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Re: [RC] this post has NOTHING to do with LD ;) --feed changes at rides - RDCARRIEIn a message dated 5/3/2004 2:05:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time, fetlocks@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: After talking with some show horse people the other day who fight colic all the time and NEVER vary their horse's diets or feed times, because they SWEAR that doing so will automatically colic their horses, I'm thinking we don't have whole camps full of horses belly-aching, so what's the difference in what we're doing vs. what they're doing? I've talked to people who swear that horses *have* to be fed at the same time every day or else they'll colic, and all I have to say is "rubbish!" Our bunch (6 horses, ranging in age from 3 1/2 to 29 yrs) are on 9 ac. of pasture and have a round bale. As for daily feedings, breakfast is more regular (although we do sleep several hours later on weekends), but they will receive dinner anywhere between 4pm and 8pm. When we leave town for a night or two to go to a ride, the horses left behind don't even get their beet pulp/pellet mixtures. Hasn't hurt them a bit. We've had one (minor) colic in 7 years. I think what hurts a horse more is being cooped up in a stall except for a few hours of turnout, and being fed on a "nice, regular schedule," rather than being able to move around and munch throughout the day as horses evolved to do. Just our 6 rat study, but it's working well for us. Dawn in East Texas ============================================================ Many of the endurance riders in our top echelons of competition, now and in the past, exemplify the 'common man' not the hierocracy. It is this possibility, this chance to come to the fore, that makes endurance competition of the Aussie/American type so much more desirable to part of the world. ~ Bob Morris ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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