Hay v grass

[windand rain]

Can someone clear my mind about something I have been confused about for a very long time. Is dry weight hay unsoaked better for fat/ laminitic horses than grass which has a high water content so is more filling. Just having trouble getting my head round why one would feed 11 kgs of unsoaked hay to a horse rather than letting it graze naturally on long grass/resticted grass. It is probably a very simple answer but it does confuse me a bit. I appreciate grass is sugary while growing but if they are eating less volume while trickle feeding it should really be a matter of the grass being better than hay why isnt it. This is an observation made from many sources where people perceive feeding dry hay in a limited movement environment as better than allowing grazing where the horse has to find the herbage so is required to move more.I do know that many people soak hay but again the concept of soaking for hours and not washing off is a bit odd to me as surely the water is syrup. My acute laminitic pony lives out on a grass track 24/7 365 the movement is what keeps him sound the grass is bowling green length he hasnt had an attack since we started him on the track he has no hay and a small feed daily he is slim and happier than he ever was while on very restricted grazing and in and out on soaked hay. His laminitis blips were due to him being let out of his pen by well wishers now they see him as being like any other horse so leave him alone He lives with 2 others and is not ridden

 

[SEL]

11kg of grass would have less dry matter in it than 11kg of hay, so the horses would eat more to get their fibre requirements for the day (that's assuming they stop eating when they've hit those requirements - which is unlikely!).

Even if each blade of hay vs grass had the same sugar % in it the horses are eating more of the grass so will take in more sugar.

Plus there is also the consistency for the gut with having hay out every day rather than the grass flushes.

Saying that.... my preference is also to have horses nibbling on a bowling green rather than standing in one place on a dirt patch and stuffing themselves full of hay. The insulin response from that is far greater than nibbling tiny shoots of very sweet grass over a pro-longed period plus they move around more.

My PSSM mare gets the bowling green to nibble on and her fibre allowance via soaked hay - washed through and well drained. With that protocol we have squishy muscles but with access to the same dry hay or long grass her hindquarters go rock solid.

 

[Tarragon]

This is what I do too; large expanse of very short grass for the exercise and last year's hay for the roughage.
Presumably though, people have to take into account when the hay was made as I would have thought that this year's hay made from a first cut of grass at its best might be more calorific than stalky grass still growing in a field.

 

[bubsqueaks]

I understand it as coming down to controlling how much they eat - you have far more control over feeding hay preferably soaked & trickle netted you can feed more for far longer, whereas on grass not muzzled they are allowed unlimited access to unknown quantities of unknown levels of sugary grass which if rye grass is specifically used to fatten cattle.
That's my understanding but agree it is soooooo confusing & conflicting!

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

I have my Welsh D on a 'U' shaped track arrangement I have fashioned with electric fencing at our livery yard & move the 'U' around allowing bits to recover, he's looking the best he's done in years as he always toddles back around to his water trough, to say hi to his mates over the fence & to his toilet patches. The grass is very short & unless its been raining or damp in the morning, I'd say probably not quite enough in the dry weather we've been having so I take out 3 or 4 little slices of hay & dot them around his track for him to pick at so I know he's getting some roughage. I also monitor the growth in the bit he's not grazing closely so I know roughly whats coming through that he's scoffing lol.

 

[Tarragon]

I understand it as coming down to controlling how much they eat - you have far more control over feeding hay preferably soaked & trickle netted you can feed more for far longer, whereas on grass not muzzled they are allowed unlimited access to unknown quantities of unknown levels of sugary grass which if rye grass is specifically used to fatten cattle.
That's my understanding but agree it is soooooo confusing & conflicting!

I do know that the grass my ponies have access to isn't quite enough as the ponies are interested in the hay; if they were getting enough from the grass then the hay would be ignored. So, my measure for how much grass they are getting is their interest in the hay and my measure for how much hay to give them is there should be no hay left at the end of the day. Not very scientific I must admit!
I do agree,though, that with a hay based diet you know exactly what they are eating.

 

[windand rain]

Laminitic dartmoor filling up on scrubby grass. It is a smallish pen at the end of the track He remained sound eating his fill. Sown as horse grass