Swine Horses

Since I was going to be gone to Colorado, I wanted to make sure anyone checking on my horses for me didn't have to mess with feeding them, so Wednesday I drove over to Hutchinson, picked up a roundbale, and sat it in the main large pen.

I let them all out Wednesday evening to start eating on it. I had already began slowly reducing their grain intake so their system wouldn't go into shock, and they are used to getting pretty large quanities of alfalfa, so eating it free-choice wasn't too much of a change, either. But, since I was leaving Thursday morning, I wanted to make sure no one got a tummy ache overnight.

And they didn't.

In fact, they pretty much went all-out whole-hog on the roundbale, firmly believing the faster they ate it, the sooner they would get another. When I got home Sunday evening (yes, only 96 hours after they started noshing on it) the roundbale looked like this:


Here's a better look.

Once upon a time, that was 1600 pounds of beautiful, leafy, green alfalfa.

I should have known, though. When I first let them at the bale, they dug right in, filling their mouths and bellies like a bunch of ravenous raptors tearing into a brontosaurus.

"Who? Me?"

Yes, you.

Swine horses.

Just remember kids, it's just food. It's not love.