Riding right after feedng hi-fi?

hattie2525

hattie2525

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OK so im pretty sure I know the answer to this question but since im paraniod I thought I woud check anyway!
I have a 21 year old who is still in light work (schooling / hacking 4 times a week) who is REALLY fussy about hay, if he dont like it, he aint eating it! ATM I have a nice batch that he will eat if soaked but as im worried about him loosing weight im giving him a 'feed' of two scoops of dengie HI-FI lite when he comes in instead of a small haynet. He has it on its own and dry and is showing no signs of choke, he has never has colic in the 11 years I have owned him and is the slowest eater in history! BUT my dear old mum asked me if its ok for him to be ridden straight after/ halfway through eating is as the yard owner often brings him in for us and we arrive to ride and do evening yards right after this so he might be still muching. I said it was OK as its just fibre so its just like him eating hay but she wasnt convinced. I am right arnt I?
 
I asked an equine nutritionist this at my vets open night as my gelding is same and she said it was fine but I have to wet it and add handful of mix to make it paletable for him and he has always been fine.

also I have known a y/o who sent ponies out for lesson less than 1hr after concentrate feed- not right imo but there you go.
 
hattie, yes, you are right, it's a fibre feed and is absolutely fine to ride the horse straight after, I would say it is actually beneficial, as feeding some chaff/fibre before exercise stops stomach acids splashing about too high and causing ulcers:)
 
I wouldn't worry one jot. The chances are you won't be going faster than a walk for the first part of the ride anyway. How do you think wild horses cope when they have to suddenly run away from a threat? "Dear Mr Mountain Lion, can you wait half an hour to attack me as I found a nice patch of grass and I was a bit greedy..."???
 
Um, we were always told at Pony Club not to ride after feeding; I wouldn't do it with mine and certainly not with an older horse, but probably just me being fuss-assy. IMO horses should be left to eat in peace without being hassled or harried into work immediately afterwards or during.

Would any of us like it if we were interrupted during our meal and made to do something? Probably not!
 
I suspect the original rule of 'allow one hour after feeding' referred to a horse being given a traditional feed such as a large portion of oats, and then possibly being asked to work quite hard and fast! Fibre is digested in a different way to cereal feeds, plus horses don't tend to ingest it as fast, because they have to work quite hard to chew it which slows them down.

I think it is quite acceptable to work a horse which has eaten some form of fibre in the last hour, whether that is hay, grass or HiFi. However, if the horse has absolutely stuffed itself on a huge haynet or a whole tub of fibre food, then I would avoid hard and fast work immediately afterwards.

As someone else rightly pointed out above, vets often recommend feeding a portion of chaff immediately before work to ulcer-prone horses.
 
Fibre is digested in the hind gut, as someone else pointed out grass is fibre and wild horses don't wait around for their body to digest it before running away from a predator. Nature has given them a digestive system which accommodates the need to take flight at any given moment.
Only when we feed cereals which are digested before the hind gut do we need to allow time for the food to be digested and to pass through the stomach this is where the wait one hour rule comes into play.
It is perfectly fine to feed straight after a fibre only feed and is no different from bringing the horse in from the field or taking him away from his haynet to ride.

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
IMO horses should be left to eat in peace without being hassled or harried into work immediately afterwards or during.

Would any of us like it if we were interrupted during our meal and made to do something? Probably not!
Click to expand...

Beware of humanising them.
Eating for herbivores and carnivores is totally different, horses are designed to trickle feed for a minimum of 16 hours per day rather than our 3 square meals, providing it doesn't make him grumpy to ride then why would it be a problem?
OP suggests that her horse takes his time over his hi-fi so is unlikely to be being hassled
into work.
 
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