Horseage and drinking?

Old Bat

Old Bat

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I have a young mare on box rest who has started to get a bit snotty on dry hay. I'm reluctant to go down the soaked hay route as from past experience soaked hay and deep litter bedding don't mix very well....lots of wet bedding very quickly! I have started her on Horseage which is going down well but her water consumption has just about doubled (as has her peeing output!)...which I find strange when the Horseage has a higher water content than hay.

Has anyone else experienced this, is it normal or do I have an unusual mare?! I might be better off having wet bedding from soaked hay rather than from wee!
 
I don't use horseage/haylage on my box rester as it is too high in energy for my lad.

For me I use very well soaked hay to ensure the free passage of food through the system and avoid impaction colic, which is a huge risk to a stationery horse.

After many many months of the horse being in I am more concerned about keeping him pooing, not coughing and not getting too many calories rather than a messy bed.

It is unusual for a horse to drink more on haylage, but at the least the water intake is good which will result in the gut and intestine working well.
 
Hi AdorableAlice, thanks for the reply, don't worry, I'm not intending to put my convenience ahead of the mare's health and have just started soaking hay, the horseage was an experiment as I have a bad back and find it difficult to handle soaked hay. (Didn't want to whinge too much!) The mare is led out 3 x day for 15 mins grass and straight line walking, poos are good. My post was really meant to be a curiousity about the upped water intake on hayleage rather than a management issue.
 
Hi,
I had my mare (who is on box rest) on horsehage for a while as she wasn't fussed on the hay we had, anyway, she drinks more when she eats horsehage too. Although it has a higher water content than hay, I have concluded that it is quite rich so maybe that us why she likes to drink more when eating it.

I am very happy that although she has been in box rest for nearly 4 months now, she has not had any problems with poos and digestion. Fingers crossed.
 
Pain in the backside isn't it. I am into month 10 now. Used a bit of haylage when we froze up for a few days, but soaked huge haynets that took of us to lift the rest of the time.

Lets hope they both get sound and can be turned out.
 
I use horsehage instead of soaking hay and found that the water consumption stayed the same. I use the blue high fibre one. However, this week the feedstore had run out of high fibre, so I was forced to buy a bag of green (the ordinary one) I have to say that the water bucket was down considerably on what it usually is the next morning.
 
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