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[RC] soaking hay - Dream Weaver

I've often provided my horses soaked hay, with a little salt added into it on rides - it's a great way to get more fluids into them and they love it especially on the point to point multidays. 

I found this on the Tufts veterinary page:

One wet-down flake of hay can absorb 1-2 gallons of water. If you feed your horse well-soaked hay, you can make a real impact on his fluid consumption. Endurance riders take advantage of this by feeding horses soaked hay before long rides.

Susan Garlinghouse has a series of articles on endurance riding and metabolics.  Here is an excerpt:

By adding bulk to a slow digestive tract, additional hormonal signals are released that move the digestive tract higher on the priority list in linefor blood flow, thereby increasing intestinal activity. While the GI system 's demands will not displace those of the cardiovascular or muscular system during strenuous exercise, once the body recovers from emergency status, blood flow and motility will more rapidly return if feed is in the stomach. The bulkier the food item, the more the stomach walls are stretched, and the more motilin (a hormone which triggers peristalsis) is released. Therefore, whether at a check or out on the trail, encourage continuous eating, preferably of moist, bulky forages such as green grass, wet hay or soaked beet pulp.

http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/metabolicpull2.shtml

It doesn't make sense to me to not feed wet hay when horses graze on grass that has a lot higher moisture content in it than dry hay does.  Or that the gut would only work properly if the horse eats dry feed when they so often do just fine eating soaked mashes at some checks and nothing else.   

Karen