help!! my pony keeps weeing in the hay!

[digitalangel]

does anyone else have this problem?

ive for a sweet little gelding as a companion for my two boys, theyre all in together and due to the lack of grass i am haying the field twice a day. However my cheeky little chappie is weeing in it and then the boys dont eat it!!

i dont want to tie haynets up as i want them to be able to eat from the ground - does anyone have any cheap and cheerful solutions for this ???

 

[Nocturnal]

I have one which used to do this... drove me nuts. After a while he twigged that it wasn't the brightest idea. Before then I used to wait until he'd weed before putting the hay down, although sometimes he'd wait. How about a hay feeder?

 

[ThePony]

Is he a bit of a princess about spash back? That could be why he is going on the hay rather than the ground? Could you put down a pad of gravel or even bedding or spare hay to tempt him away from the eating stuff?

 

[D66]

I shout a lot and run about waving my arms - then again it doesn't seem to work very well.

 

[GingerTrotter]

My gelding does exactly the same! wees in it and then paws it all over the floor of the shed, snuggles down and sleeps on it not letting anyone else get a look in.

So - I came up with an ingenious invention... I have a field shelter and just used to roll the round bales out into it, but i have now tied 2 big pallets (cut in half so they are not too high) sides of the shed and then pull them across the bale like doors and tie them together. The pallets have slatts really close together so no hooves can get through. When we need to replace the bale we can untie the pallets and push one in and close them again - now the pesky gelding cant pee on it!! and the bale last 3 x as long! yipee!

if you dont have a shelter then i have heard of other people using tractor tyres to put the bale in - big and heavy so the horses can move them but they also cant paw the bale to spread it out and pee on it... you can pick them up for free at local farms, they are always laying about.

Good luck

 

[digitalangel]

Nocturnal - i simply dont have time to do this - i hay before work then pop home at lunchtime and i have no time at all to hang around

arent hay feeders expensive?

ThePony - i think he must be yes bless him but hes only 12.2 so he is closer to the ground i started haying in different places so he could pee on the old uneaten piles but he pees in the new ones! I dont know if it a way for him to mark the hay as his or not? as he will still eat the hay, but the big boys wont and theyre the ones who need it the most!

 

[Nocturnal]

In the past I've had success with tying four wooden pallets together with baling twine. El cheapo hay feeder, and worked a treat. We used to get the farmer to deliver a bale of haylage in the field, and put the pallets around the whole thing, but I imagine it would still work with a smaller amount of hay - just use smaller pallets.

 

[MerrySherryRider]

You mention lack of grass, so is the ground hard ? He may be trying to avoid splash back by urinating on something soft and absorbant.
The other most common reason is that he's not impressed with the quality of the hay.
One of mine does this if he doesn't like the hay. Even though it may seem fine, I've had all mine refuse to eat hay and the food-obsessed one pees on it.