I would have to go along with this -- my horse is also a slow eater. ?If I fed him just an hour ahead of time, he isn't going to finish in time. ?What distance the person is riding doesn't have anything to do with it - if your horse needs the extra time, you feed according to that. ?
That said - I always try to feed enough loose hay the night before so that he can't finish it all. ?All I need to give him in the morning are his supplements. ?It still takes him forever - only horse I know that takes 1/2 hour to eat 3 pounds of pelleted hay / rice bran. ?If it is mixed with beet pulp, it takes him even longer.
On Oct 30, 2007, at 9:30 AM, Dawn Carrie wrote:
Turning on the generator at 3:30 am *was* rude.? However, even without the generator, your horses would have woken up...there's nothing like the sound of horsie food being prepared and served to wake up every horse within hearing distance.? :)? I know, because we usually feed our horses around 3am at rides.? No generator, though.? <G> ?My horse eats slooooowww, so it gives him time to eat everything, and also have it start moving through his system.? And nearby horses start nickering and watching ours eat.? That is not our problem...nor that of anyone else who feeds during the night (and a surprising number do).? We'll continue to do what is best for our horses.? And by the way, in the example below, I consider the statement that the person was only doing a 25 to be irrelevant.? They were taking care of their horse how they felt they should.? IMO, their only sin was turing on the generator.
Something that I had?not considered?about generators until this year....? Three of us and our horses were camped and sleeping soundly for our 100 mile ride that started at 6:30am.? At 3:30AM? our neighbor started?the generator, turned on the lights, and fed?the horse!? Ok, *I* can go back to sleep, but now the three horses were awake, their neighbor was eating, they wanted to eat,and they were not going back to sleep.? So instead of them getting a couple more hours of rest, they ended up pacing and whinnying and wasting energy before the 100 mile ride.? (BTW the person was doing a 25 miler).
Your horse and my horse need the rest before a ride, so please give them some repect for quiet and DARK.
