Horse eating straw bedding??

[sidney]

We’ve just moved my horse on straw bedding around 2 weeks ago and we’ve noticed he started to eat some straw. He has haynets and plenty of water which he’s drinks. We’ve tried mixing the semi-dirty and fresh bedding but still eating it. Any tips?

 

[Cortez]

Unless it's a problem, let him snack.

 

[ycbm]

He wants the fibre, just let him eat it.

One of my horses is on half straw because of her weight.
.

 

[Chinchilla]

It's not bad for them to eat straw at all - better a bellyful of straw than an obese horse any day.

 

[meleeka]

If there’s no reason why he shouldn’t snack on straw I’d let him carry one. It could be just something to forage and occupy himself.

 

[jenniehodges2001]

You see, I'm exactly the opposite. I've known horses with impaction colic, especially in the winter because they've not been fed enough forage and have taken to eating their bedding, thus causing impaction.

Written concisely from a webpage (to please certain people) : It's linked to the fibre in straw called lingin and is worse in wheat or oat straw because its a highly non-digestible fibre source, and has been implicated as causing impaction colic in horses. The high lignin and silica content help the plant hold the grain up and the silica gives it the shiny appearance. Impaction may result from a lack of fermentation in the hindgut. Horses cannot digest or utilise these poor quality forages as effectively as cattle.

There are more cases of impaction in winter because horses are generally stabled longer, move around less and drink less fluids. Horses are more prone to impaction if they are not receiving adequate forage to maintain proper gastrointestinal function. This may be the case with horses being limit-fed restricted amounts of hay and chaff hay to maintain or reduce bodyweight.

So personally I wouldn't risk feeding it.

If the OP wants to stop the horse eating the straw its better to either swap to wood shavings or pelleted cardboard or put a 'rose' on the end of a watering can and spray diluted Jeyes fluid or Virkon E on the bed.

 

[Cortez]

You see, I'm exactly the opposite. I've known horses with impaction colic, especially in the winter because they've not been fed enough forage and have taken to eating their bedding, thus causing impaction.

It's linked to the fibre in straw called lingin and is worse in wheat or oat straw because its a highly non-digestible fibre source, and has been implicated as causing impaction colic in horses. The high lignin and silica content help the plant hold the grain up and the silica gives it the shiny appearance. Impaction may result from a lack of fermentation in the hindgut. Horses cannot digest or utilise these poor quality forages as effectively as cattle.

There are more cases of impaction in winter because horses are generally stabled longer, move around less and drink less fluids. Horses are more prone to impaction if they are not receiving adequate forage to maintain proper gastrointestinal function. This may be the case with horses being limit-fed restricted amounts of hay and chaff hay to maintain or reduce bodyweight.

So personally I wouldn't risk feeding it.

If the OP wants to stop the horse eating the straw its better to either swap to wood shavings or pelleted cardboard or put a 'rose' on the end of a watering can and spray diluted Jeyes fluid or Virkon E on the bed.

Nice copy and paste, but in over 50 years of bedding on straw, and also actually feeding it, I have never had a colic.

 

[jenniehodges2001]

Nice copy and paste, but in over 50 years of bedding on straw, and also actually feeding it, I have never had a colic.

I didn't say it was all my own work did I?

And I have never been hit by a bus. Guess we are both lucky.

 

[Rosemary28]

P had colic once, many many years ago (before I owned him), because he wasn’t being given enough other forage and was gorging on straw all day. I still bed him on straw now and he does eat it, but very rarely eats much unless he is really hungry. With careful management it can be fine.

 

[Cortez]

I didn't say it was all my own work did I?

And I have never been hit by a bus. Guess we are both lucky.

Luck has nothing to do with it. The point is that my advice comes from actual experience, not a book. My local vet (large animal, not horse specialist) said the same thing when I first met him, and now doesn't due to having seen the practicalities. Entire nations of horses are routinely fed on straw, as long as horses have free access to water, are not fed solely straw and are monitored they will thrive, indeed for fat horses straw is a far better option than fine hay or haylage; the advice you are quoting is quite old fashioned.

