Why medieval horses were made to eat off the ground

Modern scientific research tends to agree that it is better for horses to eat at ground level as it mimics the natural movement of grazing and allows them to stretch their necks and backs. 

A 2019 article from Equus Magazine (https://equusmagazine.com/horse-care/eqfeed31003-8175) points out that floor-level feeding presents a number of advantages including a slower rate of consumption and increased chew time and saliva production. 

This knowledge is not new: medieval horsemen were already conscious of it. 

This is what the Italian knight Giordano Ruffo recommends in his veterinary treaty, the De Medicina Equorum (1250): 

“One thing must not be forgotten: it is obvious that the horse must continuously eat in that way on the ground next to his forefeet, so that he can barely take with his mouth the hay or the other food that is offered to him, because when he eats in that way, he stretches his neck and his head is made more slender and more able to be stopped, and in truth it becomes more beautiful to see and, thanks to that, the legs of the horse grow each day and they acquire a greater size due to the greater pressure put on the forelegs due to the act of eating in that way.”[1]

The reasons he gives for this are interesting and, at first sight, may appear a bit unscientific: it is difficult to see how eating on the ground will make the horse’s head slenderer. Or how it could really prompt a greater development of the forelegs as the weight shift on the forehand when the horse eats on the ground is not that significant. However, these remarks can be explained by empirical observations and conclusions drawn from the knowledge the author had of equine anatomy. This knowledge was not as developed as the one that is readily available today but that does not take away from the value and interest of Rufus’s advice. 

The comments on the head could be linked to the very real effects of eating off the ground on chewing and teeth development. It could maybe also be explained by the resulting development in the muscles of the neck that could, by comparison, make the head appear finer and more elegant. This development will certainly influence the way the horse carries himself. Thus, the aesthetical considerations do make sense. 

It is interesting to note that Rufus does not point out any potential effect of this manner of feeding on the horse’s back. This tends to be always the case in his treaty: the back is never mentioned in cases of lameness. The focus is always on the legs. Which, in a way, is logical since, in the case of lameness, even when it comes from pain in the back, the most obvious sign is a change in the horse’s gait. Is Rufus’s comment on the legs explained by his observation that, perhaps, the horse walked and carried his rider more easily due to a better development of the muscles of his back? 

In any case, and even if his remarks are not always right, Rufus’s advice to make the horse eat off the ground is sound and probably results from his practical experience (and experiments?) with horses, or from common knowledge transmitted orally from one horseman to the other. It likely, given some passages of the treaty, that Rufus had studied how horses acted in feral conditions. Is that why he realised that it would be better for them to eat off the ground when stabled, as they would when kept in a more natural setting? 

In the light of modern research, the advice to make horses eat off the ground is logical. This practice, which in a way is full of common sense, is not new. Then why is it still debated? 

[1] Translated from Jordani Ruffi Calabriensis Hippiatria, éd. Hieronymus Molin, Patavii, Typis Seminarii Patavini, 1818, pp. 6-7