Horse eating straw bedding??

[The Jokers Girl]

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

Admittedly whilst I don't agree entirely with the original quote by jenny my horse has coliced twice from eating straw (impaction colic) 2nd time I nearly lost her so she now never has straw bedding or is allowed to eat straw at all

 

[Cortez]

Admittedly whilst I don't agree entirely with the original quote by jenny my horse has coliced twice from eating straw (impaction colic) 2nd time I nearly lost her so she now never has straw bedding or is allowed to eat straw at all

TBF I have heard of horses getting impaction colic from eating their bedding, but I also know (1st hand) of two different horses that have coliced from eating shavings, and one that did so because he decided to eat ivy, also just plain greedy horses that colic every time they go out on long grass. Horses have ridiculously complicated digestive systems, but feeding straw does not routinely cause the sort of armageddon that people used to be told as gospel.

 

[NinjaPony]

Straw works for some, some horses definitely do gorge on it and can cause themselves problems. Depends on the horse really. I would never bed my laminitic welsh on straw because I’m completely positive he would gorge on it until it was all gone and probably give himself colic in the process. I also think there is a difference between chopped straw chaff and really long shiny straw in terms of impaction potential. Horses for courses. I wouldn’t be concerned about some bed nibbling, but I would be if say half the bed was gone each morning.

 

[Cortez]

Straw works for some, some horses definitely do gorge on it and can cause themselves problems. Depends on the horse really. I would never bed my laminitic welsh on straw because I’m completely positive he would gorge on it until it was all gone and probably give himself colic in the process. I also think there is a difference between chopped straw chaff and really long shiny straw in terms of impaction potential. Horses for courses. I wouldn’t be concerned about some bed nibbling, but I would be if say half the bed was gone each morning.

I had a Spanish horse that ate an entire bed of chopped straw in one night.....needless to say he went immediately back on to long straw, and we were lucky he didn't colic. He was a greedy boy in general.

 

[NinjaPony]

I had a Spanish horse that ate an entire bed of chopped straw in one night.....needless to say he went immediately back on to long straw, and we were lucky he didn't colic. He was a greedy boy in general.

Like I said, horses for courses. I was thinking more along the lines of HoneyChop chopped straw, or TopChop Zero which obviously you’d never use for bedding as it’s designed to be fed, but is still essentially just chopped straw. Mine would certainly eat an entire chopped straw bed, and an unchopped one too, given half the chance...