[BlueSpark]

Apparently some were getting meat and bone meal and that was one way "mad cow disease" was spread. It was never standard practice and many places legislated against it when it came to light.

forcing many mammal species to become cannibals causes disease, and that was what was causing the mad cow, feeding cattle ground up members of their own species. It was common for a long time.

interestingly their is a human equivalent, which has been documented in several circumstances.

I don't think a horse is made to be an omnivore exactly, but the odd bit of animal protein wont kill them. Pickles will steal cheese burgers any chance she gets.

 

[trailhorserider]

Back when I was younger and dumber, I gave one of my horses a piece of chicken nugget just to see if he would eat it. He did. We also gave them dog bones (like milk bones) as treats. Now THAT can't be healthy. But it never did them harm.

 

[stevenson]

as a teen I had a horse that like bologna and catsup sand which.I have had two horses that would fish the mosquito fish out of the water troughs. They would stand over the trough with whiskers touching and then bob for the fish when they came up.
i saw a documentary and it showed deer, wild horses eating a dead animal, not the smae species.
Mad cow started from feeding cows, dead cows.
I would be concerned about botulism.

 

[Change]

Back when I was younger and dumber, I gave one of my horses a piece of chicken nugget just to see if he would eat it. He did. We also gave them dog bones (like milk bones) as treats. Now THAT can't be healthy. But it never did them harm.

Have you ever read the ingredients in dog treats? It has more vegetable matter than meat by-product. If my horse would eat them, I'd treat her with them - they're a lot less expensive than horse treats!

 

[Bondre]

I don't think processed meat (aka our food) really counts, it's not the same and they probably can't distinguish.

Yes, I agree that our meat products are mostly light years away from a real dead animal. A couple of people have mentioned their horses liking chicken nuggets, and my thoughts were 'not much meat in them'!

Sparrows? Ick.

The sparrow was pretty much freeze-dried and I think the quantity of meat on it was negligeable.
But all those feathers :-( . Even the cats leave the wing feathers when they eat sparrows.
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[squirrelfood]

Back when I was younger and dumber, I gave one of my horses a piece of chicken nugget just to see if he would eat it. He did. We also gave them dog bones (like milk bones) as treats. Now THAT can't be healthy. But it never did them harm.

Why? They are mostly grain.

 

[skiafoxmorgan]

My Bandit loved going through the drive-through at Burger King. I always bought him a burger and fries. In fact, they got to know him and the cashiers would feed him fries through the window.

 

[squirrelfood]

Also nothing new, A century past Irish farmers fed their horses potatoes.

 

[trailhorserider]

Have you ever read the ingredients in dog treats? It has more vegetable matter than meat by-product. If my horse would eat them, I'd treat her with them - they're a lot less expensive than horse treats!

Why? They are mostly grain.

No, we currently don't have a dog and I don't remember checking the ingredients. I know they are probably mostly grain but I guess I assumed they had some source of animal protein in them, or bone meal.

What's interesting, is the horse treats at Tractor Supply. The Dumor brand. I bought my guys a bag of those and as I got to looking at them, I noticed they are shaped like the ends of dog biscuits. So I think they use the same mold, and just cut them short. If you are ever at Tractor Supply, take a look! They are also the consistency of dog biscuits. So maybe I'm feeding dog biscuits now too. :lol:

 

[trailhorserider]

I was trying to find a picture of the Dumor treats, and apparently they changed their shape. The dog-bone looking one (like I am feeding) is on the right.

Apparently the newest ones are heart-shaped. :-o

 

[Little Jane]

My mare loves sandwiches. Won't touch an apple, but loves sandwiches. Her favorite is peanut butter, but she'll take cheese and ham, too. Once I gave her a piece of beef-and-lettuce sandwich: she ate the bread but spit out the meat and lettuce! She also loves dried pineapple and rice crispy treats.

I had a horse eat a tissue once. I pulled it out to blow my nose, and the horse stuck his nose in my face, so I said, "Silly boy, it's just my tissue" and held it out for him to sniff. Into the mouth it went! My friend saw a horse eat a plastic straw out of a take-out cup. Similar situation: the horse was messing with the person's space, so the person held out the cup and said, "Look, this is mine." The horse downed the straw!!

 

[Change]

We learned with a couple of our horses never to leave a beer or soda bottle where they could reach it. They'd grab the neck with their teeth, upend the bottle and drink the contents. One mare we had would then return the bottle to where she'd found it... drove a few of my friends nuts thinking they were drinking waaaaaaaay too much beer until they caught on. ;-D

 

[Bondre]

That sounds like my son as a 2yo . He would take swigs out of any glass of beer within reach until we caught on to why he was laughing so much and our beer disappeared so fast!

My old BO used to give her favourite horse Guiness as a treat. He loved it. I also remember her making him buckets of tea, complete with milk and sugar.
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[jmike]

whiskey and dixie love tortilla chips ... but not pretzels

whiskey likes ice breakers, and once kicked at me because i would not give her my beer (that got solved real fast)

 

[stevenson]

Hubbys TB mare loved cheetos. Moose will steal a beer and a soda.

 

[cheyennemymare]

Cheyenne won't eat anything meat related, dead, alive, or processed. But she did eat an inchworm once Twister loves bread, and once he got some of my turkey. Now he's hooked! Every show, if I pack a sandwich, he WAITS for turkey on his bread. However, I wouldn't like it if he took to eating sparrows... If Cheyenne smells something dead, she goes 'on alert'. She starts smelling the air and scanning the area.