he's not eating his hay!

[laura_1983]

iv posted a few times for opinions on feeding for my pony, have now come to the conclusion that he's lost weight and condition because he isnt eating much of his hay! he's moved inside due to injury to his mouth, he gets turned out but not on grass (he's used to being out on grass 24/7), he was eating hay fine with his stitches in which i was surprised about. iv spoken to YO and staff and they'v agreed that he seems to have been leaving an awful lot of hay over the last few weeks! he is quite stressed being inside but id have thought he would stop eating hard feed because of this before stopping eating hay? any ideas/opinions?

 

[alicedove]

Mine are currently not eating their hay much, they simply are spoilt and don't like this batch very much, they obviously don't care that they are dropping condition as much as I do!

I have had to resort to buying some haylage. Could you stretch to some of that? Just to help him recover and put some weight on?

 

[laura_1983]

i can probably pay extra on my livery to have him get haylage but im worried he might then want that all the time and i cant really afford that! our hay this week seems better than it has been, he's always seemed happy enough in the past to eat the slighty yukky stuff that other horses ignore! maybe he's just strange lol. i was thinking that this hay is maybe a rougher texture than we were previously getting so its hurting his mouth, he has a tear left in his top lip where the stitches didnt hold, it looks well healed though and vet is happy with it!

 

[alicedove]

Maybe try soaking a net for him?

 

[laura_1983]

iv got a net ordered so that i can see exactly what he's eating so soaking it could be a plan, cold job in this weather lol! might phone and have a word with my vet, maybe getting his mouth checked again would be the best plan!

 

[AmyMay]

Anything wrong with his mouth or teath?

And if he genuinly isn't eating, and is loosing weight - then I would definately try haylage.

 

[laura_1983]

he had field accident and now has a tear left in his lip where stitches didnt hold, he was eating hay straight away afterwards tho while it was red raw and had stitches in it!! teeth fine, he was seen 2 months ago and got wolf teeth out!

im thinking the hay we have now is possibly rougher than previous stuff and is irrritating his lip! gonna try a soaked haynet and see if that helps!