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Re: [RC] Drining out of troughs/eating dry grass - heidiThis is a little off topic re:drinking out of troughs, but what the heck. A friend & I did a ride last summer in a mountainous region of the western United States (no names)! At the isolated vet checks, the vets yelled at us for letting our horse eat the dry grass on the verge of the road (there was no wet beet pulp, carrots, sloppy bran mashes, or hay available at any of the vet checks). We couldn't believe that they preferred our horses to eat nothing all day. We said O.K., went out of sight & let our horses graze for the hold. Crews & crew bags were not an option for this ride. Luckily, the hour hold was back at base camp where the horses were able to really eat. We know dry grass is probably the worst choice of feed on a ride, but it's better than nothing! Wow, Kathy, I find that amazing! Unless the grass had been sprayed with something (in which case I think they would have said!) I find the dry grass to often be my horses' preference at checks, particularly a lot of the native grasses. If they are really hungry, they can pack in more nutrition that way, and I also think that the dry grass is "nature's electrolytes." As long as they are drinking well, it isn't an issue in terms of hydration, IMO. I would have done exactly what you did--or I might have even gotten into a discussion with the vets as to WHY they were so upset about it, and offered a differing point of view... :-) Heidi ============================================================ They're athletes! This is a partnership between horse and rider - we don't have any jockeys out there, just pals and partners. We'd allow a rider with a broken foot, a sore back and a nasty cold to compete - but we would never let a horse in a similiar condition hit the trail. ~ Dr. Barney Flemming DVM ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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