What drives this amazing animal
to spend 70% of their time just .... eating
Research carried out for more than 18 years in monitoring the behavior of horses in freedom, show that these grazing animals spend about 70% of their time eating and 30% sleep and socialize.
The need for many small meals throughout the day, is directly related to the fact that biologically have a small stomach with about 15 liters, to be always able to run.
HORSE AND CHEW NEED
To digest the many small meals that performs throughout the day, the horse digestive system produces continuously gastric acid with high levels of enzyme action in the small intestine and high rates of microbial fermentation in the large intestine.
The health of your horse starts with his need to chew. With chewing, he produces enzyme-rich saliva that neutralizes the constant acid in his stomach. When the stomach is empty, he will look for anything to chew to neutralize that building acid. When not allowed to graze and move at his leisure, his mind and body will want to chew on whatever is available, such as fences. Though this action will be annoying to you, it is a biological need for him.
SLOW FEEDING | KEEPING THINGS MOVING
The horse’s digestive system uses both high levels of enzymatic action (prebiotic) in the small intestineand high rates of microbial fermentation (probiotic) in the large intestine, also known as the caecum or hindgut. He functions best by grazing, eating small amounts of roughage over an extended period, and moving casually along, which aids the digestive tract muscles to move the roughage through the digestive system and expel unused fiber.
If your horse is stalled and fed a flake or two of hay every five hours or more, with little to no turnout time to keep those muscles working, you may eventually start to see symptoms of a weakened or stressed digestive tract. You must understand that roughage needs to be processed through his digestive tract at all times to ensure his intestinal tract muscles continue functioning.
When stomach acids are allowed to build up in an empty stomach, they can travel and damage the entire gastrointestinal tract, potentially leading to stomach disorders, muscle cramping, ulcers, insulin resistance or even colic. There is also the chance he could develop laminitis.
Revolutionize the way you feed your horse
Many small meals through out the day with iFEED
Rather than forcing our horses to adapt to our feeding schedules, we should feed based on the feeding schedules nature designed for them ...
...The natural slow feeding way.
iFEED | THE SOLUTION
Horses are grazing animals with stomachs designed to handle slow feed intake in small portions. The Automatic Horse Feeder – iFEED system was developed based on this simple concept of adapting how horses are fed in the barn to how horses graze in nature. This was the thought that Christian T Dahl had when he developed iFEED in Denmark in 1995.
...Many Small Meals
Tested about 20 years on farms and stud farms in northern Europe and the United States, this technology allows you to program multiple meals throughout the day, thus seeking to imitate the natural rhythm of grazing horse power, making the horse stable healthiest and in good shape.
With iFEED you can feed up to 720 small portions in 24 hours and design how, when and how much you feed each of your horses in a manner that will keep your horses engaged in their favorite activity.... EATING.