small quantities, marshmallows are safe for horses. They should never be a replacement for regular meals and food nor should you feed them treats too often. Marshmallows are a food product and thus contain a lot of processed ingredients which aren’t always safe for a horse.

So, while marshmallows are not toxic or inherently unsafe for horses, you should still only feed them in extreme moderation.

As a treat perhaps once or twice a week if you were going to do so regularly.

So, let’s look at the question in a bit more detail.

Are marshmallows safe for horses?

There is nothing inherently dangerous, toxic or poisonous in marshmallows that would cause a problem for your horse if it ate them.

The one important exception to that rule is any horse that suffers from any kind of insulin-resistance.

Laminitis and EMS (equine metabolic syndrome) are very common and these horses should not eat marshmallows.

The sugar content simply is too high, and it could cause an adverse reaction.

Other than that, horses can safely eat marshmallows.

They’re soft and chewy so pose no real choking hazard, and they’re simply made up of sugar, sodium, a bit of protein and water.

Horses can easily process all these ingredients, provided they’re in small amounts.

This is the important thing.

Overfeeding marshmallows could be easy to do, as your horse will probably not protest—it will love them!

However, just like you wouldn’t eat a huge number of marshmallows in a day because you know it would be bad for you, your horse shouldn’t either.

So, in very, very careful moderation, marshmallows are totally safe for horses with no insulin-resistance.

That said, let’s look at some reasons why they might not be the best option for a treat for your horse.

Are marshmallows bad for horses?

Marshmallows are bad for horses in many of the same ways that they’re bad for us—too much sugar is always problematic.

They’re a candy, meant to be eaten sparingly.

Furthermore, though their ingredients and make up are very simple and only contain a few ingredients, they’re still a lot more complex than most of what would ordinarily make up a horse’s diet.

Hay and grass are typically the cornerstone of a horse’s diet, as the animals need a mostly fiber diet in order to support healthy digestion.

Marshmallows lack any fiber, and could be harder for your horse to digest because of that.

Additionally, indigestion can be a huge problem for horses (much bigger than for us) because of the alignment of their gastrointestinal tract.

The build up of gas can cause the horse serious discomfort and even pain.

Now, as I’ve said, you’re unlikely to cause these problems by feeding your horse one or two marshmallows.

Nonetheless, if you want to get some treats into your horse’s diet, there are a lot of great ways to do that without using candy.

Fresh fruits are a great option, as they’re still high in sugar without being just empty calories.

They also provide things like extra fiber for digestion, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins.

Marshmallows might be tasty, but they really don’t have any other benefits to speak of.

So, how to incorporate them into your horse’s diet, then? Read on to find out.

How many marshmallows can horses eat a day?

So, as you’ve probably gathered, my basic answer to this is that they probably shouldn’t eat marshmallows every day.

Even if it was only one, there are much better ways of getting sugar and treats into your horse’s diet in other ways.

In a period of a single day, let’s say it was a special occasion like the horse’s birthday, you could safely feed them a small handful of marshmallows.

They wouldn’t suffer any ill effects from this.

But, that said, I wouldn’t feed them marshmallows every day.

Once, twice, three times a week at most would be best.

This way you can get a larger variety of treats into the horse’s diet and it isn’t getting bored of always eating marshmallows.

So, marshmallows are a tasty, sugary snack, and your horse will probably enjoy them when it gets the chance.

But the fact is, they are really not a very healthy option.

They’re packed with sugar and syrup and, while those ingredients don’t pose a specific problem for horses, they aren’t especially healthy either.

Certainly, avoid sugary treats if your horse is in any way insulin-resistant.

Other than that, in careful moderation as an occasional snack, marshmallows are okay for a horse.