Cowboy Bob's Questions and Answers - page 259 - Will eating scraps cause foundering?

Q&A Questions and Answers:

QUESTION:
Dear Bob,

My daughter is worried that giving the horses vegetable scraps will cause foundering. The horses probably get a (dishwasher soup) pail of scraps a week: the scraps include: potato peels, carrots, and sometimes broccoli. Will the two horses founder from this amount of vegetable scraps?

Thanks,

ANSWER:

From what you describe, the horses probably -- I say probably -- won't founder from those scraps. If push came to shove, however, I'd side with your daughter and err on the safe side. Horses can sometimes have rather finicky digestive systems, and sometimes the goofiest things can give them a bellyache -- what vets call "colic" -- which, in turn triggers founder. Horses are usually happy with grass hay and a bait of oats -- with an occasional treat thrown in as a reward for good behavior. Again, scraps like that will rarely cause a horse to founder, but why take even a tiny chance with critters that you've invested so much time, cash, and love on?

What to do with all those scraps? I'd either compost them or buy a pot belly pig for a pet!

I hope this helps. And yes, hard as it is for us older folks to admit, sometimes the youngsters are right!

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