Do you give enough hay overnight?

M

Megibo

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 April 2011
Messages
4,233
Location
usually on my bum ...
Visit site
As title-do you give enough hay overnight to last your horse until morning?

I'm in a dilemma as I don't want my horse without forage for long periods overnight but at the same time she's still overweight from summer so she can't exactly be given enough to last her all that time. Currently she gets 2 sections of hay in a trickle net (small bales).
 
If the horse is too fat, the only way to get it to lose weight is to feed it accordingly, i.e. less than it wants to eat, and increase the work. I have good doers and they get straw as well as hay to allow them a bit of a snack when they get peckish. Ad lib forage is just not possible with some horses.
 
I have the same issue as I don't like to give my girl too much as she is a piggy and will just stuff her face and end up with lami.

I do a number of things:

Double net the hay
give her a treat ball with high fibre nuts to keep her occupied for a bit
Let her eat her straw bed (she also tried eating shavings so I swpapped her to straw and just let her get on with it now)
I have just bought some of the halleys blox to try and will see how we get on with them.
 
I give my boy a big bucket of oat straw (with some fibre pellets mixed through for him to find) and put a brick inside the bucket to make it last longer. He never finishes all of his hay overnight anyway, but I like to give him this bucket as a wee change from eating hay all night for him to pick at :)

He's not fat, but since he has ulcers I don't want to risk him standing any length of time without eating.
 
Yes mine always has enough haylage to ensure she doesn't run out but she isn't overweight.

Personally if at all possible I would take steps like double netting, mixing with straw and increasing exercise rather than allowing a horse to stand without food.
 
Mine have double small hole nets and I feed it by weight. I worry that they won't have any but had to go down in the middle of the night a few weeks ago and they were still munching so not too worried. They are the types to eat everything and once its gone they go to bed and sleep lol
 
No way, with 5 of them if I gave them enough to see through till morning I'd be bankrupt! I've only just started introducing hay as it was too fresh from the field. They have their chaff & extras, between 1 and 2 slices of hay (11.2hh - 15.2hh) accordingly then graze on their straw beds, which is even more yummy than usual this year!
 
If I shut a horse in a stable, I never leave it without enough forage to last until I return.

If the horse needs fewer calories, I soak the hay, double net, mix with straw etc. Whatever it takes to ensure a supply of forage. Its cheaper and healthier than dealing with stress/boredom induced illnesses or behaviours.

Like Kat says, I'd also increase exercise, or I rug less/clip just to redress the balance if needed.
 
Nope, I don't give them any hay ;)

Mine all get straw (well, the old lad gets haylage, and the others will get a handful with their straw in the depths of winter, but that's it).
 
Yes, with the current one because he isn't greedy and I've never known him to finish his hay overnight. i'd say he's an average doer, doesn't easily put on weight but not a poor doer. He gets 3-4 slices overnight when in, and he always has a bit left in the morning. Previous horse was the greediest horse in the history of the world. I could have put in a huge round bale of hay and he'd do his best to eat the whole lot in one go. No matter how full or otherwise a net was, he'd just eat continually until everything was gone. The horse I have now will eat a bit, sleep, eat a bit more, go and annoy the horse in the stable next door, eat some more... and so on.

An overweight horse doesn't need adlib hay - it's fat because it either eats too much or doesn't get enough exercise, or a combination of both. In order to get it to lose weight, it needs to use up more calories and eat less. Try soaking (you can feed a bit more this way), adding straw to bulk it up, and feeding small nets at intervals rather than one large one. For example, you give a small net when you leave at say 6pm, then if your YO does a late check or another livery will be there late, ask them to give another later.
 
I double soak (and rinse ) for my fatty. Obviously not much use in the depths of winter when its frozen everywhere- in that case, I mix with straw. But my very good doer has never got fat on ad lib soaked hay (in a small holed net)- even when on box rest. I did make sure she was having enough vitamins and minerals in her feed though. A treat ball is also useful for extending time where the horse is not stood bored with nothing to eat
 
Nope; mine get their forage weighed and apportioned according to requirements into at least four feeds, last one at around 11pm. They also have straw beds to nibble on. One is a greedy piglet (no, two are actually), the other is more civilised but arrived hugely overweight due to an inappropriate diet at his previous owners and it has taken two years to get him into shape by judicious feeding and work.
 
I've just changed her to pellets as she was eating practically ALL of her straw bed and waddling out of the stable in the morning!!
She gets a tiny hard feed for her supplement but due to injury is in the beginning of a 6 week walk programme otherwise I would be upping her exercise.
I've just bought another elim-a-net to put over her current one to slow her down some more and think I'll soak it too!
 
I'm pleased in the morning if I see a small amount of hay left in the bottom of the nets. But to make sure my boy has enough forage until morning the hay gets soaked so he can have more, he has small holed haynets that are placed in different corners of his stable so he has to walk around and he has a straw bed that he has a nibble on. I'd rather have to use these methods than for him to be standing without anything to eat.
 
I have gone down the double netting and trickle net route this year, he gets a good amount in each but not loads, he is in at 6 and I am back to put him out at 7, he also gets tea and breakfast in the morn, and has a straw bed.

I used to panic loads about him running out, but have come to the conclusion he wont actually die of colic and ulcers if his jaw stops moving for a few hours a day ;)
 
Baby had 2 slices over night in summer an 3 in winter. Fed of floor un soaked . She was on straw but rarely ate it. only if went velow zero tonights on trot or snow laid all day did she get extra slice. oh un rugged as well.
 
I soak as well.

I have a laminitic and others prone to being fat so they all get soaked hay. lol It's a chore but part of my routine now.Can't get straw here reliably and haylage is like silage.
 
My pony is just about right at the moment but is prone to getting overweight so he is worked regularly and I double net his haylege and have him on a straw bed so he has something low calorie to nibble on, he is only out for a few hours a day as there is so much grass at the moment.
 
We soak and double net the fatties and every one has a good pile of straw too. When they start coming in at night they will have a smallish net each at about 5, then a bigger one when I let the dog out and skip out at about 10/11.
 
Mine mostly has a bit of hay left in the morning, but he won't eat it if I leave it in for another night, so obviously it doesn't meet his high standards, sometimes he makes sure I won't re serve it by pooing on it. Little does he know he's got a hay bar for this winter, mwah ha ha ha! Although I now expect to be picking poo from a hay bar, meh! :p

But he's on straw (not oat as it sends him crazy!) so he won't starve :)

In the old days we used to feed the horses in the stable and shut them in, but leave them to free roam overnight by opening the doors. We only used to put one slice of hay in each stable as they were out 24/7. One night we forgot to unlock my sisters pony's door so the poor thing was left all night with one slice of hay and no water, whoops! He was fine (ponies being indestructible of course) but it was a lesson well learnt! :)
 
My skinny-minnie TB - Yup. 3 ginormous nets stuffed full put in at 6pm to last until 6.45am - more than enough left in the morning.
Fatties - No. 2 small nets of soaked hay then double netted and worked like a dog.
 
If I'm leaving my two in overnight; they'll have one haynet each, double or even triple netted (the smallest holed I can get!) and they have six lbs overnight, given at about 10pm along with a feed of Dengie or chaffy stuff as a filler-up.

My two are both cobs, one Welsh D/14.3hh & traddie cob 15hh.

They were both fine on this regime last winter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top