Am I giving my mare enough hay?

[loulou-Nina]

I have a 14.2 mare good doer she is in at night from 5pm I give her 1/2 scoop of chaff 1/3 scoop of mix at night and I give her 2 slices of hay socked at night..
Is hay enough for her?
She is on grass in the day
I'm worried she isn't getting enough hay :/

 

[MissTyc]

Weight of horse? Weight of hay? How is it fed - floor, normal net, tiny holed net ...
When is she turned out?
What is her condition. Has it changed recently?
How long has this been her routine ...

etc!

 

[Sail_away]

I’m guessing you mean slices of hay from a small bale? In which case, no, unless she eats very slowly she will be spending most of the night without hay. Is there any left in the morning? Could you weigh it?
For reference, my ISH is a good doer, he gets around 7 thick sections of hay soaked overnight. For me that works out as just under half a small bale a night, but I get quite large small bales if that makes sense.
Personally I would rather feed less hard feed, maybe just a balancer and some light chaff to slow her down, and up the hay. You can get mineral balancers I think which would be less calorific. How long do you soak for? As in, if you’re soaking for half an hour or so could you up that to 1 1/2 to 2 hours?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

No it doesn't sound like anywhere near enough. If you think that she would get fat on more hay, you could offer her a big trug of oat straw chaff so that she isn't standing in with nothing to eat for most of the night. I would certainly stop the hard feed, there is no point in feeding it to a horse on restricted forage.

 

[loulou-Nina]

Weight of horse? Weight of hay? How is it fed - floor, normal net, tiny holed net ...
When is she turned out?
What is her condition. Has it changed recently?
How long has this been her routine ...

etc!

I don't know what she weighs :/
I feed her hay i a small haynet

 

[Cortez]

Is she thin? If not, then yes, that is enough. Simple, really

 

[loulou-Nina]

hay much slices should I give her :/
I was on a yard where she was living in 24/7 eatting 1/2 hay nets in the day and 2/3 at night and the lady said that still wasn't enough :O so she kept putting more and more hay in. over the months she was there she was putting on a lot of weight the lady said she is fine when I knew full well she was over weight.
I moved her coming on to a month now where she is out in the day eating grass lost weight looking good rather then in foal I do worry she isn't getting enough but i do worry she is getting to fat, I have been told to many different things I'm a worrier at the best of times

 

[loulou-Nina]

Is she thin? If not, then yes, that is enough. Simple, really

I can't feel or see her rips I have been told to many different things hence I'm worried she isn't getting enough to that is enough

 

[9tails]

Is she thin? If not, then yes, that is enough. Simple, really

This horse is likely to be stood without forage for most of the night. Two sections from a small bale just isn't enough. She may not be thin, but she may develop ulcers.

 

[Cortez]

I can't feel or see her rips I have been told to many different things hence I'm worried she isn't getting enough to that is enough

If you cannot see or even feel her ribs, then she is too fat. A picture would be helpful, and even then it is hard to really judge the horse/pony without seeing it in the flesh. Two flakes of hay plus some grazing (depending on the grazing) should be adequate for a 14.2 pony's maintenance if it is in good flesh.

 

[loulou-Nina]

 

[Cortez]

This horse is likely to be stood without forage for most of the night. Two sections from a small bale just isn't enough. She may not be thin, but she may develop ulcers.

9tails, I often see this trotted out as an excuse for feeding already fat horses: if they are fat they are being fed too much. If that means that they have to stop stuffing their faces for a few hours, all the better. I have fed horses an average of two flakes at night for many, many years and NEVER had a horse develop ulcers. I bed my horses on straw, so if they are really hungry they can have a nibble; if they are greedy they go on shavings, but that seldom happens.

P.S. Just seen pic - she looks to be a very good weight, so keep doing what you're doing.

 

[loulou-Nina]

This horse is likely to be stood without forage for most of the night. Two sections from a small bale just isn't enough. She may not be thin, but she may develop ulcers.

there not small bales of hay sorry I should of said. she isn't showing any signs of ulesers

 

[loulou-Nina]

9tails, I often see this trotted out as an excuse for feeding already fat horses: if they are fat they are being fed too much. If that means that they have to stop stuffing their faces for a few hours, all the better. I have fed horses an average of two flakes at night for many, many years and NEVER had a horse develop ulcers.

P.S. Just seen pic - she looks to be a very good weight, so keep doing what you're doing.

thank you so much for I feel a little happier

 

[Cortez]

thank you so much for I feel a little happier

Try not to worry too much, things are really much simpler than the modern horse world makes them out to be If you have a problem, ask your vet, or a really experienced professional horseman/instructor.

 

[Sail_away]

9tails, I often see this trotted out as an excuse for feeding already fat horses: if they are fat they are being fed too much. If that means that they have to stop stuffing their faces for a few hours, all the better. I have fed horses an average of two flakes at night for many, many years and NEVER had a horse develop ulcers.

P.S. Just seen pic - she looks to be a very good weight, so keep doing what you're doing.

