Feeding hifi as hay replacer

[dsylkln]

My old mare can’t eat hay at all now so I’ve got some dengie hifi as a hay replacer. It says to feed out of a bucket I suppose as will all fall out of a haynet. However I feel like if I leave a load for her to graze on she will inhale it within half an hour so how am I meant to feed it during winter when they’re in 24/7 so that it lasts? Or do i just give her some in morning some in evening like a feed. Thanks

 

[ihatework]

A large trug filled.
Hopefully she will learn to self regulate.

 

[TGM]

Which HiFi are you feeding - that will make a difference to how quickly she eats it. The HiFi Senior contains no straw and is softer so easier for old horses to chew, but if your mare is a piggy she may get through it very quickly. The rest of the range contains a percentage of chopped straw I think so will last longer as harder to chew and not as exciting. But if her teeth are very bad it might be too tough for her. You will need to feed approximately as much by weight as you do hay, if she can't eat hay at all. You will have to experiment which HiFi suits her needs best.

 

[dsylkln]

Which HiFi are you feeding - that will make a difference to how quickly she eats it. The HiFi Senior contains no straw and is softer so easier for old horses to chew, but if your mare is a piggy she may get through it very quickly. The rest of the range contains a percentage of chopped straw I think so will last longer as harder to chew and not as exciting. But if her teeth are very bad it might be too tough for her. You will need to feed approximately as much by weight as you do hay, if she can't eat hay at all. You will have to experiment which HiFi suits her needs best.

yeah she’s on the senior one, I’ll just have to see how she goes and try a different one maybe, thank you

 

[dsylkln]

A large trug filled.
Hopefully she will learn to self regulate.

ah ok brill thank you

 

[P.forpony]

I finding they learn to self regulate pretty well, but splitting into several tubs in different places can help.

Also it might be worth having some different options for her, as they can get bored and go off it quite quickly things like readygrass (expensive I know) soaked alfalfa pellets, or mashEs like speedy fibre, even just different varieties of chaffs can liven things up a bit and I always think it’s interesting to see which is the favourite of the day ?

 

[NA85ISH]

my old horse could no longer eat hay and got bored pretty quickly with tubs of the same feed, we would give tubs of optional feeds and also a really loose net of the bags of haylage, I found that he struggled with anything tight but also separating it when it was left loose, with a very loose net of the soft haylage he could almost nibble it and it kept him happy and entertained during the night
Feed wise:
i always gave him a separate tea and breakfast and made it different to the tubs, he loved copra in small doses so this was ideal for feeds with his vits and supplements added in
we gave a tub of graze on (he didnt like the ready grass, i think it was to hard)
a tub of rowan barbary fibre mash - the green one (this was his absolute favorite)
soaked grass pellet (smaller tub)

we also tried the hay blocks soaked but they took that long to soak down it wasnt easy to keep on top of them

At first everything would be gone, but after a week he started to self regulate and the only tub that would be empty was his mash, the haylage was mainly pulled out and all over the floor but he had eaten some and he managed like this for 2 years before we had him PTS for another reason, he looked amazing even the vet commented on how well he was looking