Following on from my 'no hay' post below........

if mine stay in they always have enough haylage to last them through the night- no exceptions.

the fatties get some on the floor and the rest is double netted so takes forever to eat.

as for lightning, if it hits building it can cause fires and also roofs to collapse etc.

you are more likely to kill your horse with colic due to no hay than it be killed by lightning in the field.
 
I always ensure my horse has enough hay to last him until I arrive in the morning - he always has plenty left when I get there.

It's a real pet hate of mine to see horse's left with insufficient hay. Horses are designed to graze pretty much constantly when they're not sleeping - to leave them without hay for more than a couple of hours, on a regular basis isn't acceptable IMO.
 
With fatties - which Sienna is, I aim to have no hay left at all in the morning, but not starving horses. Can usually judge fairly accurately. I guess that means thay are without hay for a few hours which I aim for to help with weight loss, I also aim if they are stabled during the day for them to have periods during the day where they haven't anything to eat. Probs 2 hrs late morning and the same late afternoon.

I would not let them have ad lib haylage unless they were in serious work or had to be fed to keep weight on. I rarely have issues keeping their weight on it always seems the other way round.

I hate to think of them eating straw. Would much rather bed on shavings than risk colic. I have no views on lightning strikes.
 
Have you ever considered using oat straw in the haynets to fill it out with low nutritional bulk? Oat straw is fed for precisely that reason - keeps the gut moving without adding calories (and is most commonly found in chop).
 
Stables getting hit by lightning is a very real risk - seen the after effects of a stable that had been struck (thank goodness the horses were out). The roof collapsed inwards, and the bedding can doors caught on fire. The bricks did remain standing tho! After this happened (it was a yard near us), our YM fitted lightning conductors to all of the stables and haybarns - it wasn't super cheap, but certainly gave us peace of mind. I think they are made from copper, and they run into the ground where the charge can be released safely.
 
Not read all the posts, but my horse gets ad lib haylage, meaning enough is put in his stable for there to be a small amount left each morning. Leaving a horse with no forage is not only asking for trouble with colic, but also likely to cause them problems with ulcers. Either give them well soaked hay, bulk it out with chopped oat straw, double net it to slow the eating - whatever. But IMO it is bad management to leave a horse with no forage at all for hours on end, and I would not choose to do it.
 
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