Forage In Horses Research Paper

How does the method of feeding forage to a horse relate to the time it takes the horse to consume its meal? Will feeding forage in a manger, feeding forage spread across the ground, or feeding forage in a slow feed hay net, be closests in relation to a horse's natural feeding habits? A horse’s main food source comes from the forage it eats. Forage can include different types of baled hay and pasture grass. Pasture grass is what a horse would most naturally eat. Humans have also made horses accustomed to eating baled hay. Feeding a horse baled hay such as alfalfa is a very good source of nutrients. It gives a horse more energy according to UC Davis Center for Equine Health. No matter the type of forage the horse is fed, the horse should
The lack of opportunity to graze can be due to owner's preference, injury, lack of pasture, etc. A common feeding method for horses that are not in pasture is to be fed large quantities of forage twice a day. The horse will commonly consume the whole meal within 2 hours. This leaves the horse with roughly 4 hours of eating throughout the whole day. The horse may be consuming the same weight of forage through baled hay as it would in the pasture, but having the forage baled and fed straight to the horse will commonly cause the horse to consume its forage much faster in a stall/corral than the horse would in a
Throughout my inquiry I will research and test other solutions to this issue. As a control I will feed 10 pounds of forage to a single horse in a feed bunk located in a stall. One of my variables will be to feed a single horse by spreading the 10 pounds of forage throughout the stall. My last variable will be to feed a single horse 10 pounds of forage in a slow feed hay net. I will use a group of 4 horses for each test. I will run one test a day and I will do each test twice. My experiment will take six days to complete. I will be measuring the time it takes each horse to consume all 10 pounds of