Why add water to feed?
On some feedbags in suggests that I should add water to all my horse’s feed. Why?
The horse’s natural diet consists of mainly grass and other forages which usually contain a high percentage of water, what we often provide our horses with can be very different to this, e.g.: hay and concentrate feeds which are lacking in moisture. Remember the golden rules of feeding ‘Feed Something Succulent Everyday’ there is good reason for this, not only does it add interest to the horse’s diet but more importantly it provides extra moisture.
Adding water to concentrate feed can be particularly useful during the colder months when horse’s are not so keen to drink icy cold water from their troughs and it also has its benefits during the warmer summer months when it can help to increase water intake. Obviously for the older horse or those with impaired dentition adding water makes the feed much easier to eat. When giving feeds dry there is always a risk of causing choke, particularly with pelleted feeds but this risk can be greatly decreased when water is added as the feed is much less likely to become lodged in the oesophagus.
From our point of view our horse’s feed may not look appetising once we have added water but horses certainly don’t think like that! The feed will still retain its appetising smell and as long as you make the change to adding water gradually there shouldn’t be any problems.
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