DO NOT FEED HORSES GRASS CUTTINGS!!!
This is horrendous and we’re all devastated. Our gorgeous, healthy, happy and much-loved family horse Boston has been killed by somebody feeding our horses a pile of grass cuttings last night. He was the best horse in the world and we can’t believe he’s gone.
The worst part is knowing that this could have been prevented and our lovely Boston could be with us now if he hadn’t been fed accidentally and unknowingly this way. I understand that people who do not have horses will not understand the severity of this but I’m hoping I can reach a few by sharing our story.
PLEASE DO NOT FEED HORSES GRASS CUTTINGS!!!
I’ve been asked to expand on the reasoning for not feeding horses cut grass which I thought this was a good idea as I would like to possibly prevent something like this happening again with someone else, if I could:
Because cut grass is much smaller than grass taken up by horses themselves, a horse eating cut grass wouldn’t chew it and would gorge themselves quickly on it. This would result in saliva not being added to the cut grass and “diluting” it before it reaches the stomach. Cut grass also ferments (which is why it can be warm to touch) and along with the saliva not being added, gives off gases inside the stomach.
These gases cause the stomach to expand to the point of rupture in severe cases like ours with Boston, killing the horse. If the stomach doesn’t rupture due to not as much grass having been eaten, it would instead cause colic in the horse which is dreadful pain in the abdomen which could then lead to killing the horse later too however colic can be treatable.
Horses also do not have a “vomit” reflex meaning they can’t take up the harmful substances once eaten. Another point would be if a horse has been given lawn mower cuttings. These cuttings may also have different plants in, other than grass which could lead to the horse eating kinds of plants that are commonly found but that are poisonous to them and would have otherwise been avoided by the horse due to not being able to take back up the substances.
I hope this post spreads so people can understand how horrific this is. Thank you for reading.
Credit Alana Lester