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Rant: BO gave my horse grass cuttings?! wth?!

3K views 27 replies 10 participants last post by  MacabreMikolaj 
#1 ·
Okay , so last week i went to much dealers stable out only to find there was no poo I instantly thought okay wheres the poo gone as theres usually 3 or 4. So thats okay I go to bring him in and he has his rug on , he wears his rug out through the day? so I tack him up and ride him , he was very bad tempered and wasn't listening , bring him in go to give him some haylage and there isn't any . I came to the conclusion that she ran out of haylage so she put him out on grass to fill him up , but she never mentioned anything to me.
I didn't say anything to her about it I just left it to see what she would do next.
Today I arrive at the yard only to find no poo and a big pile of grass cuttings in his stable! Correct me if im wrong but could that not give him Colic?! I looked in all the other stables and there wasnt a single blade of grass in any of them? I removed them and told my mum . My mum confronted her about it and she openly said that said that she gave it to him . When i said i removed them she told me that
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#2 ·
I "Wasnt very nice". She is either thick or she is trying to set me up or something! My mum also confronted her about him being out at night and she said only when the weathers good . It has rained non-stop the past 2 weeks and he has been out all week , explain that? Im going to contact Dealers owner about this .
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#5 ·
I have always been told NEVER to give a horse grass cuttings as it can cause colic. She only gave MY horse the grass . I am going to ask her why she gave him it tomorrow and tell her to stop . I am also ringing his owner . Do you think im over reacting?
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#6 ·
It doesn't matter what she thinks in the end-it's YOUR horse. If you don't want it to be getting grass cuttings, she doesn't have much say in the matter.

Or...is it your horse? Either way, whatever you and/or the owner decides is the right thing.
 
#9 ·
I am very worried right now , I don't know how much she gave him. I still can't understand why she gave it to him and ONLY him . The only thing I can think of is that she didn't expect me over so early and is trying to set me up. As i said before im contacting his owner asap and sorting this out tomorrow.
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#12 · (Edited)
Luck?


We NEVER give our horses grass cuttings for the choking danger, among others.

Our TB tends to gulp his food, and is an at risk horse for choke. Our other horse is NOT a gulper but I wouldn't give her grass cuttings either. In nature, a horse must use his lips and teeth to tear the grass before eating it, this slows down the process. Freshly cut grass bypasses this process, speeding up consumption..... adding to the choke risk is the fact that cut grass clumps together.

THAT is our primary reason for not feeding grass cuttings. Also, consider that some farms use tractors to cut their grass, adding fuel/exhaust issues, which can coat the grass.

Our former BO wouldn't even let boarders hand graze their horses on her fresh cut grass until 24 hours had passed and the fuel/exhaust fumes which may have clung to it had evaporated.

Then you've got the fermentation issue.....


Just too many reasons NOT to feed grass cuttings for us to risk it's possible consequences. JMO

Agree with above poster in that since it's not really your horse, there is nothing you can do but tell the horse's owner and see if they agree with it or not.
 
#11 ·
I think it depends on how the clippings are handled. If they are piled up and left before giving to the horse, then that is bad. If they are left where they have been cut, it's not much of a problem.

Yes, the grass could be treated for weeds, but so are pastures, fields and ditches that are used for hay.

Can they cause colic or choke? Maybe. When the horse eats cuttings, they can eat quicker and may not chew enough. Chewing causes the horse to produce saliva. If there isn't enough, possibly the horse could choke. I'm not sure about colic though, unless the horse isn't used to grass.

If you are that concerned, call the horses owner and explain what has happened. If the owner doesn't like it either, maybe they'll move the horse. If it doesn't bother the owner, you don't have much say in it.
 
#16 ·
It can choke a horse

If the horse is starved - but then so can anything.

A horse does NOT need to be starved or previously starved to suffer from choke...period.

Feeding grass cuttings is a personal choice, Jamie. some do, some don't. Each have what they feel are good reasons why they do or don't.
 
#22 ·
awww, you "feel for me"? How...uh...sweet.:shock:

Moving on: My horse, who is DEFINATELY not a hungry horse, has choked twice.....which, in his case, shoots down your theory. My VET says he is choke prone due to his temprament....which is aggressive and high strung. He meets my vets criteria for choke and not yours...so, i will go ahead and believe my vet.

My vet is, after all, a certified DVM with more experience with horses than 20+ years on "your farm".

Blanket statements from an unknown internet persona like "the #1 cause for choke is a hungry horse" is misleading because there are MANY causes for choke and some horses who are DEFINATELY not hungry are prone to it.

In the two cases you provided, you stated one was due to bad teeth....the other horse was starved then? or was the cause something else?

If so, from your PERSONAL experience with choke one was starved, the other had bad teeth....that is still only 50/50. Certainly not enough to state that hunger is the #1 cause.


My point: my vet has a wide range of experience spanning decades...over various breeds, health conditions and area (he services two states)....he told us our horse is the typical choke risk he sees: aggressive and high strung.

As I said, I prefer to believe him over some unknown internet persona with limited personal dealings with this condition.

As I see it, this should not make anyone angry or snarky. If it does, you need to question yourself as to why you would EXPECT anyone to discount their vet's own observation over an anonymous internet person....or why it matters so much to you.
 
#27 ·
The article I posted was written by Larry Lawrence, Ph.D., a nutritionist with Kentucky Equine Research (KER). This is a person who has specifically studied nutrition in horses. A person on this forum told me that they trusted their vet more. My sister is a vet and she gave me an idea of how much their education was on this issue......

They also went so far as to imply that this author was an internet crackpot. <sigh>
 
#28 ·
If balled up grass doesn't ferment, how exactly do you explain compost? :-|

I know it's often a personal decision, but consensus has always been that the grass HAS to be laid out to dry evenly first. The number one issue with feeding grass clippings is raking them into a pile and allowing the sun to start fermenting it on the inside. Anyone with a compost bin knows how this works, as opposed to simply drying out in the sun. I have cleaned up grass the following day and while the outside may be dry, the inside is hot and gooey already.

I also disagree with the choke, I have never heard of that before. I don't know what the statistics are, but I've never heard of them before exponentially higher in rescue horses. Shay-las mare chokes because she bolts her food, even when out grazing and on free choice hay all day. I've known tons of food bolters and none of them were "hungry" horses. Hay can cause choke to, so that theory is seriously flawed in my opinion.
 
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