Has anyone NOT fed hard feed over winter?

[Mule]

The elderly mare just gets a token feed when the others have theirs. Mine have adlib haylage and imo they would all do fine without hard feed, but, as a family member and I share both the care and riding of them, we have to compromise on management. So they do get a bucket feed twice a day.

 

[Queenbee]

I think you lot have probably just saved my sanity; if I can just feed them hay, I don't have to spend hours trawling the feed sites looking at nutritional analysis! Yay! And it will save money.

Second question then: are balancers necessary? They don't have one in summer, never have had one ever actually. Should they be getting one? Healthy nativey pony type thingummies.

Beast has no balancer, he has a bit of cob, connie, perhaps ID and TB in him, his feet are harder than the rocks they crush and his coat perfect, no balancers at all but I do like to use a salt lick - I use the Himalayan salt licks and just leave them for him to 'self administer'

 

[JJS]

Three of my four survived on ad-lib hay last winter and not one of them struggled. The only one of mine who gets fed is the OAP Cushing's pony.

 

[Dave's Mam]

Dave had a handful of Dengie Healthy Hooves to carry some table salt & his Placid. Literally a handful. He did the rest on grass, as he mostly turned his nose up at the hay off my last yard. He only ate it the last few weeks when the grass was dead.

He rather likes the hay on new yard!

 

[Mule]

I think most leisure horses don't work very hard so don't really need hard food. Obviously tb types and poor doers in general are different.

 

[tatty_v]

My Connie x just has hay and grass all year round, with a token handful of Happy Hoof to carry his Placid supplement (more for me than him!) and a Himalayan salt lick. He looks fab at age 18 and has a varied workload

 

[windand rain]

Rather depends on what you class as hard feed. I dont feed much hay but each pony has a small bucket of high fibre low sugar low carb forage as in grass nuts, grass chaff and in winter speedibeet.The two oldies have a yoghurt pot of linseed, turmeric and pepper. The livery is on daily bute so I have to feed all something to keep them happy while he is eating. They live together out 24/7 on standing foggage strip grazed in winter

 

[Merrymoles]

My 15.2hh cob gets a tiny handful of Happy Hoof and a bit of salt, just to keep him occupied while his much older fieldmate is fed. I don't change anything in the winter as he gets ad lib haylage and does very well with just that. His fieldmate used to get the same but age (and lack of teeth) are catching up with him so he now gets more Happy Hoof and some linseed mash, along with his supplements.

 

[DD]

one of mine gets fat on just hay the other needs a small token feed.