What are your thoughts on the following article regarding feed and water needing to be closer to ground level?

Question

Although what horses are fed plays a major role on their health, how they are fed is also important. Because humans don't want to eat off the ground, we assume our horses don't either and hay is often placed in hay racks or mangers at chest level to the horse. The additional feed is often placed in a bucket hung at head level, and again the horse cannot eat as nature intended. Built to chew and swallow with their heads at ground level, not only does this unnatural way cause improperly chewed food, decrease in saliva, and uneven tooth wear, but also increases the possibility of choke or partial obstruction. Respiratory problems can also occur as foreign particles of dust, hay and grain hull pieces can easily be inhaled causing irritation and possible infection. If you are concerned about sand colic, you can use rubber mats or even tire feeders at ground level. Following the same example of ground level feeding, watering also follows nature's rules. Horses don't just sip their water; if given the chance will often submerge their whole muzzle to play or to clean out their nostrils. The bowl-like automatic waterers do not allow this activity and don't allow you to monitor water intake. Rather than using tall narrow tanks, low shallow troughs allow the horse to be closer to the ground as nature intended. Allowing the tank to periodically run over ensures that the hooves receive an occasional moisturizing bath.

Because this is a very different approach to feeding, many people may fear this will cause colic. On the contrary, many of the cases of colic and other intestinal and stomach problems are the direct result of unnatural eating habits. Add to that the over-use of chemicals and the poor horse is fighting a losing battle. By getting back to a natural feeding program, we are giving our horse a much better chance to live a happy, healthy life.

Do you think article has any merit to it?

Answer 1

I absolutely do think it has merit. When I was at agricultural college in England, we had a lecture about such things because a lot of the old fashioned stables in Europe have the old hay racks that are mounted up high in the corner of the box. We were always told that this allows dust, spores and pollen to enter both the eyes and respiratory tract and horses should be allowed to ground feed wherever possible because that is how they are designed by nature to feed and graze. My horses always have their hay on the floor and feeders and water are placed low for that specific reason. I don't like hay nets anyway because they pose a risk for the horse getting hung up and I'm not a fan of automatic waterers because you cannot gage how much the horses are drinking. I particularly dislike those metal feeders that hang on fences - we had a mare in TX in a small pen with her foal. She managed to hook her cribbing collar on the feeder, lift it off the fence and as she freaked out and swung it around, the collar snapped and the feeder hit the foal breaking it's neck. It had never happened before and was a freak accident but that was enough for us to get rid of all of them.
Kudos for posting this because I really don't think people are aware of the implications of how they feed their horses and what effects it can have on them especially for horses that have conditions such as COPD - have a star!

Answer 2

One thing not mentioned in this article is that eating off the ground allows for natural sinus drainage which helps prevent heeves and other nasties.

However, sand colic is real and it's deadly, and if fed on the ground, some horses will literally lick up the soil and sand they were fed on if there is even an odor of grain or hay left.

Feeders also help keep manure and other contaminants out of feed. Some horses like to paw their feed risking catching their feet on a ground level feeder or water trough. Others urinate on their feed. A stalled horse may ingest bedding if feed on the ground. Wood chips and peatmoss aren't that good for the equine belly. Companion animals - goats, sheep, ponies - can also dirty feed or overeat if they have free access to ground level feed.

Feeding in feeders or on the ground depends on the situation the horse is living in. And as for "natural" I've seen horses eat tips off branches or stand below banks and eat the grass off the top. Horses' necks bend. That's how they were designed.

Answer 3

Waaay back, I learned about managing horses while living in the Rockies. Everything done was to make the horse live as naturally as possible and to mimic what the horse would do in the wild. Subsequently, wherever I went, I tried to teach this as I met not one other horseman who knew of these concepts. I learned it as a kid and it made such good sense and the herd I managed was so healthy in every way, but it seems mainstream teaching is much different and many show horses seem to be as far from the natural as you can get. We got a 9 month old Arabian filly once. The first week was seriously bad as she wouldn't eat at all. Then, I was going into her stall to place her hay on the floor and she attacked the hay in my arms! Lightbulb! I remember seeing the feeder in her old stall and it was high on the wall so she had to stretch up to eat at all. So I put up her hay in a bag and moved her feed up high also and she was just so happy. Over time, I adjusted her to floor feeding and she got the hang of it and now eats like a normal horse. The upshot? I got her cheap because she had a really short, upright neck. The floor feeding stretched her neck muscles back out naturally and she went on to become a halter champion with a nice, snakey neck. The previous owner was speechless when she showed up at her first show!
Knock wood, but I have never had a colic, or ulcers, or cribber, or any of the feeding idiosyncracies in over 40 years of horse caring. I think the natural way works best whenever it can be implemented.

