I, for one, would be interested in knowing why you
asked if anyone had seen how pellets are made and then finished with that
cryptic "out of sight out of mind."
Dressage barn that I trained at in Los Gatos
years ago used these routinely as their main feed source. Horses were
all stalled and turned out once a day to a dry individual paddock area.
When I asked my trainer why they used the pellets her reply was simply: easier
to handle and store than hay.
Problem is that a horse is meant to spend the
majority of their day eating. I fear that horses that are kept on such a
restrictive diet will develop other vices because they have too much time on
their hands (or hooves!). Plus I have seen horses choke on cubes
and pellets before and that is very scary.
I would only use these when we go high country
camping or on a road trip, making sure that my horse was accustom to eating
them prior to our travels. Soaking has been mentioned, which is a great
idea, especially for the cubes. I personally would not recommend them
for the only source of food, although I do know a lot of folks that feed
it.
Have you ever been to a feed plant and see how
they make some of these pellets? But then again, out of sight out
of mind.
