Grapes are bad for many animals, but what about our equine friends, can horses eat grapes? We have discussed this tasty but potentially toxic fruit many times on this site and in this guide we will put horses in the spotlight as we discuss it once more.

Can Horses Eat Grapes?

Grapes are toxic to many pets and we have discussed this several times here on Can Pets Eat. You only need to look at our Dog Nutrition and Cat Nutrition pages to see how bad these seemingly innocent little fruits can be for pets. But what about horses?

Well, horses can eat grapes and there doesn’t seem to be any contradictory evidence out there surrounding this (unlike rats and grapes). Obviously they are high in sugar and even though this is natural sugar it is still not good for them in large doses. Give a horse a little taste of this sweet fruit and they will happily chomp through as many as they can, so make sure you keep the amount that you give them low.

Can Horses Eat Raisins and Sultanas?

These should be okay for horses to eat as well. However, they are higher in sugar and it is even easier for them to consume these in large doses without really being aware. What’s more, they lack the moisture, the enzymes and the fibre that they will get from fresh grapes and fresh fruit in general, so they should really be avoided.

As far as we can tell there should be no issues if your horse sneaks a few raisins or sultanas without you knowing, but you should avoid being the one to feed these dried fruits to them. They are much better off with all of the basic foods they need, including fresh grass, hay and oats, as well as the occasional apple, banana or handful of fresh grapes.

You should also avoid giving them any kind of oat or bran muffin. Just because it has the word “oat” in it and is dotted with a few seemingly healthy dried fruits doesn’t mean that it is okay for your horse to eat.

These snacks are rarely even good for humans and are often loaded with fat, sugar and calories. If they are too sugary, too processed and too fattening for humans then they will definitely not be safe for horses to eat and that is the case here and indeed with many other human foods.

Can Horses Drink Grape Juice?

This is pure concentrated sugars and is therefore not good for your horse. They only need to drink water and can get small amounts of liquid from some of the other food and treats they eat. It could be very dangerous to actually give them large amounts of grape juice.

If you need to hide medicine you can try water or you can just use fresh fruit. Liquids can be injected into fruits like apples, which the horse will chomp down in a few bites. You don’t need to squirt them into grape juice for the horse to drink.