Answer 4

Like a couple of other posters it makes sense to me too. I have never fed my horses from anywhere but ground level, save for foals I am "creep feeding" I don't have an actualy creep pen like soem peopel have built, I have a little bucket that atatches to the fence that has bars that mount across the top allowing foals to eat but the mare's nose not to get through, this i STILL put as close to ground level as I can. We use flat pans about 4 inches deep to feed out of. When God created the horse he created in the way he saw fit and what would work best for the animal. They have been ground eaters for thousands of years so why try and change it. If you put hay on the ground there may be the chance they waste some but there is less risk of them getting chaf fin their eyes or poking their eye on stems from having to reach up and out for it. We don't really have an issue with sand colic where I'm at but this past summer a drought caused all the grass to brun up in a lot of areas and my pasture became a dustbowl. To prevent an issues from arising we fed a psyllium based supplement (sand clear) up until about a week ago when we FINALLY got rain , just to be on the safe side.We have standard 110 gallon water troughs that we do have raised but ti's b/c if they are directly on the ground my goofy appy will stand in them.... so they sit on railroad ties:) I however don't agree with the tire feeding... tires have metal belts in them and i have seen many horses poke shards of metal through their tongues , cheek , nose..etc etc b/c they start to break down and poke through the rubber. I suppose if you check them regularly and if you start to see the belts coming through throw them away they would be pok to use.

Answer 5

I agree to a point. I recently had to put down one of my show horses due to an enterolith...a stone which forms due to injesting hay off the ground. Although he was rarely fed on the ground, he would always manage to get his hay out of the feeder and onto the ground. This ultimately led to his death.

So, now they have a rubbermade water tanks that I throw the hay in. It is large enough that all can eat together without kicking each other, yet their hay is down on the ground level without the chance of injesting dirt.

Horses like to play in water, so I give them a huge rubber stock tank. I can't tell you how often my Percheron is in the tank, front feet, swishing it around. But it is not low, they tip those over when playing in them. It is a 250 gallon tank, about 3 feet high.

If you watch a horse eat from a wall mounted feeder, they will grab a bite then lower their head down to natural level anyhow. I'm just not sure what bit of difference it makes (although I do agree that having a feeder too high causes respiratory and eye issues).

Answer 6

the only thing my mare eats from with her head up is from her hay net, and i give her this because it will last her longer and stop her getting bored and also to avoid her literally, biting off more than she can chew. i have seen a horse struggle with a hug chunk of hay that was clammed together and had to walk over and very gently pull it out of it's mouth.
the rest of the time (her hard feed, water etc) is from the ground. this is because this is the natural feeding position for the horse.
if the hay is dusty, try haylage or soak the hay first it can still be fed from the ground or a net.

xxx

Answer 7

I read about this ten or so years ago and so I stopped feeding hay from a net, and fed it from the floor.

I was told that feeding high up can cause un-natural tooth wear and tension in the neck and pol. Grass grows on the floor, not up trees. I feed my hay or hayledge in round sheep feeders to, in the field, so they don't trample it and waste it. There are also things, like the "HAY BAR" , which means horses eat in a more natural position,and don't waste it so much

Answer 8

i agree with the article. when ever possible i try to feed the horses from ground level, but that doesn't always mean put the hay on the ground. i usually put the hay in some sort of bucket on the ground because that way they cant walk over it and spread it all over the stall and waste it, and this helps prevent the digestion of dirt. just put the feed in a container on the ground its better for them. hope this helps =D

Answer 9

I agree with the article that we should try to make the way we feed and water our horses more natural for them. Horses are designed to eat and drink with their heads lowered and we should try to encourage this because this is how their bodies can best cope with feed and water.
People often try to make horses more like humans in the way they are kept- inside out of the cold and rain, feed two or three times a day and other things. They think in doing this they are giving their horses the best possible life. In fact it is much better to give horses a natural lifestyle as close to their wild life as possible.

Answer 10

I so agree!! Thats why at the stable I board at I feed my colt on the ground even though they have a hay rack and hanging feed bucket. Good Article!!