Hay bellies

[BBP]

My horses all seem to have a bit of hay belly going on at the moment. With BBP I just assumed he’s just out of shape, but my youngster was the same prior to the vets. After a week at the vets he was looking slimmer and less distended but now after 4 days on my hay the distended gut is noticeable again. From what I’ve read it can be that in horses on late cut lower protein hay the hind gut can take longer to digest it and so it sits in the gut longer (whilst they keep munching more), and the recommendation is to add a better quality protein source. I haven’t got my head round the science yet. Would that sound right though? My guys are on relatively low sugar hay as one has EMS, but they get a selection from different sources in each ration. None of them are on a balancer but I did put BBP on naf gut aid (I think!) a while back and I did think that distended look was much reduced despite not changing his workload.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

How is your youngster doing? Improving I hope.

 

[BBP]

How is your youngster doing? Improving I hope.

He’s home after a week in hospital so we hope the risk of infection has passed. Now it’s just the long slow rest and rehab process. So far he’s being excellent but we are just 10 days in. We are swapping his companion every 12 hours so he always has someone new to chat to ? They all love him. Thanks for asking.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I am so relieved to hear that, he is such a lovely little chap and you have had enough bad luck with BBP.

 

[Sossigpoker]

My cob easily gets a hay belly although he's not fat and is quite fit. Soaking his over night hay helps massively and he can have almost twice as much over night as a result. So I suspect it's linked to sugar and/ or WSC

 

[SEL]

That's a relief BBP

I've got a much finer, fluffy bale on the go at the moment and my lot all look less pregnant even though they are having the same kg

 

[Peglo]

I’m glad your wee lad is feeling a bit better BBP.

I don’t suppose you have a picture of your hay bellies? Tali has had a fair belly on her too but I didn’t know hay bellies were a thing. I will follow with interest as I was scared to add anything more to her feed as just thought she was too fat. (Small bit of speedibeet, hi-fi molasses free and vits) she maybe is just too fat but it’s really only her belly that looks it.

 

[NLPM]

Yep, mine are the same at the moment since it's been frosty and I've been haying (using older hay). The poor OAP is really a very odd shape! I've just (yesterday) started giving them Gut Balancer - I usually use it just for changing fields/opening up the next bit of track, when there's a sudden diet change, but I'm thinking if it helps here they can all just stay on it for now. Will let you know if it helps! Wishing your youngster a speedy recovery too.

 

[BBP]

I am so relieved to hear that, he is such a lovely little chap and you have had enough bad luck with BBP.

It’s typical that BBP was the cause of the injury to the two sensible ones!

Interestingly (to me!) it turned out that yesterday when they were looking really distended and balloon like, it turned out I had mixed up my hay batches (we have hay from 5 different fields, each is is different mix of grasses or earlier or later cut and we try to give them a variety). I had accidentally given them 100% of one type rather than a mix. Today I didn’t give them any of that fields hay and gave them a different batch and they were much less distended tonight and were less sensitive to touch over the hind gut. On visual inspection the only real noticeable difference i can see if that the ‘bloaty’ batch contains a fair bit of what I think is vetch. So perhaps that takes more effort to digest and causes more gas and discomfort. I’ll have to look into it a bit and experiment with the mix. It’s a shame as that is the batch cut from our own land.

Edit to add, I need to check if I actually mean vetch (my plant ID skills are poor so repeating what i thought I was told) but quick google shows vetch can poison horses!

 

[BBP]

I’m glad your wee lad is feeling a bit better BBP.

I don’t suppose you have a picture of your hay bellies? Tali has had a fair belly on her too but I didn’t know hay bellies were a thing. I will follow with interest as I was scared to add anything more to her feed as just thought she was too fat. (Small bit of speedibeet, hi-fi molasses free and vits) she maybe is just too fat but it’s really only her belly that looks it.

I don’t think I have a good picture, but it’s a noticeable distension and looking like a tight drum at the lower back of their tummies near the hind leg, it makes them look pot bellied even though I can feel ribs on all of them.