 

[AdorableAlice]

I’ve lost one to straw eating impaction. Old show pony bedded on wheat straw. She preferred straw to a choice of hay and haylage.

Thankfully she went down when I was there at evening stables and was put down with minimal suffering.

 

[Chinchilla]

No one is saying to feed a horse straw alone. That would not be good at all. What people are saying is supplementing the diet with straw is fine to do, which it is.

 

[honetpot]

Nice copy and paste, but in over 50 years of bedding on straw, and also actually feeding it, I have never had a colic.

Same with me, it's a normal part of their diet, with hay or grass depending on the time of year. They are never hungry, they have free access, so there is no reason for them to binge eat. If you change a diet quickly there is always a chance of colic, but we seem to have too many overweight equines stood in stables with little to do, their whole wellbeing is based on them being trickle feeders, that will browse a variety of textures from stripped bark to rough weeds.
http://www.thelaminitissite.org/news/feeding-straw-for-weight-loss
In the old days you were told not to bed down on barley straw because of the 'ears'. The irony this year is that straw could be more expensive than hay.

 

[jenniehodges2001]

No one is saying to feed a horse straw alone. That would not be good at all. What people are saying is supplementing the diet with straw is fine to do, which it is.

All I said was I wouldn't risk it and explained the reasons why. The OP has seen her horse eat some straw. This would suggest that he might be eating a lot more that she doesn't see him eating unless she peers over his stable door during ever minute he is stabled.

IMHO I wouldn't take the chance. Maybe the horses I saw/knew of with impaction colic were the exception and not the rule.

There are people on our current yard who feed straw without a problem.

 

[jenniehodges2001]

It's not bad for them to eat straw at all - better a bellyful of straw than an obese horse any day.

In that situation I would just double bag hay nets or use small hole nets to slow down the speed of consumption.

 

[Cortez]

In that situation I would just double bag hay nets or use small hole nets to slow down the speed of consumption.

Has that worked for you? Because it doesn't seem to work for the many, many people I see with fat horses.

 

[jenniehodges2001]

Same with me, it's a normal part of their diet, with hay or grass depending on the time of year. They are never hungry, they have free access, so there is no reason for them to binge eat. If you change a diet quickly there is always a chance of colic, but we seem to have too many overweight equines stood in stables with little to do, their whole wellbeing is based on them being trickle feeders, that will browse a variety of textures from stripped bark to rough weeds.
http://www.thelaminitissite.org/news/feeding-straw-for-weight-loss
In the old days you were told not to bed down on barley straw because of the 'ears'. The irony this year is that straw could be more expensive than hay.

Interesting article Honetpot. Interesting that they were native or native crosses..... no warmblood type horses in the study.

 

[Chinchilla]

In that situation I would just double bag hay nets or use small hole nets to slow down the speed of consumption.

As the owner of a previously obese horse I give doing this and supplementing the diet with straw personally yields the best results, and it is a strategy all the vets who have seen my fewspot this year also support, alongside appropriate exercise of course.

 

[honetpot]

Interesting article Honetpot. Interesting that they were native or native crosses..... no warmblood type horses in the study.

I would imagine that because of native and nativeX natural inclination to hold weight and there are more of them about. Forty years ago I think most horses kept would have been in regular work, unfortunately there now seems to be more horses carrying too much fat.

 

[ycbm]

In that situation I would just double bag hay nets or use small hole nets to slow down the speed of consumption.

I muzzled mine and had small hole nets and she still ate way too much! She's doing much better with barley straw.

Horses have been bedded on straw for centuries without problems. I'm not sure how anyone who says their horse had colic from straw knows that's the case? Horses which aren't bedded on straw often get colic.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

It's not bad for them to eat straw at all - better a bellyful of straw than an obese horse any day.

And much better a horse eating straw than a hungry horse because its on restricted hay.

I have had a mare who got impaction colic from eating straw, I swapped her to a shavings bed but I also made sure that she had a huge trugful of plain oat straw chaff to forage on, when her restricted hay ran out. I also had her teeth checked and found that she needed some dental work, which I think had contributed to the problem.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

In that situation I would just double bag hay nets or use small hole nets to slow down the speed of consumption.

