Horse Eating Less Now Out 24/7?

[coblegs]

My horse has now decided she doesn’t fancy her hard feed (1/4 scoop of fast fibre and a handful of happy hoof molasses free) now she has moved to 24/7 turnout. She’s normally the greediest horse going so I’m quite surprised by this! She was previously on 2 feeds a day, primarily to have supplements and because she was on such limited grazing. Is this now her way of telling me that she’s now hungry and doesn’t want/need them? She still really needs to have a small feed (Even If it’s a handful of something) as she has a joint supplement which does wonders for her arthritis. I’m not sure if she’s just gone off the fast fibre element as I appreciate that it’s not the most appetising food in the world so I’m planning on just giving her a handful of happy hoof and seeing if she eats that. She has 2-3 large sections of hay a day and the field still has a good amount of grass in (7 acres on a slope shared between 4 ponies including her) so I’m genuinely not sure if she’s just not hungry. She’s very well in herself aside from that! Has anyone else found that their horses eat less or went off hard feed when out 24/7?

 

[HashRouge]

Mine often goes off her feed for a bit when she goes out on new grass. I suspect your pony just isn't hungry! Could you reduce the hay if you want to encourage her to eat her hard feed?

 

[suebou]

My 25 year old New Forest has turned her nose up at the 'token feed' of a handful of chaff for at least a month through very cold and snowy weather. She is on hay in the morning and haylege at night. twice a day and the field faces north but is sheltered. It doesn't look as though it has any grass on it all but none of them (her plus a belgian warmblood and a giant DWB mare) seem particularly hungry. They wander slowly over in the morning for their one slice of hay each. She is rugged because I clipped her out the last week of November (doh)Its only a 200 though as she hates being rugged at all. She looks as though she could do an FEI pony trial and certainly feels like that when I ride her!
I really wouldn't worry as long as she is carrying enough weight, if you feel you must give her the joint supplement you could feed it in a handful of pasture mix by hand.