Feeding hay

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zoesophie

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For those with horses in over night...........

Do you:

A - feed enough so that they are constantly eating until they go out in the morning
B - just give a few wedges
C - other

Just curious (and bored at work
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) coz it seems to vary on my yard.....
 
feed a set amount that will not keep him going until morning, but then add a snackball with something in to keep him occupied, and hang swedes etc up too.
 
Depends on the horse - two have enough to have some left in the morning, but the fatties have a measured amount, but still enough to keep them occupied for the best part of the night.
 
I feed enough so theres some left over, Ryu gets a armfull of haylege and 4-5 slices, Bails gets mainly haylege and 1-2 slices of hay, they always have something they could have eaten.
 
My horse is on the tenind to loose weight side of things so I'm happy if I go in the moning and theres stuill some left in his haynet because I know he hasn't gone hungry. However I have looked after overweight horses before and obviously you have to take a different approach. In this case feed a restricted ammount. Fat horses NEVER have any hay left in their haynets in the morning!! Too greedy
 
My guys only go in a stable if they have injured themselves. I feed ad-lib hay outside and because they are used to being fed in this manner, none of them are greedy pigs so I feed ad-lib inside too.
 
Hmm interesting....Im the same school of thought as all of you so far then....Oscar has enough to last the night too. He also has a snack ball which he loves and that keeps him occupied between munching on hay and annoying his next door neighbour!
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There are a few people on the yard who only give their horse a teeny bit of hay over night and its not coz their horse is porky, its coz they are tight
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If I am trying to loose weight then she'll get probably 3/4 sack of haylage if she is just right she can eat as much as she wants. I would rather spend loads of money on quality haylage than hard feed my horse is only restricted when porky
 
Enough to keep him going until I let him out and he has some left in the morning. I don't believe in leaving them without for long periods as they are trickle feeders and happier internally and mentally when left to do what nature intended...eat! I give my boy year old hay so then he has plenty to chew on without it having a detrimental effect on his big tummy!
 
He's still out 24/7 but there's not a massive amount of grass in his paddock so he's having 1 large section (big bale hay, 1 bale is equal to about 12-15 small bales apparently) in the evening and about 1/2 section in the morning plus a proper feed in the evening too. I think it works out that he's having about 2/3 of a small bale at the moment.
When he comes in he'll be fed about the same depending on how cold it is.
 
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Mine gets enough that he is eating when he wants to to keep him warm

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Thats the added benefit to feeding so it lasts through the night...it also keeps them warm, especially as its starting to get cold soon apparently.
 
Ours live out, but we are running short of grass already, and will soon be feeding hay in the field, generally they get one bale in the evening, that will be for the four of them.

Took a bale out to the field last week, foalie had never seen a hay bale before, well, the commotion! And then her Mother started EATING IT! And then foaline came to her senses and joined in!
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i am a big fan of hay feeding so when they are in they have adlib i.e at least half bale each, plenty left in morn but i hate to see stabled horses with nothing to eat
 
I must be a stingy cow. My horses get one section at 5 pm, one section at 8pm and another about 11pm. If I give them more they tramp it through the bed and then refuse to eat it. They get about 5 sections in total. I thought I was being generous when they were in livery they only got four sections a day.
 
Always adlib with some left in the morning so they are not stood with empty tummies and risk colic etc. I find even the greedy one's will eat their heads off for a week or so then when they realise they are not going to run out they slow down to a normal rate !
I also think JANA's way of doing things is really good when they have a slice 3 or 4 times a night spread over several hours as it's fine for horses to go up to 4 hours without eating - but no more.
I would do this method but i'm too lazy to keep going out on the yard !!
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mine was getting a net at 6pm and another at 10pm but now im missing out the 6pm net completely (he does get a small hard feed about 8pm) because so much was getting wasted and he is getting too fat. i thought they should always have some accessible but was taught recently not the case.
 
4kg Hay for the really greedy fatty, 4kg haylage for the other one as hay makes him cough whether it's soaked or not. They're both good doers and usually there's nothing left in the morning with the floor licked clean. The haylage one usually fills himself up if he's still hungry by eating his straw bed. Fatty arbuckle is on shavings so just has to wait until he gets to his field.
 
Ours (all 13.2) have 2 folds if they are fat, 3 just right and 4 if underweight. If they have finished it by late night check then they get an extra 1/2 fold.
 
Mine gets ad lib hay and haylage - as much as they can persuade him to eat! (We need to get more weight on him before the stud season.)

The stud manager is now feeding him three different types of top-quality hay and haylage every day, in an effort to tempt him to eat more. If he has just one type he gets bored and is inclined to chuck it around the box instead of eating it, so they alternate between different types.

His last feed is at around 11pm, when the SM does the last check-round on the yard. Quite a lot of hay at this feed cos he eats a bit more at night when there are fewer distractions on the yard.
 
My horse is in at night in the winter and I feed haylage. He gets 2 large haynets full and always has some left in the morning. He is a poor doer so the more he eats the better and he always has a constant supply.
 
Hmmm, some of you are lucky that you can feed late at night, I wish I could give my last feed later than I do but our yard closes at 8
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