What is Grain-Free for Horses?

Q Fact or fiction? Horses require grains to be fed in their diet to meet their nutritional needs. 
A Fiction! 
Grains are not a required feed ingredient for horses and reducing the amount of grainbased products fed to horses has been a popular trend in recent years. 
Grains have developed a poorer reputation in equine nutrition due to their higher nonstructural carbohydrate content. Most horse owners understand that forage is almost always the preferable energy source to promote gastrointestinal health however understanding optimal feed supplementation for the varying needs of horses is imperative to wellbeing. With grainfree becoming a hot topic there are many misconceptions throughout the industry. Understanding what grainfree means is valuable when designing your own horses nutritional plan especially for active horses.

Defining GrainFree
The Association of American Feed Control Officials defines grains as a seed from cereal plants. A few examples of various grains are oats corn wheat and barley. Where the confusion often begins is when a different part of the grain is used.
There are four distinct parts to a grain the germ the endosperm the hull and the bran. This can be confusing for horse owners to navigate as even though the product may not contain full oats corn barley or wheat the feed product may still contain the hulls for example.
A product can be labelled as grainfree if the intact seed portion is not included. This means that other parts such as the hull may be used despite the product being labelled as grainfree. In equine nutrition it is extremely common for the hull and bran to be used as they are very fibrous. Therefore even if a product is labelled grainfree it may have parts of the grain used as ingredients.
Another popular misconception regarding grains for horses is that any product that is pelleted is commonly referred to as grain. Therefore a key part of understanding grainfree diets is understanding what a grain is.
Investigating concentrate products comes down to reviewing the guaranteed analysis and reading the ingredient list. There are a variety of products on the market that are pelleted or extruded concentrates and labelled grainfree but do contain the hull for example. This does not tend to be problematic as those products are high in fibre and lower in starch and sugar than the grainbased products.
Nutrient Requirements 
Although grains are not required for a balanced diet forage alone will not suffice. The majority