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My horse is eating wayyy to fast2007-11-24 21:18:30

My pony eats so fats, she chokes on her food! But the vet says shes healthy...what should I do?

Answers:

Try putting a large block of salt in the feed trough. That should slow her down. She'll have to keep nudging the block out of the way to get to the grain. And hang out with your horse at mealtime -- and all the time! ^^

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You may try putting a snaffle bit in her mouth to slow her down a bit (old horsemans trick). Or if possible, feeding her more during the day (maybe 4 smaller portions instead of 2 big ones). Think about maybe feeding her the hay first and then feeding the grain a 1/2 hour later, so she is not as hungry when she gets her grain. Good Luck!

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Add a small amount of wet bran or mollichop (molassed covered chaff) to her feed and that usually slow them down.

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You can try putting a large rock inher feed dish - similar to what the person who mentioned the salt block - use a rock large enough that the horse absolutely cannot eat it. There are also special feed buckets that have molded bottoms, the insides of which look like they have cones rising up from them - same idea as the rock --- it gives the horse something to eat around.

You can also try putting her feed in one of those ground grazers - they are a boredom breaker device that the horse has to roll around and push around in order to dispense small amounts of feed. This would help slow her speed eating down.

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If you can get some BIG round smooth river rocks, bigger than your fist, too big for her to accidentally swallow, put those in her feeder and put them on top of her feed. She'll have to push them out of the way to get to her feed, and that should slow her down.

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Either put a large salt block in her feed bucket to slow her down, or put her feed in a very large round pan so it's more spread out. My horse has had choke a few times, but not because he eats too fast. He's older and doesn't produce enough saliva to get all of the food down. I put water in his feed to prevent him from choking and he's been fine ever since.

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For eating hay too fast you can either give a little to her throughout the day or you can give the hay a hay bath with water and that will slow her down. My horse always eats fast unless I wet his hay.

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If your horse is eating too fast, then shes probably just a pig. haha. But if she is choking, then you could maybe try giving her a different food. Try adding large pellets in with his/her grain.

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I use large sized stones in my mare's feed. Also don't use hard dry feed. Try soaking it till it soft and mushy so even if she still gulps in down way too fast she won't choke as easily. Don't use a snaffle bit while she eats, that WILL make her choke! Or try some salt lick in her feed. It will distract her and she may lick it the eat the lick it then eat. Just make sure she has PLENTY of Water.

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put treats in her food when she eats or give her the food over the period of a few hours hope that helps worked for my horse

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I keep salt/trace mineral bricks (not 20 lb.blocks) in every feed tub in my barn. I add 1 brick to each tub a month, leaving the previous months brick in the tub. I also keep hay in front of my horses at all times and feed 4 times (every 6 hours) per day.

[I would not use rocks or regular bricks. because I have seen horses chew on them. Resulting in colic, broken teeth, cuts and scrapes in the mouth, etc.]

The idea is to make the horse have to work a little (chase the feed around the tub) instead of just inhaling their feed.