Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> Diane Trefethen wrote:
>
> >  We humans are pretty smart but sometimes we jump to conclusions.  What
> >  is "natural" about a horse eating and drinking from the ground isn't
> >  that the horse prefers it but that in the wild, almost all food and
> >  water ARE ON the ground.  If you could ask a wild horse, "Which would
> >  you prefer? Eating and drinking from the ground, with your feet
> >  splayed out because your neck isn't long enough, off balance, and
> >  unable to see an approaching carnivore in the tall grass or eating and
> >  drinking from a ledge at about chest height, balanced and able to move
> >  off quickly, and able to spot a skulking carnivore by the movement of
>  > the tall grass?", I bet the horse would reply it favored the latter.

Splayed out?  I just finished feeding my 10 horses, on the ground, 
and not a one is munching in a splayed out position! (and when a 
playful cat pounced through the fence they spun and spooked like it 
was a tiger coming at them.)

If a horse can't eat off the ground (or drink from a puddle) 
comfortably, I would worry that its back muscles were too tight 
(maybe from being ridden with head up, back hollow), not that it's 
neck was too short!
--

 Lynn Kinsky, Santa Ynez, CA
 http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky/

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