Musings on return from Tuscany

[Slave2Magic]

I returned from 2 weeks in Tuscany yesterday and it was a fab holiday Me and my hubby went riding 3 times while over there and it got me thinking. The soil there looks like clay. How do the horses get managed in winter? Also, as the primary crops are olives and grapes, what forage are the horses fed on? Is it possible to get hay or are they fed something else? I know there are a few of you on here from that area of the world.

 

[TuscanBunnyGirl]

Heyyyyy literally just moved over from there!
The soil where we lived was very clay-ing and was horrible in the winter.
Most of the horses are left out 24/7 and I never saw one rugged and in the summer are turned out loose in the mountains in small herds. We had adlib hay for ours, although finding good hay wasn't easy, but they had a very good supply whatever the season

 

[Pigeon]

In some parts of greece they tend to tether and feed straw, and this stuff that's almost like dried corn on the cob? This is skyrian type ponies though, they're very good do-ers.

 

[Equinus]

Here in rural Bulgaria they make hay and lucerne for winter forage, but horses and donkeys are tethered in summer on pockets of common land which are all over the place, often by one leg. The poor owners tend to glean what grain they can from the fields after harvest for winter feed.

I should imagine there is land available for leisure horses very cheaply, and there is plenty of forage and feed to buy.