Horses need to feed on forage and forage includes hay or grasses.  We have a 1.5 hectare finca with coffee, orange trees, and lots of different grasses.  But horses can be picky and they will eat the grasses they like, leaving the rest.

We have found that it really doesn’t take that long for a few horses to pick areas of the finca, eating it right down to dirt.  The first three horses we acquired, seem to like a certain grass, whereas my own horse, Apache, has learned to love mani and we have plenty of that. 

Apache has been very happy in the fields, eating his mani but when the other horses wander off, he has been rather vocal about being alone in the mani.  He doesn’t like to be alone and will tear off in a gallop looking for other horses. 

Since not all of the horses like mani, we have been looking for alternatives to feed.  Hay is for horses and they love hay, but in Panama, there seems to be a real shortage.  I remember when I lived in David, I would see a sign “Se Vende Pacas” and a stack of hay bales lay under the roofed area of a former gas station.  But nowadays, there isn’t anything there. 

Terry and Judith have been on a mission to find hay.  They’ve asked in David, in Boquete,  and online.  It seems hay is not something that Panamanians feel is essential for feeding horses or livestock (at least not during the rainy season).  It makes me wonder however, if it isn’t available during the rainy season, how will it ever be available during the dry season when nothing grows.  What do the animals eat then????