Can Hay make a horse hyper?

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mongy46

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I have just started feeding my new horse good quality hay, that my partner produces.

I have been feeding it for 7 days and have noticed in the last couple of days he is getting more and more lively.

I'm not sure if it's because he is now finding he feet?

I don't think it could be what I'm feeding as he only get's happy hoof and carrots.

My partner puts quite alot of fertiliser on the grass, could it have too much protein in it?

My horse is very fit, but is normally quite sane.

Any suggestions as to what it could be?
 
If it is high in sugars you might find him a bit mad on it - try soaking it? Could always be that the grass is low in magnesium too - esp if it is lush fertilized stuff. Magox added to his feed could help alot if that is the case.
 
Does spring grass? :D

Yes, also if he's getting carrots, both may be making him a little silly specially if he's fit, try cutting the carrots out a bit or soaking the hay, you could bob a mag type calmer in his bucket feed to take the edge off.
 
Yes. Try soaking the hay and feed that for a few days and ditch the carrots as well and see how he goes. (I didn't mean soak the hay for a few days lol)
Fertilizing is only helpful to hay if it it done in line with soil testing imo so the correct fertilizer is used. If the soil balance is out then grass and hay can be high in sugars.
 
Definitely ditch the carrots. Atm my fit cob is proving quite an excitable handful and I can never feed her apples at this time of the year even though we're knee deep in them. I do store them for winter months though when grass is sparse.

I'm certain the grass is holding it's nutritional value far more this year than other years due to the mild weather, late growth etc. My mare's supplemented with magnesium and as for fertilising our fields, ours are done every second year at half measures. I get the feeling a number of people are finding their horses a bit too fresh for comfort at the moment!
These blustery days don't help matters either.
 
Thanks for all your comments.

Question, what's in carrots then that can make them hyper?

Also don't you just soak hay to get dust out?
 
It is the sugar in carrots that makes them hyper, and it is by soaking the hay that you can remove some of the sugar. There is just no benefit to feeding sugar, makes sane horses mentalits and it is bad news for their feet too. Best avoided!!
 
glosgirl said:
It is the sugar in carrots that makes them hyper, and it is by soaking the hay that you can remove some of the sugar. There is just no benefit to feeding sugar, makes sane horses mentalits and it is bad news for their feet too. Best avoided!!
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What could I feed instead of carrots?
 
Hay made from fertilised grass can be problematic.

As other posters have pointed out - the sugar content can be high and the crop is depleted of magnesium (and other key minerals too).

Soak the hay in plenty of water for a minimum of an hour and then rinse. Depending on the sugar content and the metabolic status of the horse you may need to soak for much longer.

Rinsing after soaking hay when a nitrogen fertiliser has been used can be important. If you don't know the status then rinse anyway.

There are better things to feed than HH which are higher quality and cheaper.
 
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