Fair enough if absolutely everything else is being done to reduce weight but cutting down forage is not what I’d start with.
This pony is on a mix and chaff, so that can be cut. If she’s able to be exercised then her work can be increased (although obviously harder at the moment). If she’s rugged then the rug weight can be decreased or the rug taken off completely. If her hay is soaked then it could be soaked longer (provided she’ll still eat it). So lots of things that can be done to reduce weight and enable her to get a decent amount of food.
Loulou, I would want to increase the hay although it’s hard to tell if you don’t know how much it weighs. I don’t know about ulcers but she will be bored and hungry. By small bale do you mean the ones that are around 0.6-0.7 of a meter wide, as opposed to the large bales that are around 1.5m wide? I’m assuming small because two sections of a large bale would be much more than usual to feed a pony.

 

[Sail_away]

I don't know what she weighs :/
I feed her hay i a small haynet

Just seen this, it’ll be small bales then. If you can fit all her hay in a small net I would feed more. My dude used to have two not particularly small nets and he got terribly bored, ate a lot of his bedding and tried to escape. He gets about twice as much now.

 

[loulou-Nina]

Just seen this, it’ll be small bales then. If you can fit all her hay in a small net I would feed more. My dude used to have two not particularly small nets and he got terribly bored, ate a lot of his bedding and tried to escape. He gets about twice as much now.

it's a small hole haynet :/ she is out on grass all day till 5pm

 

[loulou-Nina]

Fair enough if absolutely everything else is being done to reduce weight but cutting down forage is not what I’d start with.
This pony is on a mix and chaff, so that can be cut. If she’s able to be exercised then her work can be increased (although obviously harder at the moment). If she’s rugged then the rug weight can be decreased or the rug taken off completely. If her hay is soaked then it could be soaked longer (provided she’ll still eat it). So lots of things that can be done to reduce weight and enable her to get a decent amount of food.
Loulou, I would want to increase the hay although it’s hard to tell if you don’t know how much it weighs. I don’t know about ulcers but she will be bored and hungry. By small bale do you mean the ones that are around 0.6-0.7 of a meter wide, as opposed to the large bales that are around 1.5m wide? I’m assuming small because two sections of a large bale would be much more than usual to feed a pony.

if you look there is a photo i have added and you tell me she is skinny?? :/ I don't think so

 

[Nari]

You really do need at least a rough idea of your horse's weight, and the weight of the hay. Can you buy or borrow a weigh tape? They aren't completely accurate but will give you an idea. Personally I would rather feed less in the bucket and more in the net, but that's just my opinion, and maybe if you can't even feel ribs when pushing firmly you should be feeding less in the bucket and no more in the net. But realistically get weigh tape, get a spring balance and do a proper condition score.

 

[Bellaboo18]

It doesn't sound like enough hay. Forage should be the last thing to cut back on. I'd up her hay and cut out the mix

 

[Sail_away]

if you look there is a photo i have added and you tell me she is skinny?? :/ I don't think so

It’s not about her weight though. It’s about feeding her enough so that she isn’t bored, stressed and hungry overnight. Can you do any of the things I previously suggested?

 

[Leo Walker]

So with the exception of one person, everyone says it not enough. You chose to ignore them and listen to that one person?

Its not an excuse to feed a fat horse. Shes not fat. Stop he hard feed, get her a mineral balancer, Equimins do a pelleted one and double the Hay at least. I'd also bed her on straw or eave a huge bucket of straw chaff.

Clearly Cortez has been exceptionally lucky not to have had a horse with ulcers if they are standing 10 hours a night with nothing to eat. That is not the case for the majority, and even if it was, its a bloody miserable life for a grazing animal to be stood for 10 hours a night with nothing to eat.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

And why is a fat unclipped (so far as I can tell) horse wearing a rug? Get rid of the mix and rug, either bed her on straw so that she can nibble that or give her plain oat straw chaff. The only reason that Cortez' horses haven't had ulcers is that they can eat their bed when they have finished their hay.

 

[NinjaPony]

Like others, I would suggest upping her hay overnight but soak it for several hours first to remove as much sugar as possible. Cut her feed to just a handful of chaff and a decent vitamin and mineral supplement (I use equimins advance complete powder) , and don't rug her too heavily.

 

[loulou-Nina]

Like others, I would suggest upping her hay overnight but soak it for several hours first to remove as much sugar as possible. Cut her feed to just a handful of chaff and a decent vitamin and mineral supplement (I use equimins advance complete powder) , and don't rug her too heavily.

 

[loulou-Nina]

Thank you everyone. I have been given advice from a nutrition she is happy with what I'm giving her due to summer just a few weeks away and grass is coming though
As for ulcers I was told not to worry to much as she isn't left long enough to get them again thank you all for your advice everyone looks after there horses in there own way

 

[Leo Walker]

Thank you everyone. I have been given advice from a nutrition she is happy with what I'm giving her due to summer just a few weeks away and grass is coming though
As for ulcers I was told not to worry to much as she isn't left long enough to get them again thank you all for your advice everyone looks after there horses in there own way

So your 2 slices of hay is lasting 1o hours assuming shes in for 14? There is no chance. And there is no way you've spoken to an actual nutritionist since 1.15pm.

I wish I'd learn not to waste my time replying to idiotic questions from kids!

 

[NinjaPony]

Confused as to what is shocking about that? Pretty standard practice to soak hay and cut feed to a handful if you're worried about weight gain....

 

[Sail_away]

I do wish people wouldn’t ask for advice and then ignore it when they don’t get the answer they were looking for.