What do wild horses eat in the snow?

[Coblover63]

Been panicking a bit about making sure my lot have enough to eat, but not so much that they put weight on. But at the same time I don't like to think that they are gorging their rations quickly and then standing around for hours at a time on snowy ground without anything to eat. I worry about them developing ulcers, for starters.

So my OH asked me how horses cope in the wild when there is prolonged snow on the ground.... like on Dartmoor, or Exmoor... or Shetland? And I told him I didn't have a clue, Do they just dig their way down or are their rations naturally reduced in preparation for the spring grass. Do wild horses have ulcers?

It has made me wonder, to be honest.....

 

[Littlelegs]

In the wild, they have a much larger area to roam, so more opportunity to find forage under the snow. And of course, the weak die in any population left unmanaged.

 

[Miss L Toe]

If they have no grass. feed hay twice a day, and make sure it is high fibre so they have to chew it.
Dartmoor for example is unlevel, with lots of areas which will be accessible, depth of snow is uneven.
Natives wil dig, and can live on lower level of nutrition.
They MUST have water.

 

[Crosshill Pacers]

To be honest all three of mine have been foraging quite successfully in quite deep snow at our place. Daisy in particular has no qualms about sticking her nose in deep snow and rooting around for grass.

They've also started eating rushes that stick out above the level of snow.

 

[suestowford]

They also eat gorse and brambles.

 

[Dubsie]

Our New Forest digs, he also does a good pruning fo the brambles and shrubbery round the hedges, he eats twigs, but mostly he digs till he finds grass. He eats the snow rather than bother to walk over to break the ice on the top of the water.