Follow us as we whizz around a virtual shop shelf doing a Pure Feed cost comparison. We’ll look at the cost of the equivalent individual components of what goes into a bag of Pure Feed.

What does a good horse diet look like?

Let’s take what vets and nutritional experts agree is actually needed in your horse’s feed. What will provide the right minerals and vitamins? If they are in work, how will the right amount of energy be given for the job they are being asked to do? And how do you achieve a diet that doesn’t blow their minds or load them with excess sugar, high starch and ingredients which are difficult to digest?

The vast majority of horse owners agree that the horse needs a plentiful, ad lib supply of good quality forage.

And, in addition to the forage:

• Fibre of some description – usually some sort of chaff.
• An energy source –this could be a mix, fibre cubes, pony nuts or oil.
• Minerals and vitamins for health and wellbeing – a balancer.

How much do these horse feed components cost a day?

Let’s look at the numbers, using well known products in shops today.

Chaff

Chaff is available from about £5.50 to £12.50, and lasts for about eight days. So based on an average price: £9.00 spread across eight days = £1.12 per day.

Energy

The energy source in a diet would typically cost between £4.50 and £11.50, and lasts for seven days. So, based on the average, that’s £8.00 over seven days = £1.14 per day.

Vitamins and minerals

A good broad spectrum balancer could range from £22.50 to £39.50, and would last for a month. Therefore, based on an average of £31.00 which lasts for 30 days = £1.03 per day. 

The total in your trolley

Using these products, the average cost to feed your horse per day is £3.26. If you were to choose everything from the lower end of the price range, that would be £2.04 per day. And if you were to choose your products from the upper end of the scale, it would be £4.49 per day.

If you make up a good quality diet using these ingredients, your cost is probably somewhere between the average and the upper level.

Let’s look at a Pure Feed equivalent

Pure Working Costs £16.95 and, based on average recommended servings, would last seven days = £2.27 per day for a high-spec, premium quality complete feed.