Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Dr Michael Peterson vets some our Owyhee rides, and he recommends NOT soaking hay. Especially don't throw hay in water troughs!

The reason is because eating dry hay stimulates the necessary gastric responses - releasing the enzymes (and acids?? any veterinarian step in and correct me here! I forgot all my physiolgy : ) that the horse needs to digest it - which is obviously extremely important on endurance rides. If you wet the hay first, this does not happen, thereby putting the horse at risk in a different way.

So maybe wet sweet feed/mash, and dry hay is best. 

(Jose choked once middle of a ride at a vet check, from eating alfalfa. We don't give it to him anymore, or if we do, we pick out the leafy parts that he was devouring)




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