Horse eating her bedding!! Help

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LadyB

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Hi guys,

I moved my horse to another yard on Saturday. I noticed on Tuesday morning she had not eaten all her hay and then again this morning. She is on a straw bed, i then caught her in the act this evening eating her straw bed!!! I am obviously going to swap her to shavings as soon as I can have some delivered (she was on shaving at previous yard). However I am a bit worried, can you tell me the health risks from her doing this?? She is eating the straw in favour of her hay. However unfortunately as the hay is grown on the farm she is liveried at we are not allowed to have our own hay delivered (the quality isn't great). Any advise/help you can give me would be great

Cheers peeps

Lou xx
 
Make sure you mix fresh straw with old straw so it isn't as palatable. What type of straw is it? Oat, Wheat, Barley? There is a chance of colic from eating some types of straw, but I wouldn't worry too much, most likely she will just get fat!!!

ETA - Most horses on a straw bed will have a nibble from time to time.
 
Spray the straw with some kind of cleaning fluid. I find diluted household bleach works well.

You might find that she only does it for a few days and then goes back to her hay. Daisy ate her straw bed when we first put her on it but a few days of spraying and she soon ignored it. We don't have to spray it at all now
 
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Spray the straw with some kind of cleaning fluid. I find diluted household bleach works well.

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Our equine science lecturer at college HATED this and after hearing her talk about it I have to agree.
crazy.gif
It doesn't always stop them, and can kill off some of the healthy gut bacteria and make them quite ill. I personally wouldn't do it.

Unless she's eating loads, I wouldn't worry too much. Especially if you plan to change to shavings asap.
 
I echo advice already given, mix old bedding in and spray with something like diluted disinfectant. If I ever forget to do this our lad eats all of his bed and he's never had colic from it.
 
If she is eating straw suddently then you have two potentially BIG problems.
1. A horse who reguarly eats straw can do so with no harm generally and it is fed as a staple in many countries. A horse who suddenly eats straw is unused to it's highly fibrous natue and can easily get impaction colic - thi sis potentially serious and you must watch her like a hawk to ensure she is passing droppings etc normally.
2. an equally serious problem and one which is going to potentially cause long term health issues for your horse is that you are forcing her to eat unpalatable hay, if she doesn't want it it's for a good reason. You must either substitute ths forage with something she finds palatable or move her I'm afraid.
 
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2. an equally serious problem and one which is going to potentially cause long term health issues for your horse is that you are forcing her to eat unpalatable hay, if she doesn't want it it's for a good reason. You must either substitute ths forage with something she finds palatable or move her I'm afraid.

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I disagree with this. I had to change my horse from straw bed to shavings before he would tuck into his feed, his haylege- anything! He loved his straw and it was good quality too so he probably would have been ok but I wasn't up for risking colic.

He loves his feed and he loves his haylege now. The whole yard are fed the same haylege and most of them are comp horses.

Some horses just like straw! There might be other reasons why that someone can point out but I don't agree that it automatically condemns the hay/haylege.
 
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2. an equally serious problem and one which is going to potentially cause long term health issues for your horse is that you are forcing her to eat unpalatable hay, if she doesn't want it it's for a good reason. You must either substitute ths forage with something she finds palatable or move her I'm afraid.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree with this. I had to change my horse from straw bed to shavings before he would tuck into his feed, his haylege- anything! He loved his straw and it was good quality too so he probably would have been ok but I wasn't up for risking colic.

He loves his feed and he loves his haylege now. The whole yard are fed the same haylege and most of them are comp horses.

Some horses just like straw! There might be other reasons why that someone can point out but I don't agree that it automatically condemns the hay/haylege.

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I think some horses find their straw softer and easier to eat than hay, not to mention if the husks are still on....

I have no choice really over what bedding I use as there isnt any storage for anything but straw (and that's stored away from the yard and has to be brought over a bale at a time) so I get what i get, and the type of straw can differ. G will easily eat all of his bedding, never ever had a problem, but i've found that by only taking out the worst during the week, mixing old bedding with new and after a complete muck out spraying disinfectant over the bed he will settle with his hay. There is no problem with his hay, it's fine, he'll just eat whatever's easiest (he has soaked hay).
 
My horses will happily tuck into straw, and I have to put a couple of them on shavings to stop them eating their beds bare by morning. (although we also have who has to go on straw to stop her eating her shavings!!) The difference here is that by inference this horse doesn't normally eat straw and it seems likely to be doing so now because the hay provided by the yard owner is poor quality.
I am obsessive about the quality of forage and feeding poor quality, dusty, mouldy or weedy hay is a risk not worth taking in my opinion.
 
Thankyou so much for all your advise... The hay isn't bad quality, just not the best i have seen. Went up this morning and she had eaten half her hay net. She is still passing droppings fine and I just take out droppings every day and clean the wet out at the weekends. She doesn't eat all of her bed by all means, in fact i wouldn't of even noticed the bed had gone down if it wasn't for me catching her in the act. I am going to keep a very close eye on her and see if she changes at all. She is still very very perky... eats her feed well so will just monitor the situation. I am the same with storage and will find it difficult to find space for shavings....
 
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