I usually feed mine his cubes soaked but not soupy, with a little electrolyte powder sprinkled on top. Usually I use hot water and stick another bucket on top of it to sort of steam them. If I overestimate the water and they get soupy he won’t touch them. Very annoying.
He’s also pretty thrilled with a small dry piece or two as a treat if I don’t have any normal treats handy.
If I had to work through hay cubes, and the horse didn’t like them soaked, I’d just hammer them into piece. It’s not worth the increased risk of choke from full hay cubes. They tend to be pretty hard (I know some brands are softer), and it can result in a large glob of hard, dry “paste” in the mouth, which is the choke risk.
Yes, pellets are a risk, but MUCH lower than cubes. Horses who choke on pellets of any sort tend to have issues chewing properly, either due to teeth issues, or their habits (not chewing thoroughly, huge mouthsful, bolting, etc).
And then once I was through with the cubes, I’d be all over the pellets. 1lb of pellets is more quickly eaten than 1lb cubes, and is a smaller volume, which is good from a time constraint issue, and if you have a horse who has a volume, rather than weight limit on how much they’ll eat in a sitting. Yes, pellets means less chew time and saliva, but the assumption is there is enough long-stem forage in the diet (which is know is or has been resolved with this OP), so isn’t a factor.
Mine too! They love the bits that flake off. They get so excited like it is something special, not something they eat pounds of a day :lol:
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