Forage and forage is not the same thing. How well the horse can digest forage depends on the forage´s cell wall content. The cell wall is composed of cellulose fibre, hemicellulose, pectins and cell wall protein. Cell walls can be more or less lignified and the later the stage of maturity of a plant the more lignified are the cell walls and the digestibility decreases. When digestibility decreases the nutritive value of the forage also decreases.