It’s a good stretching exercise for you and your horse.

All of her life, my grandmother could not only touch her toes, she could place her palms flat on the floor.  Me, on the other hand, could never touch my toes, except when sitting in the saddle.

One of my boarders, the other day, came to visit her old retired horse.  He’s been here since March, but she’s only come several times to see him.  She’s so involved with her children and their new horses who are showing pretty much every weekend.  It’s either that or lessons.  She lives over an hour away, so we’re not around the corner.

Well she was amazed in the change in his body.  He came in with a big hay belly, but not a top line.  We think he’ll be 24 this year, but it could be 25.  He now has a top line, slimmed down the belly and just looks fantastic.  Coat bright and shiny.  Attitude, alert and happy.  He is a pasture ornament, there is absolutely no work involved in his day, other than napping, eating, and an occasional romp around the pasture.

She couldn’t believe it.  How could it possibly be?  I told her what I tell everyone.  There is a peaceful energy here.  They are turned out and allowed to be horses, and they get good quality feed and hay.  She didn’t understand, what being turned out and being allowed to be horses truly means.  So I explained.

I’ve said this many times, but stay with me.  A horses body is meant to be in continual motion, grazing.  Every system in a horses body is made to be in constant movement.  They were created to eat off the ground. This requires stretching of the neck and use of the back and stomach muscles.  So when a horse eats from a natural position, all this comes into play.  He had been eating in a stall with a manger at shoulder level and I assume a hay rack.  He wasn’t using his body at all.

With this being said, I decided to search the internet to see what was out there and if they agreed with me.  Surprise, they did.

Can’t remember what site it was, but it was a reliable study.   This is what they came up with –

Feeding off the ground is a natural feeding position.

1. It slows consumption of food – It is a more relaxed position.  They eat smaller mouthfuls.  They chew it better.  It is better mixed with saliva.  It helps reduce choking or impaction.
2. Improves nutrition – They chew more and with their head down there is more saliva and the food is better prepared for digestion.  They have more intake of vitamins and minerals and more nutrients are absorbed.
3. Reduced Irritants – They inhale less irritants with their head down.  There are less irritants that will get in their eyes.  A lower head promotes airway drainage and the flushing out of inhaled dust or hay particles.

I never gave it this much thought, but it all makes sense.  I just looked at for what it is, a natural position, and God knew what he was doing when he created them.  That was good enough for me.

People get crazy when you feed a horse off the ground.  Oh they’ll ingest sand.  Their heads are too close to the bedding, they’ll inhale the dust.  Well I try to sweep the bedding away from their buckets and 98% of the time they’re eating out in the pasture. Do I worry about sand colic?  Yes a lot since I moved to Florida, but I give them Psyllium the first week of every month and don’t worry about it.

I really can’t explain why I do some of the things I do.  I just look to what is natural in the real world of horses, and go from there.

So now I have solid evidence to back up what I have been doing for years.

The reason his top line improved – I let him be a horse.