ahhh wish I had kept mare where she was!!!!

hihosilver

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I have made a huge mistake as the weather had really improved 2 weeks ago so I moved by young mare from super grazing with haylage to a field which is just mud and YO wont put hay out:( so in 10 days she has lost a lot of weight so am feeding her conditioning cubes, fast fibre and haylage when she come in. Has anyone got any other ideas what to feed her??
 
I have a photo I took today of her...it is in my albums but cant seem to get it on page to show you. She is well not really thin but she has lost an awful lot in 10 days.
 
You are the owner, you made the decision on your horse's behalf. You have to sort it out pronto. Is that not what you were expecting to hear from posting this on a forum :confused:
 
They will fight if they are hungry, hay or no hay, if they have enough and get their fill they soon settle, it is not fair to expect horses to be out with no hay or grass, hard feeds alone are not going to be enough to keep the weight on.
 
What rugs is she wearing ? Can you section an area off so whilst you are poo picking etc she can eat hay away from other horses, or bring her out of the field and tie up with a net.
 
she has 2 rugs on. A heavy weight with a neck and a medium weight. I have been bringing her in every day and giving her a feed and as much haylage she will eat. I could move back but this awful weather cant last can it??? If I move her I bet the sum will come out:D:D:D
 
You are the owner, you made the decision on your horse's behalf. You have to sort it out pronto. Is that not what you were expecting to hear from posting this on a forum :confused:

I think the owner is trying to sort it out.
Can you see any post where she has said she is not prepared to give the mare hay?

I would think that the poster was expecting some advice from posting here.
Not smartarse comments.

Yo's and having a horse at livery can be a nightmare, and it sometimes happens that until you run up against them, you have no idea about how unreasonable they can be.

This isn't about the owner or her mare, it's verging into a welfare issue if horses are out in this weather, losing weight and the person responsible is refusing to feed them properly or allowing owners to do it.
 
I am astonished that any yo in this weather would not allow hay or Haylage in field. Unfortunately if you are not allowed to put any out you can only do 2 things, first is reason with yard owner and second is leave. Unless the grazing is good then all horse need something going through their gut to keep them warm, happy and healthy, no amount of hard feed or rugging will substitute for forage. Feel for you OP but if it was me I would move asap
 
So you can feed the horse hardfeed but not hay...surely if they were to fight they would do so with the hard feed also???

To me its an easy choice, move.
 
I bring her into the yard to give her hard feed. It is a DIY yard that does not have many horses living out- about 6 4 in the mares field and 2 in the geldings. As I said in the summer grazing is fantastic horses are happy they all get too fat! YO is actually very nice but for some reason does not like hay in her fields! I would have got a stable to get out of trouble but as I said all full up! My mare is not a welfare case she does not have ribs showing I am doing the best I can for her.
 
I dont get it, you are worried shes lost a lot of weigh in 10 days, you cant do anything to prevent this but making excuses to stay.....
 
Could you use another liveries stable whilst their horse is out for a few hours in the daytime to allow your girl to have some hay or are you saying the fields are now shut to the stabled horses?

Failing that is there a school/arena you could ask to use overnight and put some hay out. I appreciate some YOs dislike hay all over the fields but if there is nothing to eat out there in this weather it is not on and maybe it just needs to be explained to your YO in a nice but firm way.

Fees wise you could think about adding some oil to your girls feeds to help her out.

We try to make the best decisions for our horses and sometimes it just does not work out but, I have to say if it was becoming a welfare issue then I can turn into a bit of a psycho owner until happy !

Good Luck
 
I just had the use of a stable in the day but now the fields have been shut until further notice. The yard is full up with a waiting list so the YO does not have to bother or worry about my horse. I am looking around to move her but is not as easy as people make out.
 
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