Veterinary offers advice on maintaining your horse's well-being
Experts' Corner -Equine Guelph

Should I use a hay net to feed while trailering my horse?

I found it very interesting to learn that it is recommended that horses' heads should be down while eating to facilitate clearance of dust from their windpipe and lungs.

How can we apply this concern while trailering? If you tie your horse, then what are your options for feeding other than a hay net/bag?

Do you have any suggestions?

Dr. Laurent Viel, Ontario Veterinary College:

There is scientific evidence demonstrating that hay net feeding is one of the major causes of aspiration pneumonia i.e. feed particles accessing the windpipe and getting sucked into the lung and then infecting that area.

In their natural environment, horses will only graze, and this is of significant importance because the airway passage of the horse is very long(1.5 meters in a mature horse).

One very important mechanism to help keep the airways clear of secretions is to keep the head down. This head position helps to move the excess secretions up the windpipe to be swallowed or coughed out.

For horses travelling for a long period of time, not only are their immune systems compromised by the stress of transportation, but they are also more prone to lung abscess or pleuritis (infection of the space between the chest wall and the lungs).

The latter is often the result of contaminated secretions from the upper airway and windpipe coming back down into the lungs due to consistent head elevation and lack of natural clearing of the airways.

Therefore, it is not recommended to leave a hay net with hay in a trailer during long periods of transit but instead you could provide occasional stops to allow access to hay and water outside the trailer.

Over shorter distances such as 2-3 hour trips, the horse should be fed when reaching the destination

To learn all about horse health & safety visit www.equimania.ca

Printed with permission of Equine Guelph, University of Guelph. Visitwww.EquineGuelph. ca or call 519-824-4120 ext54205