They Starve Horses????

My mom says that I am very lucky. She told me that she has written articles and seen TV shows about people that actually don't feed their horses! What???

She said this happens all over the world and that she even saw one case on TV where the people had hay and grain in the barn but did not even bother to feed it to the horses. The horses were so hungry, they were eating the barn! Yuck!

I know there are paddocks that don't have grass in them because I have been housed in some of them during my life, and I know how hungry I felt when my hay ran out and I had nothing to eat for a few hours. It was terrible! I cannot even imagine what it would be like to not have anything at all to eat for weeks at a time or longer. *shudder*

My tummy always lets me know when I need more to eat and that's quite often. I am a horse after all, and we are made to graze most of the time. We cannot go that long without food!

So, listen up, humans. Your horse, like me, needs forage like grass and hay as his or her main diet. I guess, from what I have heard, that humans eat something like 3 meals a day and go without in between. I do not know if this is true, but we horses are not made that way. We have small stomachs and are made to have food moving through on a continuous basis.

My mom is very careful with my diet because I am what she calls "insulin resistant." I still get treats, but few and usually sugar free. Mom gives me yummy green hay in the winter. But the spring is tough because I am kept off grass during the daytime. I guess that's when the sugars are the highest. I don't know anything about this, just that it tastes yummy all the time and it makes me a bit depressed to see the others out eating grass and I cannot be.

I felt sorry for myself about this until I heard about these poor starving horses. I don't think I will complain anymore when I am kept off grass. Oh, who am I kidding? I will still complain. But I will understand more.

I hope all those horses not getting enough to eat out there all find food and I hope humans punish the terrible people who let them starve. Is a horse allowed to think such thoughts of humans? Hmmmm.