Re: eating while travelling

[CMKSAGEHIL <CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-03-21 01:59:02 EST, elsie@calweb.com writes:

<< Does this mean that feeding hay while trailering is
 relatively safe?>>

Any feed is a possibility for choke, but hay is definitely the safest.  Am not
willing to haul for long hours with NO feed and expect my horse to perform at
the other end of it, and hay is what I want him full of anyway, so given those
parameters and the minimal risk of hay compared to chopped or pelleted feeds,
it is most definitely my feed of choice in the trailer.
 
 <<How 'bout if a horse is travelling in a slant load, untied, 
 would he be able to lower his head to cough out blobs of 
 choking food? >>

Am not willing to leave my horse untied in a slant load for other reasons
(have seen all manner of problems from horses getting heads under partitions,
etc., etc.) and don't want to tie long enough for him to get a leg over, but
still, the slant load is safer than the in-line or two-horse with manger from
a feeding standpoint, as you can tie long enough to at least let him get his
head down a bit.

(About the only time I will haul loose is in a completely open stock
trailer--will especially haul babies loose in that format, but will still tie
their mothers.  At least in a stock trailer, there are about equal advantages
and disadvantages to tying or not tying, IMO.  Depends, too, on how many
horses you have, and how they get along.)

Heidi Smith, DVM--Sagehill Arabians (Oregon)