Lately there have been a lot of colic cases in our area (Palo Alto/Los Altos -
Northern California). It seems as though they have been mostly old or
overweight horses. The vet who was out to treat the latest case told the owner
that she should not feed her horse before riding it. Is this true? Or is it
fine to give a horse half of it's rations before riding and half when you get
back? Or does it depend on how hard a ride you are going to do?
Some background, the horses are on about 200 acres of hilly pasture. Most of
the horses on the pasture are doing fine without extra feed. My TB (10 years
old and very athletic) is harder to keep, so I give her a bucket every morning
and then leave her in a pipe corral for a couple of hours with hay. While I
would love to break her extra feeding up into two or three sessions it is just
not possible. (There is a limit to how supportive my spouse will be about my
horse absences!)
Any words of wisdom?
Valerie Christenson