Horse eats too fast

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horseluver4eva

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Had my horsey about 10 days and he gobbles his hay like mad! he had finished one net by 8 one night amd id left him at 5!! so hes know on 1 double net full of haylage and 1 single net of hay. he still gets really hungry and is always trying to find more food in the morning when i see him! any ideas? i dont want him dropping weight or
 
Have you weighed your nets so that you know how much you are feeding? If your horse is getting enough hay/haylage how big are the holes in your nets? Small mesh hayets (preferably using two nets at a time) will slow him down.

If your horse is underweight he may need to be given more hay/haylage.

I'm assuming your horse is out at grass during the day but if there is very little grass you may need to up his rations.

Generally a horse will eat their haylage more quickly than their hay. It might be worth using the larger net for hay and the smaller one for haylage.
 
Hes just the right weight at the moment but he cant really lose anymore! ive double netted the haylage but not the hay. he is in most days due to the grass shortage and has a large net of haylage during the day. the holes in both nets are small; ah hes so greedy! thanks i might try soaking it and ive never weighed it before so ill try it that way as well
 
The minimum intake of food for a horse of ideal weight is 2% of his bodyweight. At the moment there is virtually no grass, unless your horse is lucky enough to have more than 2-3 acres to himself. So, if your horse weighs 500k he needs a total of 10k in hard feed (weighed dry) and hay or haylage. Remember, haylage has a high water content so you need to feed 25% more in weight than hay.

So, you need to know how much your horse weighs to work out how much he needs. Most of the feed companies have nutritionists who give free advice on feeding.
 
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