Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

You know, I would be MUCH more worried about a horse who ate too little than one who might eat too much.  When reading about "gluttonous appetites", I'd wonder how that is manifested, by eating what?, by eating how much, etc.  A horse who is eating a good forage, or a monitored amount of green grass, or is eating a combination of forage, slurpee mashes, etc. might appear gluttonous, but where do you think the _expression_ "Hungry as a horse" comes from?

For me the key would be the "lowered hind gut motility", the "dehydration" and the (always nebulous) "other factors".

For newbies who read Ridecamp, I'd offer a horse who is eating and drinking is a great thing.  A horse who is drinking but not eating, it's "another" thing.  A horse who is eating, but who is not noticeably drinking, well, that's probably a horse who isn't thirsty quite yet.  And, a horse who is not drinking OR eating, that's a "vet thing".

Horses need to eat as often as they can.  It's how they were created.

Fasting horses result in a disruption of the activity of the jejunum, the large intestine and the cecum.

Fasting horses who go TOO fast face real problems.

 

Frank

 

On 3/23/07, Dawn Carrie <rdcarrie@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Aaarrgghhh!  Something else to worry about.  I now have the ultimate "hoover on hooves," and now I have to worry about him eating TOO much???  My 6 yr old never comes up for air during a hold...if I try to limit his food, he's going to start eating the paint off the trailer, the dirt off the ground, loose dogs, small children, etc.

 

Dawn in East Texas

and Epic Sundance (here, doggie...)

 

On 3/22/07, Bruce Weary <bweary@xxxxxxxxxxxx > wrote:

 But we *have* had more than a few ruptured stomachs.
A very experienced rider recently expressed their suspicion to me that
horses that have gluttonous appetites at vet checks might be at risk of
causing overfilling of the stomach, and that this, accompanied with
lowered hind gut motility, dehydration or other factors might possibly
contribute to colic or other GI catastrophes.