A bit of advice re; encouraging horse to eat more forage?

[PennywithHenry]

I might be just being a bit panicky here, but I just thought I'd ask, how much hay would you expect a 15.1hh horse to eat overnight?

I'm looking after a friends 15hh l/w mare as the owner's having problems with her pregnancy.

She's a nice old mare, seems a happy little soul, but just doesn't seem to eat a lot. She's not poor, but rather a funny shape, needing a little more weight, she's in her 30's, and had a full health and teeth check up not long ago.

She spent the day out and munched on about 1/4 of a bale of hay, she wasn't hungry, as she left some, grazed a little and snoozed a bit.

I brought her in as she likes to be in bed at night, part of the reason I'm looking after her, her owners other horse is at grass livery but this doesn't suit this little mare, she's miserable if out 24/7. Overnight (about 8 hours) she ate about a slice of hay, that's all.

She doesn't seem to struggle eating the hay, and as I mentioned she had the EDT not long ago. It's nice hay, she has it from the floor as she struggles with nets, which she's fine with. Her appetite seems fine, she tucked into her breakfast, but not with the gusto of a hungry horse, just a healthy appetite.

It just doesn't seem a lot for a horse her size to eat. I know my mare's bigger, but I used to own a 14.3hh who ate more than this.

This little hay consumption seems to be the norm, but am I right to be worried? She doesn't get on with haylage, is fed 3 times a day on a soaked senior conditioning mix, sugar beet and Alpha A, is alert, lively and happy, I just feel she should eat a bit more overnight?

ETA; I've tried feeding her her last meal earlier, out in the field, but it makes no difference to the amount of hay she eats.

Is there anything I can do to encourage her to eat more, or should I just let her get on with it, seeing as she's happy etc?

 

[OrangeEmpire]

if you're worried about it, you could do this:

I leave a feed bucket of chaff (dry so he doesn't wolf it down) in with my boy overnight. Seems to just supliment his fibre intake overnight as he's not a great hay eater either.

 

[Daisy11]

try putting molasses on it but if shes happy and seems well in her self then leave it

 

[AmyMay]

How good is the grazing she's on?

Thumper barely touches his hay when I bring him in.

 

[Pink_Pampas]

Mine will only eat a section per night after grazing all day. I give him a bucket of chaff and a snack ball with high fibre cubes in, and he eats both of those.

 

[PennywithHenry]

QR

Thanks for those suggestions, I'll pick up some chaff later and put some in overnight for her. The grazing is poor, there's very little on it, the other paddock's are being rested, hence them being in the winter paddock which doesn't produce a lot of grass (though has great drainage!) with hay. Maybe she's finding more grass than I realise?

 

[OrangeEmpire]

Your Alfa A should be perfectly suitable if you want to use that. if not i'd be using something like HiFi or Apple Chaff so that you're not suddenly adding loads of sugars. That way you're adding fibre, not calories, assuming you're happy with her weight?