Maximum time without rough feed?

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dilbert_uk

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Hi,

I am wondering what you would consider the maximum time a healthy horse should be without any feed.

So, let's assume the horse is stabled in a box without straw or any other edible bedding.

I thought I have read or heard somewhere 4 hours.

Some people are saying 14 hours. From 7 pm to 9 am without any hay or straw would be fine.

What are you saying?
 
i personally like to see a horse have ad lib forage/fibre intake...
but if that's not possible... i'd not really want a horse stood without anything for more than say 6hrs - but maybe i'm paranoid having dealt with/recently heard of quite a few cases of ulcers that vets have put down to horses stood with nothing going through their gut...
 
Agree - ad lib.

but then I have hacked my horse out for up to 4 hrs and he wasnt eating then! the only difference is he wasnt standing in his box wondering what there was to eat. that's when they start stressing and you get the vices (box walking, cribbing, windsucking etc) as the build up of acid starts.

so back to - ad lib. but I guess as a one off, maybe up to 4 hrs.
 
I like add lib but at a push I like to thing my horse would have enough to get him to midnight before he runs out so that would mean he would be without for up to 6 hours.

Ditto the reasoning above re ulcers, collic etc...
 
We've always gone by the maximum of 4 hours, we provide hay adlib and horses fed (small feeds) 3 times a day. Horses tummies are not designed to go without food.
 
i like them to have ad lib too, within reason.
i had a totally piggish mare who got low-grade laminitis in spite of being on hi-fi Lite, no grass, soaked hay etc, and the vet put her on a strict diet which was basically 1 flap of hay, soaked, every 12 hours. i expected her to get colic but she didn't. it was in a haynet with v small holes but i guess it only took her a maximum of 2 hours to eat (prob more like 1) so she must have gone 10 hours with nothing, every time. she was fine.
i wouldn't recommend it though, horses are designed to be trickle feeders obv!
 
14 hours is waaaaaayyyyyy too long for a normal horse. Barring any special circumstances such as lamintis, the minimum amount of time that can be arranged - as others are said, horses are trickle feeders and encounter problems if they don't have access to forage for long periods. I'd certainly always check forage as late at night as possible.
 
What possible reason would anyone have to NOT provide food in some form (ie. hay etc.) to a horse? The only time I have ever done this was last week when one of my ponies had to be starved overnight for a cushings test the day day - I felt dreadful but it had to be done. Otherwise my horses always have access to grass or hay (or both), this includes when travelling and at shows. I hate seeing people at shows leaving their horses standing about all day with no haynet.

camilla4 - I dont think laminitis is a reason to withhold food? Lami's should never ever be starved. If they have to come off the grass then they must have hay instead.
 
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camilla4 - I dont think laminitis is a reason to withhold food? Lami's should never ever be starved. If they have to come off the grass then they must have hay instead.

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Oh no, I'm not suggesting starvation for one moment!! I meant that sometimes there is only so much that can be done to restrict how fast a horse will consume roughage and that CAN mean a laminitic horse, where even roughage may have to be cut back a little, may need to go slightly longer. I would absolutely agree that this should still only be a matter of a few hours as a general rule though - certainly nowhere near 14!
 
Ok, but I still don't think roughage should ever be reduced. By all means you can slow how the horse eats it - ie. using haylage nets etc. but I dont believe in leaving a horse with no food at all for any length of time.
 
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