Hay Grid Feeders Can Reduce Horses’ Intake

The team found that, in the same time span, horses consumed more of the offered hay when fed on the ground (60%) versus in the hay grid feeder (48%).
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How can we lengthen meal time while reducing calorie intake in obese horses? It might seem like a daunting task, but University of California, Davis, (UC Davis) researchers think they've found a solution: a hay grid feeder.

Obesity is linked to many equine health conditions, including insulin resistance and laminitis. To help obese horses shed pounds, owners must reduce their caloric intake by limiting meal size. This, however, comes with its own health challenges: Leaving horses—which evolved as continuous grazers—for long periods of time without feed can result in gastric ulcers.

“Stomach ulcers are produced by direct effect of gastric acid and by activation of enzymes that digest proteins by the same acid,” explained Jorge Nieto, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, an associate professor in surgical and radiological sciences at UC Davis.

Thus, the researchers set out to determine whether a hay grid feeder impacts the amount of time horses spend eating, amount of hay consumed, and intragastric pH versus feeding on the ground

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Kristen M. Janicki, a lifelong horsewoman, was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and later attended graduate school at the University of Kentucky, studying under Dr. Laurie Lawrence in the area of Equine Nutrition. Kristen has been a performance horse nutritionist for an industry feed manufacturer for more than a decade. Her job entails evaluating and improving the performance of the sport horse through proper nutrition.

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