help horse super picky with hay, why?

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crazyhorse37

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I have a horse who thinks she's a princess. She's always been fussy, fresh water and hay only, won't eat what's been directly on the floor etc. However this year is different, she won't eat her hay. She'll have some, then go off it. She'll starve herself all night. I persisted with the same hay, giving her fresh each night for nearly 3 weeks, no joy apart from the odd bit. Tried her with some other hay, she ate one bale, the next was slightly different and she stopped eating again. I tried soaking fibre replacement and making it very sloppy and pouring it over the hay to tempt her. She ate the fibre mash, but not the hay. I like her to eat forage ad lib. She's out during the day, but the grass is poor and she's always waiting to come in at night and HUNGRY. She's eating all her food, which is just chaff, a scoop of linseed and supplements. She's had her bloods checked, the only thing that came up was her muscle enzymes were on the slightly higher side. Her teeth are fine.

Does anyone know why and what I need to look for in my hay to find something she'll eat? Please no suggestions on how to 'force' her to eat what she's got,she always has reason for what she does, it just takes me a while to catch up!
 
Have you tried haylage? I have a very fussy one and last year had to go on haylage (reluctantly as it sends her slightly spooky!) also I used to feed a big tub trug of ready grass. Haven't had the same problem this year though thankfully!! But picky but generally ok
 
This first happened to horses at our yard about 5 years ago, and happens from time to time. Thinking is that fertiliser has been applied during a dry spell, and not been washed into the soil with the rain, and does not taste right. The hay looks loverly to people, but the horses will not eat it even if hungry. In fact, it must not smell right to the h orses cause if my horse has some of this hay he just sniffs it and turns away. I have just had to find hay from a different source.
 
ilvpippa said:
Have you tried haylage? I have a very fussy one and last year had to go on haylage (reluctantly as it sends her slightly spooky!) also I used to feed a big tub trug of ready grass. Haven't had the same problem this year though thankfully!! But picky but generally ok
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think I may have to go down that route :( but she's laminitic prone, so not really the best option. Going to try some 'dry-ish' haylage my local farmer has tomorrow.
 
Maybe she is getting enough during the day? Both my two are out for 12 hours on goodish grass and they seem to eat most of that time. I tried lots of different ways of feeding and different hays but both only ate their tea and then a small amount of hay overnight, maybe 3kg if that. I came to the conclusion that they actually did spend a lot of time just snoozing and having the odd nibble of hay in their stables during hours of darkness. Usually the mare scoffs anything during the summer when she is on restricted grazing so I know it's not the hay.

Maybe you could try a fibrebloc?
 
teasle said:
This first happened to horses at our yard about 5 years ago, and happens from time to time. Thinking is that fertiliser has been applied during a dry spell, and not been washed into the soil with the rain, and does not taste right. The hay looks loverly to people, but the horses will not eat it even if hungry. In fact, it must not smell right to the h orses cause if my horse has some of this hay he just sniffs it and turns away. I have just had to find hay from a different source.
Click to expand...

wondered if it may have something to do with that, thanks, I'll ask my hay supplier if that might be the cause :)
 
Jericho said:
Maybe she is getting enough during the day? Both my two are out for 12 hours on goodish grass and they seem to eat most of that time. I tried lots of different ways of feeding and different hays but both only ate their tea and then a small amount of hay overnight, maybe 3kg if that. I came to the conclusion that they actually did spend a lot of time just snoozing and having the odd nibble of hay in their stables during hours of darkness. Usually the mare scoffs anything during the summer when she is on restricted grazing so I know it's not the hay.

Maybe you could try a fibrebloc?
Click to expand...

She's definitely hungry, she's practically inhaling her chaff! So it's not that, wish it was, would save me a fortune!
Fibrebloc? Is that like the ones simple system sells? She loves them, but i didn't think they could be a complete replacer?
 
teasle said:
This first happened to horses at our yard about 5 years ago, and happens from time to time. Thinking is that fertiliser has been applied during a dry spell, and not been washed into the soil with the rain, and does not taste right. The hay looks loverly to people, but the horses will not eat it even if hungry. In fact, it must not smell right to the h orses cause if my horse has some of this hay he just sniffs it and turns away. I have just had to find hay from a different source.
Click to expand...

