Ad Lib forage for good doer

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IsabelleJ

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I have had Sidney for 6 days now. As it is winter, my yard has restricted turnout, with horses going out in the field for 7 hours 4 days a week. I would like him to have ad lib hay or some sort of forage, as I don't agree with horses not having something to munch on constantly. Unfortunately, his previous owner has told me that he is a very good doer, so he probably would balloon if I were to give him ad lib hay!

Are there any products on the market that would be suitable for this purpose? There is a possibility that I could soak his hay for 12 hours or so, but it would probably only be a limited quantity that I could do. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Thanks,

Isabelle
 
you could use Hi Fi Lite.

What breed is he?

You can also buy 'old' or 'pony' hay from some farmers which is hay which has less nutritional value than normal, and is fab for good doers (and usually cheaper too).
 
You could always soak the hay over night so that it loses some of the nutritional value and then feed it in a horse hage net so that he eats slowly
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My Welsh has ad lib hay but I give him year old stuff so it does not have too much goodness in it. I think you will be fine so long as it is not too good haqy and you keep your horse well exercised. I too cannot stand seeing horses stood about with nothing to eat. They should have ad lib hay at least even if it is soaked just so they have something to munch on!
 
The only way I keep my welshies weight under control in wnter is to feed them half and half hay and (clean !) barley straw. Fills them up but very low calories.
 
I would also recomend good straw. As said before, it fills them up and has low callories. And keeps them busy in finding the good parts in the straw.
 
Echo the half hay, half straw idea, you could also half fill a bucket with hi fi light and add some high fibre cubes, leave it to soak and that should keep him occupied whilst still being fairly low calorie.
 
I'm not sure how I'll be able to soak hay, so will inquire into that. I have to get my hay from the yard, so I don't think that old hay is a possibility. I was wondering if something like Hi Fi Lite would work - that might be an easier option to try to start with. I will look into getting some good straw as well - thanks for the ideas!

He's a Shire/TB, and he does eat quite fast, but I like them to have hay off the ground so haynets are out
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Isabelle
 
I also would say half straw half hay, but not oat straw, it has quite a lot of calories, give wheat straw.
 
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I also would say half straw half hay, but not oat straw, it has quite a lot of calories, give wheat straw.

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oat straw does not have alot of calories, it is in fact a main ingredient in many chaff based feeds aimed at laminitics, due to it being a low calorie fibre source!!
i use either oat or barley straw for my welshies, otherwise i would have to feed add-lib haylage and they would balloon!
 
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