As we walked through the barn we noticed some huge water troughs. Of course, we had to ask about them. It turns out that the troughs are used to water down the hay. The bales are soaked for at least 45 minutes before they are fed to the horses. The reason is to reduce the mould spores. Here the humidity is so high that when the hay is made, it never truly dries. With rains coming on a daily basis the hay does not get a chance to dry. So, the hay has to be bailed wet, which makes perfect breeding ground for mould. As the mould multiples the hay gets dustier, so it must be soaked in water to get rid of the larger quantities of mould spores. It is fed to the horses wet. Humh…much more difficult than the 3-day process we are used to, cut, dry and bale. As a result, the horses seem to have tougher stomachs and do not colic as easily as ours would off of the small mould content. Interesting!!!