Horses eating fish?

[Ruthy]

Okay, so I was talking to this woman today and she told me about an Icelandic pony she had acquired that had lived off eating only fish for about three years. This seems so bizarre and unlikely, I really wanted to put it out there and see if anyone has ever heard of this???

[deltawave]

Sounds like a pretty tall tale. :)

[Evalee Hunter]

I DO think there are circumstances where Icelandic ponies are fed fish. I have read it elsewhere & have also seen it on a thread here just in the last day or two. Think it was the thread about "what scientific facts do you know about horses".

[webmistress32]

in Iceland they feed fish because they have minerals and fat that the horses need.

I think they feed them salted too, and the horses benefit from the salt.

this is true.

whether or not it was the horse's entire diet I'd wonder.

[webmistress32]

"The main protein sources in Iceland are fish and fish products, for example has salted herring been used as protein supplement for winter fed or grazed horses for many decades."

[Anselcat]

I also was told, when in Iceland, that they feed herring during the winter to supplement the diet. So yeah, I believe that a horse might have had only herring to supplement its grass and hay, no grain. But herring alone for three years? I just don't think a horse's system could adapt to that.

[Bluey]

We had a horse that caught and ate the goldfish in their water tanks.
I saw him once catch a 4" one and swallow it.:eek:
The horse's name was Trouble, 'nuff said.:p

[fourmares]

Being that at one point I had an Icelandic passport (although I have never lived in Iceland) I can tell you that Icelandic people have a rather wicked sense of humor. One would probably delight in telling someone a story like that and knowing that they would tell the story again and again to all their American friends. It is also possible that horses in Iceland do get some sort of fish based suppliment, although I don't recall my grandfather ever mentioning it. My uncle has a whole herd of them that live wild on an island... they don't get any suppliments at all.

[coloredhorse]

A little skeptical of the Icelandic horse story, but my old pinto mare proved to be rather fond of grilled tuna salad when offered the same by a visiting relative. She spit the cucumbers out, but seemed to enjoy everything else, including the tuna.

[allpurpose]

This tail sounds pretty fishy to me!:lol:

[i_x3_theponiez]

HAHAHA I acutally laughed out loud when i read the title of this thread!
according to John Cleese, horses eat meat, other horses, and lobster!

[cloudyandcallie]

for 2 years my horses took a supplement containing shark cart.