My 2 horses have access to quality grass hay 24/7 and today they have started to ignore the hay and are both eating the moss out of the trees. My Tennesse Walker looks like a giraffe while trying to reach the upper branches. I have noticed them eating hay sporadically through out the day, but there isn't any moss in reach now on our 13 acres. I'm worried about stomach upset as I've never heard of horses eating this. They are both getting the same daily pellet feed and the only change has been the temperature to about freezing the last 2 nights. AS we live in Florida this is unusual.

Thank You

Where are you from? Florida

How did you locate this forum? msn

Hi Cindy,

Horses much prefer the fresh taste of moss to that of hay. It's the same when then have a choice between grass and hay -- they will always choose the fresh pasture. This is not a concern and provides additional nutrients to their diet.

When horses lived in the wild, they ate all sorts of goodies -- moss, leaves, nuts, berries, flowers, grains, bark, etc. to get variety into their diets. Today we feed horses the same thing day in and day out, and they look for variety when possible. This is why it's always a good idea to fill in the gaps that exist in their domesticated diets with a good vitamin/mineral supplement.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO