Are anyone elses horses bored of hay now?

[tasteofchristmaschaos]

Shock, horror, but pig of the year Fella is actually bored of hay!
I didn't start haying until the middle of december, but what with all that snow, he was on hay and nothing else for about 6 weeks.
I stick the hay in the manger, he looks at me in disgust as if to say "Not again!" and buggers off to the outside of his stable to lick his aready licked totally clean feed bowl!
Good for his waistline and my bank balance though!
And the spring grass is just starting to come through now, so not long until he can go out 24/7 again. Yay! No more paying for shavings and hay.
Anybody elses horse/pony bored of hay now?

 

[zoeshiloh]

Yep - Ben has haylage, and he is fed up too! Leaves half of it on the floor. Thought I'd put him on hay for a week as a change, and he woudn't touch that at all (at least he has a few mouthfuls of his haylage!)

 

[Enfys]

Tough if they are, they are on hay for another 2 months at least, like it or lump it guys.

My grass won't even start to think about growing until April.

 

[Tamba]

I am!!!!!!!!,
Im going through a round (larger than normal size in 4 days!
Costing me a fortune!!!!

 

[kendra2705]

Mine is so fussy , she tests the hay to see if she likes it and she doesnt , so she is now being given haylage and loves it , costing me more but what the hell as long as she is happy , shes given me so much in the 9 years ive had her and after all its only money haha

 

[HazellB]

Yeah, every year mine all go off their hay about the last week in Jan or first week of Feb. Annoying, but expected.

Having said that, I didn't expect it this year as the ringleader died in November and now all I have are two fairly easy to please mares who enjoy most food with gusto. But they went from a bale a night to less than half that last week. Buggers.

I've always assumed in our case it's the hedgerows suddenly sprouting tasty buds that keep them busy for hours on end. Might be wrong, but as I was trimming some trees this morning (I grow them for a living at the stableyard) I noticed the buds were swollen and the horses gobbling up every bit I dropped in for them. They also want undigestable fibre as their coats change and believe it or not, that's as of the middle of last week. No new coat through of course, but the old ones are duller and ready to drop.

The BHS used to say add an armful of either willow or hazel whips (skinny branches) and they'd chew them and start on the hay again in two or three weeks. I use dogwood too and they LOVE it.