Am I worrying unnecessarily?

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Annagain

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My share horse (17hh IDxTBxSecD) has never been a big eater but since he's started coming in this winter (the last 2 weeks) he's not eating any haylage overnight. He has plenty of haylage available to him which smells and looks lovely, and we've tried giving him hay in case he's not fond of it but he just won't touch any of it. It's all home grown and from the same fields he's always had it from.

There's still a lot of grass in the field, he's not losing weight, he's the same as ever to ride and handle. The other horses are eating less than normal, but are still eating some. I know it's just that he's not hungry so I'm not worried about his current health but I'm worried about him getting ulcers.

He has to be in overnight now due to yard rules so we can't turn him back out. We've cut his feed down to a handful for his supplements so he's not filling up on feed instead. We've buried carrots in his hay - he's found them and eaten them (throwing his haylage everywhere in the process) but still not touched the haylage. He has a hay bar but we've also tried a haynet in case the bar's the problem.

His teeth were done on Wednesday, all fine. Should I be worried about ulcers or is it the case that if his tummy's not empty (assume it can't be or he'd eat?) the acid won't be able to do its nasty work?
 
Odd! It drives me nuts when mine won't eat anything. He must get hungry overnight, there must be something about the haylage he doesn't like. I would buy a bale in of something else amd see if he will eat that.
My farrier tells me horses don't like leafy hay, which can be caused by too much fertiliser being applied, were the fields top dressed?
 
We've already tried some hay - he wasn't interested in that either. I might get some Horsehage and give him a bit of that - then if he eats it, start mixing it with his haylage to see if that will kick start him!
He's not having Horsehage all winter, we're not made of money:eek: His haylage really does look like the sort of haylage I would want to eat if I was a horse - ungrateful git :rolleyes:

ETA - The fields were fertilised but were soil tested before and only got what they needed - and more or less what they've had every year, when he's eaten well.
 
My friend horse hardly eats his hay at night. He on really good grass at day and has SB and lurcene nuts soaked for him to much on at night and hay available but he not interested. He literally comes in to eat tea have a wee and sleep. No weight worries. I think he getting his fill during the day on grass. My friend quite happy as not going through as much hay as last year. (she now at new yard)
 
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