Enough food for a good doer overnight (also in stable yard)

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Gorgeous George

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George always used to be stabled on straw, but due to an ongoing cough he is now on woodchips. My problem is how to ensure he has enough food during the night to keep him and his gut occuppied when he is such a good doer?

He is out during the day from about 5am - 4pm, and in a muzzle for all of that time. Then in overnight, he has a small feed am and pm (1 small scoop of hi-fi lite, cup of lo cal and joint supplement) and then soaked hay overnight.

He can't really have adlib hay or he would be the size of a house, and previously I didn't worry too much about him finishing it early as the straw is good quality and he would nibble on that to keep himself amused.

Now of course he won't have that option and I can't get up every evening to give him his hay in smaller helpings. I am getting worried about him standing around for ages with nothing to do, and also nothing to eat which could of course lead to behavioural and health problems :(

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I am worried enough about the extra ££ for the woodchips and now I'm still worried about him :( but hey ho at least I don't need to worry about the cough :rolleyes:

Thanks :)
 
I have the same problem with my lad - welshie. He got laminitis in 2009 and since then I have had to put prevention first over all other worries or concerns I may have about his regime and diet. My lad is stabled every night from 7.30pm to 5.30am and he has wetted down hay to prevent his cough coming back, but not soaked as I cannot do that due to set up circumstances.
My understanding is that if you soak the hay long enough it is sufficiently reduced in calories that it can be fed ad lib and you may have to try this and monitor weight weekly to see if would work for you.
Sadly, I have to take the other approach and that is, here is your carefully weighted out hay ration, wetted down and fed in a small holed haynet and when it is gone, it is gone. Not ideal but I will not let him go through laminitis again and he maintains his weight perfectly on the amount he is given. To me, the worry of the time he is spent inside with nothing left to eat is counterbalanced by the long turnout time that he has when he wanders around trickle feeding well grazed grass constantly and does not lift his head at all!
 
same trouble here too (except less turnout!)

i double net her hays.... give her 1x flake in each net (morning and night) and she still dosent finish it as she really has to pick at it.... (the amount of times shes lost her patience and flipped at the net :D ! lol!!)

mabey soak hay if possible - double net - muzzle and lots of hugs to make up for it :D
 
mmm baby is such good doer no rugs in winter at all and only 2 slices of hay ( 3 if snow on ground ) at night. now she is out from 6 till 5 during day and has a reasonable slice of hay on floor at night (yep understand fibre in gut and horses graze for 1 6 put of 24 hrs)- for 5 years she as been kept like that and no probs at all. most nights when she comes in she has her sprinkle of feed and a carrot then settles to sleep leaving hay for later - they aint daft. am i cruel - well she aint starving and thrives on our routine and well for half blind 13 yr cob shes mighty happy to come in at night :)
 
I'd cut out the 2x small feed, use those calories to give extra well soaked hay. You could put the joint supplement in a tiny handful of unmolassed chaff.
 
I wouldn't worry about the feed, tbh in a small scoop of hi fi there's not much in it.

Is there anyway he could be left out on a track system? I have both mine on one, there's no grass on it apart from pickings and it keeps them moving which is the downside to stabling, the're not using any calories up walking about.

Only other suggestion is well soak hay and double haynet.
 
i have always kept mine in during the day and out at night. This year i made the paddock smaller and have tried turning out 24/7 as hay is in short supply, i am not paying £8 a bale.

This seems to have worked better, they are on the move looking for the little bits of grass, they also have a small bucket of ruff stuff with total eclipse.
 
Soak his hay, then he can have it adlib.

Do you give a supplement in both feeds, or just one? If just one then cut out the other feed and give more soaked hay. If possible, try to give smaller, more regular haynets than one huge one that they eat in one go. If I give mine one big net, he attacks it and won't stop eating until it is gone. He is better given 2 or 3 smaller ones, staggered - maybe there is someone at your yard who always leaves last, and they could put a last net in for you?
 
You'd be better keeping him out 24/7 - muzzled during the day, with the muzzle taken off as late as possible pm.
 
Could you feed him his hay in a small holed haylage net, and work out a consistent weight in kilo's that suits him i.e keeps him busy, but keeps him looking and feeling just right weight wise, and then weigh the nets each time, and then judge by eye, if he loses weight up the hay a bit and if he puts on decrease it.

Tbh although ad lib is supposed to be good- it would have the opposite effect if i fed my horses enough haylage to keep them busy all night they would be like the size of houses and difficult to keep fit!
 
amymay said:
You'd be better keeping him out 24/7 - muzzled during the day, with the muzzle taken off as late as possible pm.
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Agreed.

He will be using energy all of the time turned out and those chiller nights will also help to bring his weight down.

Also as a guideline, a horse requires 2.5% or it's bodyweight in fibre to gain weight, 2.0% to maintain and 1.5% to lose.

Hay replacer chaffs such as Topchop Lite and Dengie Good Doer also contain less calories than hay. Top chop being my preferred. Could you not offer a large bucket of this along side his soaked hay? It will take longer to eat and I was advised by Topspec that Topchop Lite uses more calories being eaten than it contains. Should help to keep him occupied and his gut moving.
 
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