horse bolting feed problem

Question
hello madam, why few horses bolt at their feed? why did they develop this bad habit?

Answer
Hello Caine,

Thank you for your question.  It is hard to say exactly why some horses bolt their feed.  It could be a defense mechanism for horses that eat in large groups, as they are trying to finish their feed before they are pushed aside by a more dominant horse.  They could bolt their feed because they are extremely hungry and have gone too long without food.  Or they could bolt their food simply because they are glutens.  

The most immediate concern associated with a horse bolting their food is that they will choke.  The esophagus of the horse is uni-directional...meaning that food can only go from the mouth to the stomach and not the other way, horses can not vomit.  So if a horse eats it's food too quickly it can become lodged somewhere in their lengthy esophagus, and creates a blockage of food referred to as choke.  Colic, which occurs in the hindgut of the horse, is generally not a concern in cases where horses bolt their food.  There are a few things you can do to slow down the rate at which a horse eats its grain.  Feed smaller amounts of grain at a time may help, or adding a large inedible object(s) to the feed pale like large rocks or salt blocks will force the horse to pick around the item to get smaller bites of food.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, Corlena