Feeding hay - how much

[Gorgeous George]

I'm sorry as I think I asked about this before I got George, but now I have him I want to make sure I've got it right! At the moment he is fed in the am at 7 and then turned out at 8am until about 2-3 ish, he comes in and has his feed at about 3-4ish and then when I go up at 5-ish he gets his small hole haynet with 3 sections of hay in it. In the past 4 weeks he hasn't lost or gained weight which is good news. What bothers me is the speed he eats it and how long overnight he must then be without something to eat - he does have one of those boredom balls although he often ignores it. Unfortunately there isn't anyone at the yard later than 7-ish to put more hay in (the one downside of my yard). So am I worrying unnecessarily or should I give him more hay and risk him putting on weight?

Thanks

 

[zigzag]

We feed adlib hay and a little pony would go through 3 sections overnight, Our big liveries (15hh plus always had a couple of sections of hay when they came in around two pm (they went out at 7-6am) with their hard feed, another two sections given at 5.30 pm (the other hay was virtually gone) then around 3/4 sections given at 9pm, very rarely was there any hay left in morning.. I reckon your boy would finish his 3 sections if he was given them at 5pm by 8/9pm, could you hang another haynet up for him?

 

[jes_nibley]

my boy learnt that after he had his hay ney at about 6,7 o'clock, unless i was in a wierd shift, then that wa all he got for the night. he tended to hold himself back and save some for the early hours. He also had a lick on the wall, one of the tongue twister things, a snak-a-ball, a hanging ball with lick, a jolly ball and a hanging suede - he spent a lot of time by himself and gets bored very easily!
if youre worried try increasing it a bit and monitoring his weight throughout.

 

[Gorgeous George]

I put the hay in the small hole haynet to slow him down, so what does he do? Bite a big hole in the haynet and yank the hay out!! I think if I put a whole bale in he would eat it, but his weight is just right and I don't want him to explode!!

 

[gemmaw]

i wouldnt feel too bad about him not having hay all through the night, we only used to give the racehorses one section of hay at half 4 then a scoop of corn at 7 and that was it till the morning and they were all fine! if he looks well with what you are doing keep to it!!!!

 

[merlinsquest]

Personally I feel it is wrong for a horse.... which is designed to graze for most of the day/night.... to be without forage for hours and hours at any time night or day.

But if there is no choice then there is no choice!!! Could you not put a second hay net up and make it double or treble wrapped so its really hard to get out??

I am lucky in that mine is not a greedy or fast eater so 4/5 sections of hay would last all night.

If weight gain is of concern could you not save most of his ration for the night time and cut back a bit on hard feed, or soak one of the nets for a few hours to cut back on the nutrition and possibly slow him down if he is not so keen on soaked hay??

If only they understood how bad it is for their stomachs to be empty, they would make it last!!!

 

[paulo]

I think the amount of hay sounds fine if he is not losing or gaining wait but as horses are designed to eat most of the day I would probably put two or even three hay nets over the hay that way he will have to slow down.

 

[Gorgeous George]

Maybe I'll try an extra net and see if he puts on weight, I don't think making the holes smaller will help as he'll just eat more holes in it! He has got a metal hayrack in his stable as well but it's gone from that before you can blink!

 

[Baggybreeches]

If he is doing a fair amount of work then his hay ration should make much difference to his weight, I personally prefer to give them too much, but then I have only small paddocks to graze in, so hay makes up most or all of their grazing ration!
Try him with more he will most likely leave it if hes getting enough, and if he gets fat, you can have some fun cantering the additional pounds off him!

 

[Happytohack]

We feed our horses ad lib hay. They have hay when they come in and then their nets are topped up last thing at night. They have just about eaten it all in the morning. A horse is designed to trickle feed and should not be left without anything to eat for hours at a time. This can lead to all sorts of digestive problems. Ella came from a riding school where the regime was fairly strict. At first she was like your boy and dived into her haynet as if it was going out of fashion. She soon realised that she could take her time and now eats what she needs slowly through the night. In the winter my two heavy horses eat approx 1 bale per day each, but they have little other feed and their weight stays constant.