I've had that with my horses too. If it's just the odd bale it's probably a type of grass or something they don't like, but if it's a whole batch it's likely the fertiliser. Sometimes wetting it or soaking it is enough for them to eat it with mine.
 
crazyhorse37 said:
wondered if it may have something to do with that, thanks, I'll ask my hay supplier if that might be the cause :)
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Can you get a couple of small bales from another supplier to see if she'll eat those? See that you are in South Devon - are you anywhere near Kenn because you can get really great hay there?
 
crazyhorse37 said:
I have a horse who thinks she's a princess. She's always been fussy, fresh water and hay only, won't eat what's been directly on the floor etc. However this year is different, she won't eat her hay. She'll have some, then go off it. She'll starve herself all night. I persisted with the same hay, giving her fresh each night for nearly 3 weeks, no joy apart from the odd bit. Tried her with some other hay, she ate one bale, the next was slightly different and she stopped eating again. I tried soaking fibre replacement and making it very sloppy and pouring it over the hay to tempt her. She ate the fibre mash, but not the hay. I like her to eat forage ad lib. She's out during the day, but the grass is poor and she's always waiting to come in at night and HUNGRY. She's eating all her food, which is just chaff, a scoop of linseed and supplements. She's had her bloods checked, the only thing that came up was her muscle enzymes were on the slightly higher side. Her teeth are fine.

Does anyone know why and what I need to look for in my hay to find something she'll eat? Please no suggestions on how to 'force' her to eat what she's got,she always has reason for what she does, it just takes me a while to catch up!
Click to expand...

Who checked her teeth? I would get them checked again by someone else. Few years ago I had a horse who went off hay and would only eat feed. Teeth were checked by vet and no problems found. In the end I sold her to someone with all year round grazing as it was too expensive to keep her on hay replacers (buyer knew she wouldn't eat hay). Buyer took her home and had her dentist out and turned out she had very sore diastema's on both sides of her mouth. These are gaps at bottom/between cheek teeth and are not easy to see. The diastema's were sorted out and mare went back to eating lots of hay apparently.
 
I've had the same problem with hay this year! Usual supplier but would they eat it, would they h***!! Even the starved fat pony went on hunger strike! I tried everything but in the end I loaded the 30 bales up, took it back, loaded 30 from a different field & they are (only just) condescending to eat it!! My princess diva 2yr old isn't overly convinced but when I'm not there she stops throwing herself around in strop & eats it! Don't you just love them..... :D
 
The problem with hay that horses wont eat for love nor money,is quite common. Also the hay they refuse tends to look to us like the absolute best. I have dealt in hay for a long time and have seen this a lot in recent years . In my opinion it is due to high levels of nitrates in the hay. This occurs when the grass is under stress from drought. Apparently it is quite common in drier parts of thje USA. Hay merchants over there even have a test . Its called the Diphenylamine test.
 
Mike007 said:
The problem with hay that horses wont eat for love nor money,is quite common. Also the hay they refuse tends to look to us like the absolute best. I have dealt in hay for a long time and have seen this a lot in recent years . In my opinion it is due to high levels of nitrates in the hay. This occurs when the grass is under stress from drought. Apparently it is quite common in drier parts of thje USA. Hay merchants over there even have a test . Its called the Diphenylamine test.
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I now have a mental picture of a horse called Diphenylamine ( Diff for short) that is offered the hay t o test it . He is a large clydesdale type.
 
Mike007 said:
The problem with hay that horses wont eat for love nor money,is quite common. Also the hay they refuse tends to look to us like the absolute best. I have dealt in hay for a long time and have seen this a lot in recent years . In my opinion it is due to high levels of nitrates in the hay. This occurs when the grass is under stress from drought. Apparently it is quite common in drier parts of thje USA. Hay merchants over there even have a test . Its called the Diphenylamine test.
Click to expand...
Ooo interesting - it was so dry here when they were hay making that this would make sense! :)
 
Thanks everyone for your help. Her teeth are checked by a qualified dental technician, so it's not that. Also she was eating hay that someone else had, so she was definitely being picky! All the other horses were eating it, so it was just her tastebuds. I checked with my supplier and none of the hay was fertilised. The stuff she is eating now is dry and low sugar haylage. She's happy to eat that. I think Mike007, you maybe onto something there - we had a dry summer and all the hay was second cut as I feed her as she's bordered laminitis in the past, so it will have had a lot of drought conditions.
We do have dogs that spray on the hay at times, but she always just picks around those bits rather than going off the whole thing.
Fingers crossed it's sorted now!
Thanks again :)
 
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