How Long After Riding Can You Feed (And Why)?

Exact Answer: After 1 to 2 hours

Having a much relative and fine sophisticated digestive system, horses are one of the largest animals. Basically in their environment, horses sustain just by in-taking massive amounts of forage over intervals in time. They mainly take different highly concentrated food meals per day including a small and nutritionally very rich amount of fine forage. And this all takes place in a domesticated environment. But those digestive complexities or problems just occur if the horse is, getting fed an inappropriate amount or another type of food.

But this type of misconduct in feeding the horse too happens if the horse’s diet plan is not followed according. This means that the horse should not be fed too early after being exercised also not before few hours of the exercise. So, basically, a horse is taken care of to the utmost level.

How Long After Riding Can You Feed?

Horses are basically suited for eating meager amounts of food throughout the whole day. And this is because they belong to the section grazing animals. They are only able to hold small amounts of food at any one time.

This is because they have small stomachs, but they nearly have a large 100 feet of intestine and colon that is where they place the digestion happens. Before they begin to move through the rest of their digestive parts tract and their food stays there in the stomach for only 20 minutes. And with this quite limited stomach capacity, it means that horses are very weak and susceptible to further gas problems or their initial build-ups. This can cause many fatal and serious problems.

The Human Society of the United States of America suggests that if we allow our horse to cool down and relax completely just after a healthy and fine ride or exercise before feeding him. The horse should not be breathing hard and fast. The horse should be having an economical heart rate. His skin should not be sweaty or heated when being touched. And if the horse doesn’t seem that calm, cool, and physically stable after the ride or exercise, its feeding must be avoided.

So, this will all result in the timing of a horse being feed after or before the exercise. All because of the horse’s sensitive digestive system. So, after exercise or a ride, the horse must not be fed before 1 to 2 hours. And not be fed after 2 to 3hours before a ride.

Why Can You Feed So Long After Riding?

So before proceeding further into the concerned topic a thing to be made is pretty clear that all these statements made before are mere results of research and other assumptions. So again coming back to the point, we already made it clear that how long will it take to feed the horse after a fine ride or exercise. But then soon another question arises that is why does it take this long to feed the horse after a ride or exercise. So answering this some reasons will be made ahead.

Abdominal pain is the most serious problem that is being seen between these horses. It is basically known as Colic is a very generic term. It refers to the generation of gas complications in the stomach of the horse. This colic in the most severe cases mostly leads to ruptures in the digestive tracts and then which leads to an uncertain death.

Mostly while the horse is having its exercise, the body of that horse will divert the blood away from its digestive system. This means that the horse digests its food too slowly. And this slow digestion or the lagging digestive system makes more chances for the increase in the chance of getting abdominal pain or colic.

This is the reason why horses are been fed before 2 to 3hours of riding to avoid such complications. And after riding the horse should be fed after 1 to 2hours. As we said before with excess sweating and a hot body it can harm the digestive system of the horse.

Conclusion

So at last concluding, it is made clear that the horse should be taken care of fully. All the detailed research should be done for domesticating a horse. Because if it’s exercise and riding is important, so as it’s also important to take care of his eating habits and the timings too. Just because it is an animal it should not get neglected and its food habit should be on a proper diet.

A horse having such a sensitive digestive system should be taken care of properly either if it will lack your utmost care or attention, then consequences will be hard upon you!

Reference

1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17425964.2011.558371
2. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1197&context=agext