Horsehage bagged forage?

[sleepingdragon10]

Does anyone use it?Is it much softer then hay?

SWUO finds eating hay quite difficult,and as the nutrient value of the grass drops she'll need some kind of additional forage.....either that or a forage replacer.

So guys,any thoughts on the Horsehage products greatly appreciated

Bethxx

 

[TGM]

I use it but wouldn't think it is much easier to eat than hay. It would probably seem softer because it is moist but it is quite stemmy. Tried using it on our old pony who had dental troubles but she couldn't eat it so ended up using Spillers Happy Hoof as a hay replacer.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Thanks TGM

Do you use the Happy Hoof on a weight for weight basis then?She only gets through about half a slice of hayva night,but I think that's due to her finding it difficult to eat

 

[Happytohack]

The hi fibre horsehage which is the one I am guessing SWUO would need is pretty stemmy, definitely coarser than soft meadow hay. There are a lot of other haylages on the market, but you need to be careful that you don't get a ryegrass variety.

 

[TGM]

I worked out how much to feed by working out how many calories she needed a day and how much Happy Hoof it would take to fulfill that need! She was laminitic so on restricted grazing so I didn't have to take much notice of how much grass she was eating.

Your best bet is to ring the Spillers Helpline for advice on how much to feed. I found the Happy Hoof was the easiest chopped forage for our pony to eat - she either hated or couldn't cope with HiFi Lite. HiFi now do a Senior chopped forage now which might be worth looking at - couldn't use it for my girl due to lami risk.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Thanks Jaylen

I was looking at either the High Fibre,or the Timothy,and as you say,trying to avoid the Rye Grass varieties.

 

[fairhill]

The older horses on our yard struggled with horsehage as it's tougher than it looks.
The owner's are now supplementing the hay with a big bucket of readi-grass (almost fed adlib) which they find much easier to eat.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Hmm,well she's never had Lami, but I wouldn't want to do anything that might provoke an attack.

 

[Thistle]

my old boy can eat soft hay but really struggles with haylage (ours is soft meadow grass), it forms ropes when he tries to chew it. He loves it though. I give him lots of Happy Hoof and Hi Fibre nuts too. he has his teeth done every 6 months.

 

[TGM]

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm,well she's never had Lami, but I wouldn't want to do anything that might provoke an attack.

[/ QUOTE ] The HiFi Senior is not high lami risk, just that it is not Laminitis Trust approved and the old pony was SO lami prone that I could not risk using anything that wasn't!

 

[Christmas_Kate]

This might sound daft, and you've probably covered it, but are her teeth okay?

I use dengie hi fi lite, which is quite soft and easy to munch.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

It's her teeth that are the problem Kate

And it's not through lack of dental care.....just her mouth conformation,hence why she finds the coarseness of hay a challenge.
You can see that she wants it,but I think she finds it frustrating,so she wanders off,usually with a chunk of hay clamped between her teeth

 

[TGM]

We had exactly the same problem with our old pony - spent a fortune on dental treatment for her, but she had faulty mouth conformation which was difficult to overcome. Funnily enough she was a Welsh Sec A, which I presume SWUO is too.

 

[Christmas_Kate]

ahh, I remember now.

well Hi fi is pretty cheap, and lovely and soft, and quite short too. Little man loves it. And as it's just pure (ie nothing added) it's ideal for little welshies who are apt to put on weight, and of course, you can just add what you like when you like. I recommend D&H multi vitamin, little man's thriving on it.

 

[TGM]

[ QUOTE ]
I use dengie hi fi lite, which is quite soft and easy to munch.

[/ QUOTE ] Depending upon how bad the teeth are, she might still find the HiFi Lite too coarse to eat - I know our pony did. But no problem at all with the Happy Hoof.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Wow!What a coincidence

SWUO is indeed a little Welsh Sec A too.
Now the wintery weather is kicking in with a vengeance(here anyway),I'm hoping that she'll lose some of this extra padding she's carrying around with her

 

[TGM]

This was our old girl (sadly departed now):

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Bless her! What a lovely pony

She obviously did well on what you gave her

 

[spaniel]

I use a product called Pure Grass (as does JM) which you can use as a hay replacer. It is much softer than most chaffs or hays (its a bit like Readigrass) and can be fed by the bucket load if needs be. Its made by Aldwicks which are local to us but I presume they have outlets all over the country.

In essence its short green soft grass chaff with no straw added and exactly as described by the name!

 

[jewel]

my old horse can't chew hay i feed him adlib hifi senior but at the mo i'm trying veteran mollichaff and that is alot softer than the hi fi. but as you said the nutrient value is going in the grass this time of year but my horse always does better on grass even at this time of year. i tried to keep him a couple of acres just to get him through the winter

 

[lilym]

horsehage will still be difficult to chew, the higer fibre ones tend to be coarser, i would try either dengie hi-fi senior or mollichaff veteran.