Dressage barn that I trained at in Los Gatos years
ago used these routinely as their main feed source. Horses were all
stalled and turned out once a day to a dry individual paddock area. When I
asked my trainer why they used the pellets her reply was simply: easier to
handle and store than hay.
Problem is that a horse is meant to spend the
majority of their day eating. I fear that horses that are kept on such a
restrictive diet will develop other vices because they have too much time on
their hands (or hooves!). Plus I have seen horses choke on cubes
and pellets before and that is very scary.
I would only use these when we go high country
camping or on a road trip, making sure that my horse was accustom to eating them
prior to our travels. Soaking has been mentioned, which is a great idea,
especially for the cubes. I personally would not recommend them for the
only source of food, although I do know a lot of folks that feed
it.
Have you ever been to a feed plant and see how they
make some of these pellets? But then again, out of sight out of
mind.
