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

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Racing_Gal

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How long do you think it takes your horse to finish a net?

I was thinking, if we put the last net in at say 8pm and dont turn out until say 7am, thats 11 hours.

So all of you who thought COLIC when I said I may have to leave them without hay, how long do you think your horse takes to finish the net/s you give him before you leave for the night? I think you'll find that most horses atabled over night will go quite a few hours without hay when you think about it.

I'm not saying this applies to all horses, I've noticed one of mine eats half at night and half in the morning as when we're up early for comps theres usually half a net left. But the others seem to eat and eat until it's all gone before they sleep.

discuss...
 
hm depends on the nets!! At the yard, they are given HUGE nets - as in I struggle to lift them, and their hay is checked again at 10pm, so they are left then until 8am and nearly all of them will have some left over
I heard that they are saying it's as little as 4 hours without now that is the thinking for gastric ulcers
 
I always ensured that the horses still had hay / hayledge when I arrived to do morning stables - most had 2 large nets, and they were filled with unshaken sections. The odd one had very small holed nets to slow down their eating, and a couple of the bigger boys had 3 nets. It would be a very very rare occurance that a horse wouldn't have some hay left.
 
When merlin was stabled we were allocated a bale of hay a day.... He used to get half in the morning and then I would top up the haynet in the evening ..... he always had hay in the stable
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I would hate him to be without as he then starts finding alternative things to amuse him!!

Having said that, he is not a greedy horse with hay and wont stand scoffing till its all gone
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I don't use nets but ensure my horse has enough hay to last the night - usually at least 2/3 of a bale, sometimes up to a whole bale a night.

I was a bit strapped for cash this winter and had to cut down to half a bale a night at one point and felt incredibly guilty!
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should always have a wee bit hay left in the net in the morning, so i kno abby is getting enough, fatty on the other hand only gets a small haynet because anymore than that she would explode.

my horses are out 24/7 in summer tho
 
well my horse is stabled at night, (shoe problems dont ask lol) and gets ridden and turned out in the day. he has a full haynet at about 7-8 ish, he eats non-stop after his night feed so that leaves about half a haynet ish in the early morning i think, sometimes when im going somewhere in the morning and check on him early about 5-6 ish he has a little bit at the bottom of the haynet and by 8 oclock which is when we start feeds and stuff its gone. he doesnt get any hay then in the morning, hes taken for a ride and turned out.

the horses that only come in in the night and get turned out straight away in the morning only get a bunch of hay in the corner because they dont need it because they get a good feed in the night and theyre on good grazing.
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It depends what work mine are in as to how much hay they get. Those in hard work get smaller haynets and C finishes his off pretty quickly! so he stands for a while without. He would eat and eat if he could!

In light work they get ad lib.
 
I hate the idea that a horse feels uncomfortable or bored at night and so starts chewing on the wood/cribbing etc. With Shadow I used to feed two nets of hay a night in hayledge nets so it took him longer. Only occasionally would I turn up and he has nothing left. Howie eats off the floor but his pile is nearly as big as him LOL and there is always something left in the morning.
 
Ours certainly don't go for any time without hay when left in overnight!
They are fed adlib hay, they always have a small amount left when put out about 7.30 am, having come in at 7.30 in the evening.
We do not use haynets but feed from haybars or the floor, as this is much healthier for them in all sorts of ways.

IMO horses are usually happier outside in a storm as they feel more in control of where they stand etc.
The best way to warm horses up is to give them plenty of fibre to eat, the digestion process generates heat.
In your position I would have brought them in, put rugs on and put them back out.
I wonder, what made you feel that they were more protected from the lightning in the stable than outside?
 
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.IMO horses are usually happier outside in a storm as they feel more in control of where they stand etc.

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this is what i thought too, i worry tht they spook in the stable and hurt themselves on something. dunno if thts just me tho?
 
Mine get a huge pile of hay, eaten off the floor, at 10pm and they don't get breakfast until between 8.30 and 9.00 am. There is never anything but a few wisps left in the morning and I know they both must stand there and stuff themselves until it's gone, then they go to sleep. So I reckon they must go between 7 and 8 hours without hay. If I filled their boxes to the roof they would still have eaten it by morning and probably exploded or gone down with colic.

They come in during storms as they hate the rain, but they are in at night anyway.
 
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I wonder, what made you feel that they were more protected from the lightning in the stable than outside?

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Can they still be struck by lightening while inside???
 
QR

OMG!!! you lot must either have the fattest horses in the world or else they are all full thoroughbreds who burn energy as though there 's no tomorrow!!!

the livery horses are finished off at 6pm and have often finished their nets by 7.30. Most of them could do with losing 50lb or so - too much grass!!

