The species preferences of grazing horses
To help horse breeders in their choice for the right seed mixtures for their pastures this study was conducted. There is a lot of info about palatability for cows and sheep. But horses have a differend digestive system and the output is diffucult to measure because we don't drink the milk or eat the meat of horses. Therefor there a less guidelines and more questions about what is "best" for horses.
Horses are selective eaters, in an early study it was noticed that horses eat a large portion of one species while another was left untouched. Therefor you can asume that horses have a radar developed for sense of taste. Therefor you could say one spieces of grass (and plants) is more palatable then others.
They have tought about carring out the study with cut samples of species, but it was discarded because the palatibility changes when plants/grasses are cut down en dry out a bit.
A pasture was divided in strips, with 90 strips in total. Each strip contained 1 species of grass/herbs/legumes (or a mixture), 29 species and 2 mixtures in total. The horses all preferred some degree of mixture in there pastures. They moved from strip to strip, spending 5 tot 15 sec at each strip. But when the came to a strip with the variety the liked, the tend to stay longer.
Seasonal variations were noted and taking in to the study. Conclusion, the overall results did not differ much per season. The group of horses (thoroughbreds) were observed for 260 hours in total. The moste palatable was a clover-rich mixture but also several ryegrasses, timothy and cocksfoot where palatable.
Expert opinion by Jantine Steehouder
The study is really old, so with all the new species it is hard to say if the outcome would still be the same. However it is not strange notice that ryegrasses are at the top of the list. I think this still would be the same now, as this kind of grass has the moste sugar in it. Therefor you can assume it is tastier than other species. And to stay in that way of thinking, you could argue horses are instinctively sugar drivin (same as humans). But then again, there are more reasons for eating ryegrasses.
> From: Marytavy, J.BR. Grassld Soc. 28 (1973) 123-128. All rights reserved to Marytavy. Click here for the online summary.
