Anyone else work a horse from just haylage?

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eventer28

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My 4 rising 5yo appaloosa x hann x ID gelding gets hacked out on Saturday and Sunday, schooled Tuesday, lunged lightly on Weds and a steady jump/school session on Thurs. He has Monday and Friday off. He is turned out 4 days a week for 9h/day on minimal grass. He gets ad-lib top quality haylage when he is in the stable and thats it. No bucket feeds or supplements.. He has rocksalt lick. I did feed him pasture mix, chop and sugarbeet but he was more interested in his huge haynets and left his feeds. His weight looks ok. Anyone else work a horse from hay/haylage?
 
My eventer used to look fantastic on thin air. Even when in full work he didn't really need anything to maintain condition. I would give him a balancer to make myself feel better and so he had something when the others did but that's it!
 
Well coblet is getting worked on what she can find in the field and a scoop of sugarbeet after a hack at the minute. I've just brought her back into work so chances are she will get the beet and maybe some hay if she drops weight :) doubt it though as she lives on thin air :)
 
You have a salt lick. The minerals are better in those hymalayan licks. I think. The one thing I will say for young horses and pregnant mares is vit e is not really "kept" in harvested forages and would need to be added. You guys have access to low startch lick buckets with vits and mins so that might be helpful if you're worried. Thing dengie does them. But he seems well in himself. I do try and keep mine on a vit and min supplement but that doesn't mean I'm right. I don't want to wait until they're deficient in something.

Note, vit e is plentiful in spring and summer grass.

Terri
 
My Appy x WB / Irish Bog Horse lives FAR too well off just haylege and grass!!!

Wish the YO wouldn't put it in hi field as they all don't need it, plus they all just stand in a boggy mess around it all day.

See my sig pictures for recent picture of him and his Winter-defying gut :D:D

Edit** he gets worked anything between 5-7 days a week and thats schooling/hacking/competing**
 
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Yep my regime is practically identical to yours for my 7yr old 15.3hh SF x ISH in work 5 days a week except I use Rockies 5 star mineral licks alongside ad lib haylage (2nd cut). When my horse was delivered to me looking a little light on condition last Dec the old owners said be careful she loses condition easily - hmmm not here I thought as all mine tend to be fatties this includes her now!
 
My horses do have Blue Chip balancer, but other than that just hay/haylage and not colossal amounts of that either, and in all honesty, they are both a tiny bit overweight. They do something near enough every day. live semi - out, rugged.
 
I would worry that my horses were not getting all the vitamins and minerals they need on just haylage and a salt lick, to be honest. However, I have never understood why people feed hard feed for energy as good quality haylage is just as high in energy as most competition mixes, and better for them too! As it happens, I do give hard feeds, but this is to ensure they get their vitamins and minerals, not for energy, and because owners just like them to have it!
 
My horses all work for a living (display and stunt/film horses) and none have been fed a single grain of hard feed for over seven years, hay only; haylage makes them look like bullocks. Recently acquired a new horsie who's a little light and am now re-acquainting myself with the wonderful array of bagged feeds available. When he's back up to tip-top condition - and has some muscle, earned through proper work - he'll doubtless join the hay/grass only cohort.
 
Both of mine are both good doers currently only on adlib hay and have a himalayan salt lick. I'm going to start feeding them both lo cal balancer though for peace of mind as I don't think our grass will be very nutritional now it's getting cold!
 
My daughter's pony does well on haylage, grass and a Himalayan salt lick with a handful of cheapest pony nuts at mealtimes when the others are being fed.

She is never short of energy or condition and hunts and does all Pony Club activities on all that. Only time we increase her bucket feed is for Pony Club camp.
 
I've only had one horse regularly hard fed. All the others have been hay/haylage.
I had a problem with liveries feeding and losing condition last year, after convincing to stop hard feed for a week they all gained weight.
 
Yes, wouldn't now have it any other way.

My current haylage however is way too good and all mine (only 2 in work but 2 feeding foals) are far too fat. I'm about to put in a decent non sugary mineral lick though as finally poos are brown not flourescent green so grass nutrients must have 'gone'.

What an odd year for grass though.
 
Absolutely - as long as they are being fed good quality forage to make up for the lack of nutrients in the grass.

A friend of mine hunts her horse weekly just off haylage, and mine, who hunts twice a week just gets a handful of chaff and beet - they both look well and are full of beans!

Horses did survive happily before all these fancy supplements and balancers came on the market - the feed world has got way too complicated imo.
 
Hhhmmm this is 'food for thought' (no pun intended!) I feed mine hard feed once a day in the eve when they come in, and haylege overnight, maybe if they had another net of haylege I could cut down on the hard feed :)
 
Quite agree. Horses were never designed to eat cereals. Mine are only ever forage fed. Hay and haylage - get too fat on just haylage - and a scoop of vit and min in a half scoop of alfa A when the grass goes. Always full of beans and are worked every day.
 
The Stallions I work with are fed just hay (fed pretty much ad-lib). They are only in light work at the moment but they do very well on a forage-only diet and still have plenty of energy. :)
 
Token amount of speedi beet, fast fiber and linseed oil for one but she and the rest only have hay and a salt lick. They are out 24/7 and the one that gets a small feed is a thin skinned type but doing fine on that.
 
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