Anyone else's horse gone on hay strike?

Finnigan

Member
Joined
28 February 2019
Messages
16
Visit site
My horse eats about 2 x 8kg haynight per night most of the year, except November to January time. Then he will pick at hay so he only gets 1 small net with the remainders of previous nets on the floor in a tub which he still leaves. When I eventually clean his excess hay out I can get 1 massive packed full bag of hay he hasn't eaten out. Does anyone elses horse do this? He does this every year! He went back to eating loads a few weeks ago, but has stopped again! I've tried different hay suppliers, haylage, bit of both, it doesn't matter. He did it with his previous owner too! I think its just one of his quirks!! He still has a hard feed and when he is on hay strike I make sure it is well dampened and has lots of fibre in it to keep him moving inside. He is also well supplemented too so not lacking anything.
 

MuddyTB

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 February 2010
Messages
593
Visit site
Mine has done this before, he was on haylage and had eaten loads all winter then just stopped mid-Jan. By mid-March he starts eating again but less than before. He's done it almost every year for the last 8 years. This year he is on hay and the drop off has been less noticable, but he's still cut right back. He stops eating hard feed at the same time unfortunately so he's getting 1 handful of mix with molasses at the moment to get his joint supplement down...it's a real pain. He just wants grass, but sadly it's not quite growing yet.
 

Finnigan

Member
Joined
28 February 2019
Messages
16
Visit site
Its odd isnt it. I'd have thought over winter when the grass is not growing he'd eat more when he comes in but it seems to not be the case. He still has an appetite for his hard feed, although always leaves a bit as he prefers hay over hard feed so haynet goes in after hes eaten his hard feed. This is not so much the case at the moment but is usual. He drives me mad! Maybe its an innate bodyclock thing saying you should be starving in the wild as there would be limited grazing this time of year, stop eating!!! Who knows, I'm sure ill never find out.
 

MuddyTB

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 February 2010
Messages
593
Visit site
Totally agree, at the time you think they need hay most as there's nothing in the field and it's cold they tell you otherwise. An interesting idea about how they would be in the wild though, never thought of it like that. Mine annoys me as I soak his hay for the dust so when he leaves it I have to throw it out, I hate waste!
 

Finnigan

Member
Joined
28 February 2019
Messages
16
Visit site
Yep tried soaking and just dampening too. Nope still the same. Just we're just resigned to hay wastage as I've no idea which day he'll eat and which ones he won't so I'd rather put too much in than not enough and risk his gut being empty too long. They'll be the death of us with all the worry!!! hehe Luckily my yard owner has an older retired horse who will happily eat his left overs so it sort of doesn't get wasted, just at my cost!! He has 2 haynets hung in different places, a tub for the previous nights left overs in case he fancies them and the stuff he tips on the floor goes from wall to wall, he could lay on it if he needed to! Bloody horse!!
 

milliepops

Wears headscarf aggressively
Joined
26 July 2008
Messages
27,536
Visit site
yeah my retired mare was like this when she was stabled. She also went on strike if we stayed away for a show/clinic.
My others seem to be happily chomping through the usual enormous piles!

the grass is growing here, we cut the lawn last weekend and there are green shoots... can't see it in the horse fields but they are eating as fast as it grows ;) are you sure he isn't actually getting more to nibble on in the field?
 

Finnigan

Member
Joined
28 February 2019
Messages
16
Visit site
There is'nt much there, he's usually ok when he has loads of grass when they change fields so still has an appetite. Maybe thats it, less grass, less appetite? Who knows. But being like it from November so can't bee the grass shoots as such.
 

Red-1

I used to be decisive, now I'm not so sure...
Joined
7 February 2013
Messages
18,450
Location
Outstanding in my field!
Visit site
I don't think Finn knows what a hay strike is. She struggles to not be fat, and had greedy feeders and soaked hay if that is not enough. She is quite sporty too...
 

Leo Walker

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 July 2013
Messages
12,384
Location
Northampton
Visit site
Mine is starving and eating like the proverbial horse! I'm not quite sure why. Theres grass in the field and shes out all day, but by 3pm shes at the gate wanting in.
 

bubsqueaks

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 July 2015
Messages
724
Visit site
Yes mine have gone off hay lately which I had put down to it looking slightly thicker/coarser whether that's due to age or just the batch - one delivery I had to send back to farmer last November as not one of the 4 would touch it! Drives me mad too to have all that waste so try to recycle/pass around split herd where I can - they even eat the oat straw over it sometimes so I do wonder if somethings not quite right - blooming fussy lot!!
 

Maesto's Girl

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 January 2016
Messages
331
Visit site
Mine is SO fussy year round and gets worse this time of year. I have started popping pony nuts in her hay feeder mixed in with the hay which seems to encourage her to eat more of it
 

Chappie

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 January 2018
Messages
485
Visit site
Yes! Was worried at the weekend as he had a full net of hay from the yard; this week's batch is quite yellow and long like dry spagetti; and also a full net of the hay I supplement with him at night, which is so nice I give it to my guineas as well, lovely green colours and different grasses. Eating neither with enthusiasm and sighing a lot, literally looked bored. So gave him a Halleys block and some Thunderbrooks chaff and Readi-grass which he was happier with. Hay was all gone in the mornings. I strongly feel he wants 'new' grass - I swear I can 'hear' him thinking this! Tried him with some Top Chop chaff as well but he's taken to using it as a pillow :D
 

hopscotch bandit

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 February 2017
Messages
2,872
Visit site
I don't think people quite realise how much grass is growing at the moment, that coupled with the rainfall we have been having has caused a lot of grass to grow. Grass grows over 5 degrees Celsius and most days last month (and this month for that matter - unless you live in the outer Hebrides) the temperature has been well in excess of this. These lovely horses are filling their tummies with grass. And even though it looks like microscopic growth to us if you imagine each stalk has grown by 5-6 inches in a month (which is average grass growth in this country) and there are many million stalks of grass in our paddocks its a wonder all our horses aren't the size of hippos! I strip graze mine and brought her paddock forwards by two thirds at the start of March. I'd say that there is only a third of the third that she has available to her that has anything like 'eatable grass' in it, and the rest is comprised of 'mess areas' where she poos and wees and electric fencing down both sides of the post and rail (horses argue on both sides of fence). So that leaves her with very little available grass to eat but even then she doesn't always eat her hay when she comes in from the field, instead she drags it through her bedding and because its wet I get strips of hay covered in shavings in the evening when I arrive after work which is wasteful and expensive!

I can see the definition in the grass growth at the electric fence line where I brought her paddock forwards at the start of March, and although its only just become noticeable to me, if I was down at floor level I am sure I would have noticed it very quickly after I'd moved the fence forwards.
 

melbournesunrise

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 June 2017
Messages
81
Visit site
Mine appears to have gone on strike... he's currently on box rest, and has access to ad lib hay. He doesn't seem to want it though. I'm a little worried he's not going to get enough fibre, but I'm reluctant to give him haylage as I'm not sure he will ever have had it. On the other hand, I suppose he could just be not hungry, given the lack of activity (though he's always pleased to see a hard feed for his medication!)
 
Top