I can speak here for Susankelly and Bruce - yes, they are tired. Me? I’m just grateful. But that aside, there are good reasons for doing night feedings. One of them is that we horses are grazing animals. If we were in nice green pasture 24/7 where yummy grass was available all the time, we’d be grazing all the time. A horse’s stomach needs to have food in it most of the time; when it doesn’t, we can be subject to colicking. Some of us are in the barn at night, (no grass), and others that are out with run-in sheds may have frozen ground, (no grass), snow, (no grass), or we already ate it all.
So late night feeding brings us hay, and another reason is that there are several older horses who can't eat hay because of their teeth and they are fed mashes. When doing night feeding they are able to get in another meal and then they feel full and happy.
The main reason Mylestone does night feedings - and that is to make sure we’re all OK. Many of us here have health problems - it’s why Mylestone took us. Sometimes we get sick at night or have some problem or another. When staff comes out to feed us, they do a nose count, so to speak, make sure everyone’s up and as we should be. It may be late, but if one of us were sick, at least we don’t have to wait `til morning for someone to find us. A while ago, when they came to feed us, they found Simon down in his stall, and he had a stomachache. Our nice veterinarian came in the middle of the night to help and treat him. Who knows what might have happened to him if he wasn’t found?
I’m glad they come to feed us at night - it makes us happy and we feel secure. We know they love us, even if they’re tired.
-- Your devoted correspondent, Dillon