Dunker?

[Shavings]

so moved chance to a new year 12 days ago

the yard only give haylage (no hay and no i cant really afford hay as the livery is a higher cost and covid has killed business this year)

any way Chance has taken to dunking the haylage in his water drinking, and i dont mean a little i mean i am getting phone callings saying he is flooding the walk way with the amont of water he is throwing about wile doing it!!

any advice on why he may be doing it ?

or how to stop it?

he is pulling it out of the net and going straight in to the water drinker! we tried a bucket but it just the same!

i have owned him 2 years now and he was on hay and never done this

 

[Polos Mum]

Interesting that it's a change.
I had one that always did it - cruddy hay, nice hay, cruddy haylage, nice haylage. tiny holed net opposite side of stable to water - he methodically carried every tiny mouthful over to dunk !

I fairly quickly got to putting a 'dunking' bucked near his hay, moved bedding away from the whole area and got a set up that was as least messy as possible.
He then had separate clean water to drink - it was easier for us to compromise than get him to change.

If you can't change his forage it's unlikely to stop so best plan to accommodate his new habit.

 

[Shavings]

Interesting that it's a change.
I had one that always did it - cruddy hay, nice hay, cruddy haylage, nice haylage. tiny holed net opposite side of stable to water - he methodically carried every tiny mouthful over to dunk !

I fairly quickly got to putting a 'dunking' bucked near his hay, moved bedding away from the whole area and got a set up that was as least messy as possible.
He then had separate clean water to drink - it was easier for us to compromise than get him to change.

If you can't change his forage it's unlikely to stop so best plan to accommodate his new habit.

This is my though, however google has kindly informed me it could be a nose irritation , or gut unbalanced so i am awaiting a call from my vet, i am hoping its nothing but to suddenly tart doesn't seem right to me, and the staff just wan him to stop as it makes a mess

 

[ycbm]

I would be worried if he doesn't stop soon I'm afraid. I would guess he is very clever, and trying to reduce the acidity of the haylage. Can they soak it for him before they give it to him?
.

 

[Starzaan]

This can be a sign of ulcers, poor dentition, or both.

some horses just prefer their hay or haylage dunked, but if he’s doing it out of nowhere (especially after a yard move!) I would definitely be getting him scoped ASAP.

 

[Polos Mum]

How is his back end? runny squish poos? How is his energy level? anything else changed.

Maybe see if a different bale of haylage makes any difference. or bite the bullet and buy 2-3 bales of hay and see if that makes him stop. The issue then is what to do next, if he stops with hay - you're faced with an expensive dilemma

 

[Muddywellies]

Isnt this supposed to be a possible sign of ulcers (which apparently haylage can exacerbate)

 

[Shavings]

so i am awaiting to have a phone call with the vet about it, not sure when that will be as they seem to be rather busy at the moment

chance is fine in him self, if any thing could do with loosing a few pounds (getting fulled clipped next week and will stay un-rugged)

back end is fine, poo is still in "nugget" form

he is a good doer so other then the haylage and grazing in field (not a lush field ) he isnt getting much

isn't showing any signed of ulcers (i know them well as my old tb had ulcers twice) but i am not ruling any thing out at present

we get a new bale of haylage twice a day as the yard is 50 horses although chance him self has settled in well, fell asleep yesterday and made the staff jump with his snoring!

dont really want to buy hay as hay here on island is £40 a bale and livery is rather costly (i would say double what you all pay on the main land) but that is just the price you pay for living on a beautiful island like this

 

[Muddywellies]

Yep, a chat with the vet is def the way forwards. I know haylage doesn't cause ulcers, but it can make existing ones worse. When mine was diagnosed I was advised not to feed haylage. Mine didn't look ulcery in the slightest (fat Welshie) but was diagnosed with grade 3 bleeding ulcers. Saying all that, it's a worse case scenario and maybe your horse simply enjoys dunking his biscuits in his tea

 

[Errin Paddywack]

One of mine (stallion) had his hay and water close to each other but still pulled a mouthful of hay out of the net then would walk right round his stable to dunk it in the bucket next to his net.