Can Horses Eat Potatoes?

Potatoes are a staple vegetable of the modern world.

Fries, chips, mashed, roasted, boiled—humans love potatoes, and I’m certainly no different.

I love them in all their forms, so much that I even grow my own.

While harvesting some of my own the other day with my son, he suddenly asked me if we could give any of our potatoes to our horses.

While I initially wanted to say no just because I didn’t want to give up any of my beautiful ‘taters, I did agree that I’d look into whether or not potatoes were safe for horses.

So, can horses eat potatoes?

Unfortunately, potatoes are not safe for horses. Potatoes are poisonous to equine animals, as they are part of the nightshade family. Nightshade vegetables are notoriously problematic for a number of farmyard animals like horses and goats, and should be completely avoided in your horse’s diet.

So, potatoes in all their forms, so manifold and wonderful for us, are no good for horses.

There’s no question of moderation or fitting them in as part of a balanced diet.

Potatoes are toxic to horses and should be avoided at all times.

That said, let’s take a look at why this might be so and other vegetables that fall into the nightshade family which would pose the same problems.

 

Can potatoes kill a horse?

You might think of potatoes as very unassuming and harmless.

After all, we eat them in so many different ways in our diets and they make up a staple of many international cuisines.

Though we’re both mammals, us and horses have less in common than you might think, and we can actually digest a lot of foods that they can’t.

Potatoes, as I said, are dangerous because they’re part of the nightshade family.

This is a large family of vegetables, more or less all of which are common staples of western food.

I’ll get into what else fits into the category in a little while, but first let’s look at why they’re actually dangerous.

Nightshade vegetables contain a compound called solanine, which is a glycoalkaloid poison.

Though the quantities present in most nightshade vegetables are much too small to cause humans any issues, the same is not true of horses.

They are not as capable of breaking it down, since their diets are nowhere near as varied as ours are.

A horse would still need to eat quite a lot of potatoes to actually die from solanine poisoning—it’s usually fairly benign.

Nonetheless, there are many other problems that will arise before death, so it’s better to just think that no amount of potato is good for your horse.

The same is true of any vegetable in the nightshade family, so let’s look at what else that includes.

The nightshade family includes a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices.

Tomatoes are high in solanine and should be avoided.

Eggplant, also, is among the nightshade vegetables with the highest solanine concentration.

Other nightshade foods include peppers (of any kind), okra, gooseberries, cherries, capsicum, some leafy greens like sorrel and even herbs and spices like cayenne pepper and paprika.

All foods listed here contain some amount of solanine, and though you may not very commonly give your horse cayenne pepper or paprika, one thing I often do is give my horses kitchen scraps from the compost bin.

If you do this, make sure there is nothing in there that could harm them, like spices.

Nightshades are not the only potentially deadly food to avoid giving to your horse.

Avocado should also be avoided, as avocado contains a different fungicidal toxin called persin, which is fatal in relatively small amounts.

We are capable of breaking this toxin down, but horses are not.

The same is true of the leaves of the plant.

Garlic and onions contain N-propyl, which can destroy red blood cells and result in anemia.

The same is true of a lot of similar vegetables, like leeks and shallots.

Theobromine contained in store-bought chocolate can cause seizures and internal bleeding; horses are a lot like dogs in that way.

Don’t give your horse chocolate.

Cabbage and cauliflower can cause unpleasant gas which, while only a minor issue for us, can cause a great deal of pain and discomfort for horses.

 

Can horses eat French fries?

French fries are potentially where we get most of our potatoes in our every day diet.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have them with anything.

Unfortunately, French fries pose all the same problems as potatoes in any other form.

Indeed, in the cooked form, they could even be worse for your horse, as they may contain oils and other substances added for human consumption.

Horses unfortunately should not eat French fries.

 

Can horses eat sweet potato?

Sweet potato actually, surprisingly, does not fall into the same family as other potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are completely fine for your horse in pretty much any form.

Moderation is still important, and you should prepare them carefully; there is still a choking hazard.

Apart from that, sweet potato is completely safe for your horse and, unlike regular potato, makes a great snack.

 

Can horses eat mashed potato?

Again, I love mashed potato, and I’m always making it. I don’t ever have any leftovers, but even if I did, it still would not be safe for horses.

It does no longer pose a choking hazard, but that is only one of a number of potential problems.

All the toxicity still remains, so mashed potato is no good for your horse.

 

Can horses eat raw potatoes?

So, cooked potato products of any kind are definitely a no-go.

Whether cooked or raw, though, potato is not good for your horse in any form.

Raw potatoes, again, could even be worse since they’re tougher and present a worse potential choking hazard.

There’s no good way to give a regular potato to a horse!

 

Can you feed potato peelings to a horse?

Potato peelings are a very common piece of kitchen scrap, and it might seem safe, but the same issues exist with peel as with the rest of the potato.

They are still nightshade, solanine-containing scraps and should be avoided.

Indeed, one of the biggest worries would be giving your horses kitchen waste—such as rotten potatoes.

Potatoes that are green or sprouting are even more dangerous as they contain higher levels of solanine and other dangerous substances.

Don’t take the chance. Leave potatoes out of your horse’s diet.

So, potatoes, and any vegetable or fruit in the nightshade family, should be entirely avoided for horses.

The risks they pose are not worth any potential benefit, and if nothing else, potatoes in particular always pose a choking hazard and would need to be extensively prepared anyway.

There’s plenty you can substitute in a horse’s diet for the kind of treat that potato would represent.

They love all sorts of vegetables like carrot and turnip, or fruit like apples and melon.

You won’t find yourself lacking in treats for your horses.