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Mongolian horses in winterwhat would they eat2007-11-24 21:18:28

When Mongolian horses were in Russia during the 13th-15th centuries, they obviously lived through winters. These horses would ideally eat fresh grass in grasslands or steppes, but in winter, what kinds of foods would they eat? Grains? How much water does a very active horse need to drink in a northern winter?

Answers:

The Mongol horses are very small, what we'd consider ponies actually. Probably like the Icelandic horses, they have a very efficient digestive system that makes the most out of the sparce pickings of their homeland. They know to paw through the snow to find food in the winter, and emerge in the spring looking like emaciated wraiths. Survival of the fittest would definately prevail.

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Horses will scrape away the snow to get at the dried grasses underneath. They are very good at finding the food they need.

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The horses round here that are turned away for the winter, will dig down through the snow and eat the dried grass underneath. They also eat snow to get their water needs. We feed ours hay and break the ice for them daily. But they all seem to survive the -40C very well.

A very active horse should have a constant supply of drinking water, so it can drink as much as it needs. Once again, because of the cold here, we have heated water bowls for the cows and any horses that are working.

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They most likely eat a lot of bark of trees and forage in the snow like other plant eating animals,

Only the strongest lived