Daisybe, why do your horses in hard work get smaller nets than those in light work?
 
How long does it take to finish a net? Totally depends on the horse. Would I leave a horse with no hay overnight? No.

If I had a fattie I would feed soaked hay so that I could still give them a good amount overnight. Failing that I would make sure they had a straw bed & then they could eat that!
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My horses get enough hay so there is always a bit left at the bottom of the haybar in the morning.

As for a horse being struck by lightening - you seem very afraid of this- I think it is pretty rare. More likely that a barn would be struck by lightening and catch fire, tbh....
 
That one was in 2007. It is now 2009. I googled it & didn't come up with many to be honest so I don't believe it is a lot (but want to see the statistics if anyone can find them!)

houses burn down, don't they - they are made of brick...
 
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If I had a fattie I would feed soaked hay so that I could still give them a good amount overnight. Failing that I would make sure they had a straw bed & then they could eat that!
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well soaking it would work for my fatties - won't touch the stuff with a bargepole!!
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does it actually get rid of many calories anyway?

please, please tell me you are joking about the bed........
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having had a horse nearly die from a gastric impaction earlier this year from eating his bed I will only keep greedy ones on shavings now.
 
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If I had a fattie I would feed soaked hay so that I could still give them a good amount overnight. Failing that I would make sure they had a straw bed & then they could eat that!
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well soaking it would work for my fatties - won't touch the stuff with a bargepole!!
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does it actually get rid of many calories anyway?

please, please tell me you are joking about the bed........
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having had a horse nearly die from a gastric impaction earlier this year from eating his bed I will only keep greedy ones on shavings now.

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Yes - soaking or steaming hay is a very good way of getting rid of calories. And no I wasn't joking about his bed.
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houses burn down, don't they - they are made of brick...

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Not when struck by lightning!! God I hope noot anyway!
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Oh I'm off to bed before I cause to much trouble!
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I wonder, what made you feel that they were more protected from the lightning in the stable than outside?

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Can they still be struck by lightening while inside???

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The stable can be struck by lightning, which if the stable is wooden would probably set it on fire. If the stable is made of brick/stone/concrete it could also be struck by lightning and could collapse. Have you never seen pictures of houses struck by lightning?

I think that horses, although they could be struck by lightning themselves, are safer out than in and if the worst happened at least lightning strike would be a quick death, as opposed to being burned or squashed.

I don't know the exact statistics but being struck by lightning doesn't happen often, whilst colic or injury from being stressed by being kept in a stable with nothing to eat/occupy the horse, with a storm raging outside can happen quite easily.

ETS just read through the thread and realised that youve gone to bed now R G, so don't know whether you'll see this. Incidentally the rain has cleared us now, so probably this is all academic now anyway
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All of our horses have hay left in the morning, if their greedy it's given in small nets. Straightforward enough.
 
I have one who would eat all of her hay no matter how much I gave. She's a trakehner, and has a huge (xxx large net) that I struggle to lift at night, the net has small holes and at 5am brekkie there isn't a scrap left. She's actually gone onto nets because when I fed on the floor she was having about a bale a night and it would be gone by 11pm last check. She is overweight.
 
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It depends what work mine are in as to how much hay they get. Those in hard work get smaller haynets and C finishes his off pretty quickly! so he stands for a while without. He would eat and eat if he could!

In light work they get ad lib.

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how odd?

why this way round, daisy?
 
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How long do you think it takes your horse to finish a net?

I was thinking, if we put the last net in at say 8pm and dont turn out until say 7am, thats 11 hours.

So all of you who thought COLIC when I said I may have to leave them without hay, how long do you think your horse takes to finish the net/s you give him before you leave for the night? I think you'll find that most horses atabled over night will go quite a few hours without hay when you think about it.

I'm not saying this applies to all horses, I've noticed one of mine eats half at night and half in the morning as when we're up early for comps theres usually half a net left. But the others seem to eat and eat until it's all gone before they sleep.

discuss...

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Mine always has hay left in the morning so nope mine never goes without
 
I'm re-assured by all the people that feed ad lib. It's so bad for them to go without. 70% of competition horses have gastric ulcers due to not being fed enough forage. Mine are never without. My little mare who is out of work has it soaked for an hour in a small holed haynet and by 6am there is still some left, then she goes out. The big lad who drops weight quickly has massive haynet full of good quality haylage and always has plenty left in the morning. Little fat one has it soaked and picks at it, he doesn't tend to like hay too much so will have plenty left come the morning.
 
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