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RE: [RC] [RC] [RC] Pounds of Hay - heidi<<I'm not sure how much of that is inborn and how much is due to horses being raised on inadequate forage, but what I glean from the folks who ought to know is that limiting forage to youngsters has a tendency to cause horses to grow up without adequately developing their hindguts, and hence having inadequate limits on what they will eat. >> That's an interesting observation, Heidi. <snip> This gelding [the one raised on limited forage] is the lightest eater of the 4. In fact, the lightest eater of all 7 of our horses (the other 3 also grew up with free access for forage). He's also the hardest to keep weight on, regardless of the amount of work he's doing, since he just isn't a huge hay eater. He's getting better at eating during rides (a few 100s have taught him he'd better start eating early, this ride may last for a while <G>). But he's just not a ravenous hay burner. Back in the "old days" endurance riders empirically observed that horses raised "out" in free-ranging situations tended to make the better endurance prospects. I found no difference with my horses raised in more confinement, but the ONE thing they shared with their range-raised counterparts was that they were forage-fed. I suspect that the relative success of the horses raised "out" had a lot more to do with how their GI tracts developed and how they adapted to utilizing forage than to any fitness they obtained by being free-roaming... Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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