can feeding hay with grass cause colic?

[palominoponeh]

so my new shetland x fallabella came today, and the breeder told us to not feed him hay if he’s out on grass as it will bring on colic? i’ve never heard that before. he’s currently in the stable with hay as he has been at the breeders. how do i go about letting him out onto grass? thanks in advance

 

[PapaverFollis]

Well that's a new one on me!

Mine get hay at grass when needed and I've never had a problem with it causing colic...

Maybe it's a mini horse specific thing?

 

[palominoponeh]

Well that's a new one on me!

Mine get hay at grass when needed and I've never had a problem with it causing colic...

Maybe it's a mini horse specific thing?

yeah i was thinking maybe it’s just the breed? but small ponies are generally quite hardy? it’s a bit weird

 

[windand rain]

Maybe grass isnt their normal diet and so may be deemed to cause colic due to the change in food. Actually I have only ever had one pony get colic but it was the other way round she was moved from grass onto hay to wean a foal and she impacted as she didnt get enough to drink, water was available but she gorged on the hay so not sure why you cannot feed hay and grass together

 

[Pearlsasinger]

It's utter nonsense imo but if you do decide to introduce hay do it very gradually, to avoid any risk of colic. We feed hay in the field all year round in varying quantities and our horses certainly don't get colic from it.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I wonder if the breeder has had a horse colic at some point and decided it was because they fed hay... but was actually just one of those random things.

 

[catkin]

If he's been on no grass only hay then introduce grass very slowly as a change can cause colic. Start with a short time on grass and build it up over a few weeks. Keep feeding him hay as he is less likely to gorge on the grass.

Once they are used to it then many people feed both hay and grass - the breeder is suggesting that you make changes slowly, which is true for all ponies.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

Never heard this one before- and I also feed hay and grass - mostly because I strip graze very good grass that my two big horses need and my two donkeys really don't, so I put the hay in there to distract the donkeys from gorging on grass as fortunately they prefer hay by choice anyway.

i do agree though that any change in diet should be very carefully and slowly introduced particularly with a new horse or pony.

 

[AdorableAlice]

With advice like that coming from the breeder I would be doubting their knowledge in other aspects of the welfare. A worm count and teeth check would be top of my list for the new ponies in addition to a gradual diet change.

 

[palominoponeh]

With advice like that coming from the breeder I would be doubting their knowledge in other aspects of the welfare. A worm count and teeth check would be top of my list for the new ponies in addition to a gradual diet change.

to be honest it was probably coming from a colic scare in the past, he is a reliable breeder and is probably just being extra cautious lol. he had got the pony’s teeth done a month before i got him.