IMO all that achieves is a frustrated hungry horse, which over time develops neck/muscle problems. I have found, with several horses that if they are allowed ad lib forage they learn to self-regulate, no matter how severely they have been restricted in the past. The trick is to provide the right amount/s of the right forage to achieve the desired result.

This strategy has worked with horses that have been both underweight and obese when bought.

 

[jenniehodges2001]

Well as you are all experts and my opinion obviously counts for nothing as I am being shot down in the flames, then OP I suggest you go with the majority.

There are three people who have admitted for whatever reasons their horses have had colic from eating straw and five or six that haven't. If that is good enough odds for the OP then she can take the gamble.

I reiterate again, that I wouldn't. It's just my personal opinion.

 

[Donkeyslave]

I agree that small holed nets can cause terrible frustration and led to a deep depression in a friends donkey (stopped eating!) When offered hay/straw from the ground she ate fine.
I had a donkey colic on barley straw a few years ago and since this happened I hose their nets well before feeding. The vet. said the extra water would help with digestion and there's been no more colic since.
I think you make a valid point jennie hodges 2001.

 

[ycbm]

Well as you are all experts and my opinion obviously counts for nothing as I am being shot down in the flames, then OP I suggest you go with the majority.

There are three people who have admitted for whatever reasons their horses have had colic from eating straw and five or six that haven't. If that is good enough odds for the OP then she can take the gamble.

I reiterate again, that I wouldn't. It's just my personal opinion.

There are three people who have said their horses colicked while straw was being fed. Hundreds of horses who have no access to straw colic every month, there's no proof it's the straw, is there?

You haven't been 'shot down in flames', but I would like to understand how you think we bedded horses (who ran out of hay hours before they were officially fed again, pre-ulcer days) on straw all the time before wood shavings became available in the 80's, without huge numbers of horses dying of colic.

In 1985 I was in a 40 box yard bedded on straw, out of hay by the early hours, and I can't remember one horse getting colic.

 

[tristar]

Well as you are all experts and my opinion obviously counts for nothing as I am being shot down in the flames, then OP I suggest you go with the majority.

There are three people who have admitted for whatever reasons their horses have had colic from eating straw and five or six that haven't. If that is good enough odds for the OP then she can take the gamble.

I reiterate again, that I wouldn't. It's just my personal opinion.

i would never feed straw, for various reasons, i feed top quality hay, it is my first priority, if i need to reduce a horses weight i cut down and closely monitor 4 small feeds a day, its never failed for my horses

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Well as you are all experts and my opinion obviously counts for nothing as I am being shot down in the flames, then OP I suggest you go with the majority.

There are three people who have admitted for whatever reasons their horses have had colic from eating straw and five or six that haven't. If that is good enough odds for the OP then she can take the gamble.

I reiterate again, that I wouldn't. It's just my personal opinion.

I don't think that anybody has said, or implied that your opinion is not valid, jenniehodges2001, it is just as valid as any-one else's. Neither has anyone commented on your experience, or lack of it, I am certainly not qualified to make that comment, I know nothing about your experience.
However I am perfectly qualified to offer my opinion and justify it with the evidence my own experience, which is what I have done.
It is up to OP to decide which advice, if any, she wishes to follow.

 

[Laafet]

TBH I have seen piggy horses colic after eating shavings - what then leave them on bare mats. I have only experienced one colic from straw, that was a racehorse who was delighted to have a nice bed and ate a lot of it. Most of our fatties are on a straw based diet - after all isn't a lot of chaff, chopped straw. We even have a chaff cutter so we can cut up our straw to be more palatable.

 

[ycbm]

i would never feed straw, for various reasons, i feed top quality hay, it is my first priority, if i need to reduce a horses weight i cut down and closely monitor 4 small feeds a day, its never failed for my horses

On that regime my PRE mare would have nothing to eat for three periods of four hours overnight and I would have to feed her before going to bed and then get out of bed and go and feed her twice more during the night.

Luckily, she is doing really well on one small net of stemmy haylage and ad lib barley straw.

 

[tristar]

meant to say three small feeds and most at night