This Christmas morning was the coldest yet--twenty two degrees. The horses all had access to thousands of pounds of good quality hay. But by the time I got there this morning no one was touching the hay.
Instead the fences were being stripped bare of honey suckle and the small ends of tree branches were being chewed up as if they were candy. The horses, of course, had no idea why they were eating such tough forage when they had good hay available.
A lot of horse owners do not understand either.
Super fibrous forage breaks down slower in the cecum than does food with less fiber. The slower the process, the more heat is generated. In cold weather it is perfectly natural and healthy for horses to eat bark, roots, and browse. Of course, the plant eaten must not be one of those few that are toxic to horses, but poplar bark on a cold sunny day to a horse is like hot chocolate to a person.
Lewis and Clark noted how Indian ponies that refused to eat grain would happily consume cottonwood bark. Seems like those ponies knew a bit about proper equine nutrition.
(This is Wanchese, my Shackleford stallion.)
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