Hay net fiasco!!!

Oh so there are no ponies that arnt good at holding weight in the winter ?? So everyone who have ponies who don't maintain their weight are not feeding them enough ? Is it really that black and white ? It's not that I don't like what these posters are saying. It's just some can be a bit overbearing with their opinions. Not everyone knows it all. I'm the first to say I'm learning all the time.
I am very grateful for advice in here but sometimes it can be a bit upsetting when people say things that suggest others do not look after their ponies correctly. Im learning to look after mine alone for the first time in years. It knocks confidence when people word their posts in harsh ways. There are more tactful ways without hurting people's feelings.
 
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Perhaps you need to look at the bigger picture if your stock are having enough to eat but not thriving as you would expect them to.

Shelter and environment, quality of forage provided, health of mouth/teeth and potential worm burden. All factors to consider as we get into the final part of a very trying winter.
 
Groom Mum said:
Depends on what grass they are eating. If I move them to a better patch they will leave hay. If on the trashed area they will eat it all.
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Groom Mum said:
No I said that if they arnt on the longer grass they eat the hay when I come in the morning there is small scraps of hay left. I don't go down overnight to give them hay. They have a 9kg net and two 6kg nets overnight. I'm getting through about 3/4 if not more of a bale of hay a day. They also have it scattered around their field. But my youngster just doesn't hold weight like my other one. It's how he is.
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Your first comment above says they eat it 'all' so I was just trying to get some clarity, you asked for advice and that is what many of us have offered there is no law to say you have to take it and there is almost always more than one opinion. My posts were offered in order to help ut yours have been defensive and a bit rude so I shall not offer them again.
 
Don't bother. Sorry to the thread starter if this took your thread away from the original point. I will bow out of this one. Wasn't being defensive just think sometimes some people here can be aggressive and opinionated.
 
Groom Mum said:
Oh so there are no ponies that arnt good at holding weight in the winter ?? So everyone who have ponies who don't maintain their weight are not feeding them enough ? Is it really that black and white ? It's not that I don't like what these posters are saying. It's just some can be a bit overbearing with their opinions. Not everyone knows it all. I'm the first to say I'm learning all the time.
I am very grateful for advice in here but sometimes it can be a bit upsetting when people say things that suggest others do not look after their ponies correctly. Im learning to look after mine alone for the first time in years. It knocks confidence when people word their posts in harsh ways. There are more tactful ways without hurting people's feelings.
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I would give them good hay, ad lib, in an easier to eat method than a hay net. I have long hay racks which work well. and forget the hard food. I have a 20 year old finely bred warmblood import pony here who is now a little fattie, he is unrugged and only has a token handful of chaff twice a day. Forage is how they are evolved to eat, I used to hunt three times a fortnight on good ad lib hay on a 16.2 mare and she only had a few pony nuts as hard feed.
 
My mare started dropping weight this year. First thing I did was up her hay intake and worm her with 5 day Panacur (I will be doing worm counts in a week after the worming course has finished). She is maintaining her weight easily now and I am happy with how she looks by very simply upping her hay.

Grooms Mum, I would be concerned if I had a horse that I was stuffing full of food but I was barely able to maintain its weight. I understand its a rescue so you can't rug it yet as it has never been rugged before? (Correct me if I am wrong I thin you mentioned this in a previous thread?) Has pony been wormed? Have the teeth been checked? Has there been a worm count done? Especially if the pony is a rescue with an unknown history, you could be feeding pleanty of food but there could be an underlying issue causing the issue with maintaining weight.
 
same here. got a almost 3 year old cob very food fixated. i know where it comes from ( he was discarded to be killed as his mum was used to raise a thoroughbred foal) so he was hand raised.It's getting quite annoying now.He will quite easy give me my space on anything -except when I carry food. Have resorted to lock him out of the yard while I fill the buckets but it's still annoying.
 
Groom Mum said:
They are small ponies and they are both fed hard feed three times a day. Plus haylege. They are not hungry otherwise I'm sure their haynets would be totally empty every day. So are you saying they should be on more than a bale a day ? They constantly have forage.
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I would say tha they need more hay and no hard feed. I once bought a Welshx mare who had been kept veryshort of hay, to the point that she was very proud of her hay when we first got her, and then fed up by her next owner, with lots of different hard feeds. This did her no good at all, she developed extreme sensitivities to cereals and refined sugars. When we gave her genuinely ad-lib hay she soon understood that she didn't have to fight for it.

Genuinely ad-lib hay to me means that they still have enough to eat when you are giving out the next lot, not just a mouthful or two which they may well have already rejected. The best way to put weight on any horse, whatever its age, is to feed a forage-based diet. As someone else said, horses use forage to keep warm. It is far better for them than hard feed, which doesn't really keep them warm and can cause digestive problems.

As for instilling manners, I understand that it is difficult in the current weather conditions but we have lots of mud and youngsters and always insist on good manners. If you don't start as you mean to go on, the horse/pony will not understand your expectaions on other occasions. And you are seriously asking for trouble, even ponies are heavy creatures who can do a person a lot of harm, just by treating us as horses, if they are not taught not to do so.

Your attitude to people with a vast amount of experience, who are genuinely offering helpful advice, does sometimes surprise me, GM.


OP, the best way to avoid a fiasco, or worse, is to set up your situation so that it is easy for your horse to do the right thing. So, either put several haynets up at once, or put your net up when the horse isn't in the stable, or put his hay in while he is eating a bucket feed, or a small amount of hay, or better still, give him his hay loose, in a manger/haybar or similar, which is much better for him and easier for you.
 
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Groom Mum said:
No I said that if they arnt on the longer grass they eat the hay when I come in the morning there is small scraps of hay left. I don't go down overnight to give them hay. They have a 9kg net and two 6kg nets overnight. I'm getting through about 3/4 if not more of a bale of hay a day. They also have it scattered around their field. But my youngster just doesn't hold weight like my other one. It's how he is.
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I note you managed to work out how to get more than 3kg of hay in those nets.
 
Groom Mum said:
Oh so there are no ponies that arnt good at holding weight in the winter ?? So everyone who have ponies who don't maintain their weight are not feeding them enough ? Is it really that black and white ? It's not that I don't like what these posters are saying. It's just some can be a bit overbearing with their opinions. Not everyone knows it all. I'm the first to say I'm learning all the time.
I am very grateful for advice in here but sometimes it can be a bit upsetting when people say things that suggest others do not look after their ponies correctly. Im learning to look after mine alone for the first time in years. It knocks confidence when people word their posts in harsh ways. There are more tactful ways without hurting people's feelings.
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I've been following your posts but haven't posted.

It does seem that despite your best efforts your little one is still failing to thrive. It looks like we have much colder weather predicted over the next couple of weeks. I noted in one of the replies above that someone suggested getting one of the big round bales of hay or haylage delivered. They will put it directly in your field for you and then your ponies will have access to it 24 hours and you won't have to worry about them running out.

I think this is a really good idea with the added bonus that if they have full tummies their behaviour should be a little less unruly! :)
 
I certainly feel that feeding hard feed is to be kept to a minimum, there is simply no need to feed ponies hard feed three times a day. Having said that, you have to be flexible, and I like to keep them all with a bit of covering through the winter,on maintenance, once they start to lose weight it is difficult to put it on.
I think haynets and spirited youngsters is a recipe for disaster.
 
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