Anyone else struggling with no grass?!

[ponymadclo]

My poor boy seems to be getting slimmer and slimmer every week, I've already doubled his food and now thinking of trippling it! He's on hifi and pony nuts - 1 large scoop twice a day and then has two hay nets at night. (Hes 14.2 and 6 years old) However there is no grass left in the field and the other liverys won't allow me to put hay out anyone else increasing their horses food a lot?

 

[MileAMinute]

So what are the other livery's horses eating in the field?!

 

[ponymadclo]

Their horses are fat cobs in virtually no work, therefore they do ok on the limited grass and the hay + food at night.

 

[3Beasties]

I have no grass, literally NONE but thankfully mine see to be doing OK so far despite one being a poor doer TB. The ISH seems to live of fresh air anyway so she just has half a scoop of chaff morning and night plus 2 haynetsnin the stable and hay out in the field. The TB has 3 feeds a day (which is normal for him over Winter) and adlib hay.

Can you not fence the field off so yours can be separated from the others with hay? Why don't the liveries want hay out in the field? If you really can't find a way to feed hay in the field then it might be worth keeping in for longer during the day with adlib hay but it's not ideal really.

 

[kerrieberry2]

I would find somewhere else to keep him, if he's losing weight and you can't feed the field that's no good! horses need food in small quantities!

mine are out 24/7 they have a bale of hay each day and a feed in the morning! they are doing good weight wise but there isn't any grass really and they are getting really grumpy with each other! I dread to think what they'd be like if they didn't have the hay as well!

is it possible to leave him in longer? give him haylage at night rather than hay?

 

[ponymadclo]

Yeah going off to buy some haylage this afternoon and might keep him in tomorrow for longer, thanks for the suggestions

 

[MileAMinute]

I'd move. If the other liveries aren't willing to compromise (e.g fence off a corral type area where you can feed, or even a separate paddock entirely) then I wouldn't bow down to them at the sacrifice of my horse.

 

[amandaco2]

id section off the field so you can hay him. hay is the safest, more effective and cheapest way to help him keep weight on!

 

[ponymadclo]

I'm looking for another place so hopefully the hay will keep him ticking over until then - thanks!

 

[ribbons]

Don't worry too much. With the warmer wet weather just arrived, we will all be worrying about too much grass very soon. About a week or two and it will really be growing.

 

[micki]

My field has no grass in it at the moment. The grass is starting to grow though. I have just fertilized my other firld so they will have some grass i a couple of weeks.
I can't put hay in the field or my oldest horse will attack any of the others in the field so i make sure they have some hay before they go out and they have 2 haynets at night.
Hope the grass starts to grow for you soon or you find a new yard but you might find that all yards have no grass at the moment.

 

[MandyMoo]

ours have literally NO grass, but luckily the yard owner puts out massive bales of hay everyday for them to much ad lib on!

I wouldn't worry horrendously about your horse, just keep an eye on him, and maybe try keeping him in for a slightly longer period so he can get access to more hay throughout the day? or is there a possibility of fencing off a small section of the field just for your horse and he can have access to a hay source??

Bring on spring is all I say!!!