19/05/2026
Apple pomace sounds harmless at first. Maybe even healthy. 🍎
After all, it contains apples.
But apple pomace is actually a by-product of juice production. Once the apples have been pressed, the leftover pulp is dried and often added to horse feed:
• because it’s an inexpensive filler
• because it suggests “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”
• and because its natural sweetness makes feed more appealing
The important point:
Apple pomace still contains quite a lot of sugar: up to 20%!
And that can be a problem, especially for metabolically sensitive horses:
• weight gain
• strain on sugar metabolism
• increased laminitis risk
Long-term feeding of sugary feeds isn’t ideal for dental health either.
Peripheral caries is becoming increasingly common in horses.
Apple pomace is also often promoted because of its pectin content. Pectins are quickly labelled as “probiotic” and “gut-friendly”.
But in horses, the picture is a bit more complex.
In the hindgut, pectins are quickly fermented by microorganisms that produce acids in the process. This can acidify the hindgut — and that’s where most health problems start.
Because:
A stable and diverse microbiome depends on the hindgut maintaining a fairly neutral pH.
If the gut environment shifts too far into the acidic range, the balance of the microbiome changes — affecting digestion, metabolism and long-term health.
So apple pomace isn’t simply “a healthy apple” in your hardfeed.
It’s a processed by-product with real effects on the gut environment and metabolism.
Our conclusion:
Not everything that sounds “natural” is automatically beneficial. And not every ingredient ends up in feed because your horse truly needs it.
Understand feed — don’t just feed. 🔍
Which ingredient should we check next?
