Fussy horses!!!

[Identityincrisis]

So, my fussy Arab is driving me mad at the minute! He’s never been a great eater and can go off his feed that he’s been happily eating for a year, for no apparent reason. Hard feed is fine (for now) but his hay is now becoming an issue. I feed ad lib hay (currently timothy as he preferred that over the meadow hay ) BUT he will reject loads of hay at a time so i end up giving it away. It’s also really dusty and he ended up with a nasty cough so I now steam it (wouldn’t eat it wetted) but because it’s steamed I can’t try and hide the leftovers in the next nights hay so even more waste! I’ve reduced the amount I give him and do leave dry available so he always has something.

He’s recently (3moths ago) had ulcers but scoped clear now (on aloe, yea saac, oily herbs as preventative measures) and not showing symptoms. Would it be terrible to put him on haylage (he likes other people’s!) i know it’s starting to become less desirable especially after ulcers, but I’m concerned he’s not eating enough forage, he is on pretty good grass 7am - 4:30pm.

What are people’s thoughts? Stick with hay even though he’s eating less or give haylage which he will hopefully eat more of .

 

[Gloi]

I wouldn't feed hay that was really dusty even steamed if I could possibly avoid it.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I would swap to haylage, will help with the dust issue too. You don't know until you try, half our yard of 30 is on haylage with no ill effect

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

So, my fussy Arab is driving me mad at the minute! He’s never been a great eater and can go off his feed that he’s been happily eating for a year, for no apparent reason. Hard feed is fine (for now) but his hay is now becoming an issue. I feed ad lib hay (currently timothy as he preferred that over the meadow hay ) BUT he will reject loads of hay at a time so i end up giving it away. It’s also really dusty and he ended up with a nasty cough so I now steam it (wouldn’t eat it wetted) but because it’s steamed I can’t try and hide the leftovers in the next nights hay so even more waste! I’ve reduced the amount I give him and do leave dry available so he always has something.

He’s recently (3moths ago) had ulcers but scoped clear now (on aloe, yea saac, oily herbs as preventative measures) and not showing symptoms. Would it be terrible to put him on haylage (he likes other people’s!) i know it’s starting to become less desirable especially after ulcers, but I’m concerned he’s not eating enough forage, he is on pretty good grass 7am - 4:30pm.

What are people’s thoughts? Stick with hay even though he’s eating less or give haylage which he will hopefully eat more of .

Arabi has always been quite fussy I struggled to keep weight on him when he was young, I fed him a mix of hay and haylage for years as he would leave some hay, it did work he did gain weight but although his 20 now he goes off the bucket feed but thankfully his a pretty good doer now.

 

[P.forpony]

I'd give him whatever he eats.

My preference is usually haylage but I feed hay if it suits the horse.
When they're picky it's tough to feel like you're getting it 'right'
But ultimately you can feed the best quality, most perfect diet in the world and it doesn't do much good if they don't actually eat it!

So especially if they're ulcer prone, I'd rather they eat option 2 than stand empty.

 

[SpeedyPony]

I'd be inclined to try him on haylage- you could always buy some small bales to start off with if you're worried he might reject it.

 

[Identityincrisis]

That’s decided. I had a haybar of dry hay tonight, i could tell he was hungry but he wasn’t eating, I borrowed an arm full of haylage and he tucked straight in. Horses!!!

 

[criso]

My fussy tb is like a drug addict with haylage but it's big bale and quite rich. He has hay as well so he has something not so yummy to pick at when it's finished. He sometimes rejects a random bale of hay but never the haylage

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

My boy doesn’t eat anything that drops out of his haynet luckily my mare eats anything and isn’t fussy so I fill add to her haynet the next day what he doesn’t want.

 

[P.forpony]

My boy doesn’t eat anything that drops out of his haynet luckily my mare eats anything and isn’t fussy so I fill add to her haynet the next day what he doesn’t want.

Same here, the shetty has never had his 'own' hay, he is the yard hoover of everyone else's leftovers