How much hay do you feed your good doers??

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el_Snowflakes

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Hi all,

My horse puts on weight easily. She gets no hard feed at all. She is turned out during the dy and comes in at night with a large, small holed hay net to last until morning. We are currently switching from hay to haylage (as the yard does each winter) however i dont want her to gain weight. On the other hand I wouldnt like to restrict her fibre intake. She is in light/medium work. Im dreading the winter if its anything like last year! she balloned in weight but because of the snow the horses were pretty much stuck indoors most of the time so she was like a beached whale!! :( any suggestions?

many thanks ;)
 
My Welsh D is in at night all year to keep his weight down and when he is in he has a third of a bale of small baled hay in a small holed net. He is out in all weathers during the day and un-rugged...that is the key for me in keeping his weight down...leaving the rug off. Could you not mix the haylage with some straw or hay?
 
pottamus said:
My Welsh D is in at night all year to keep his weight down and when he is in he has a third of a bale of small baled hay in a small holed net. He is out in all weathers during the day and un-rugged...that is the key for me in keeping his weight down...leaving the rug off. Could you not mix the haylage with some straw or hay?
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Excellent suggestions. I have done some research and found that most straw is fine to feed horses,although you should consider finding an organic supplier. People think that oat straw is the best,but many horses seem to prefer wheat straw.
Leaving horses unrugged is a brilliant way to keep the fat off, and the 'battling with the elements' is now understood to be a key factor for helping a horses metabolism to work as nature intended.

Do you have to bring her in at night?
 
Hi

If you put the horse out during the night the sugar is less in the grass at night.

I have a good doer but restrict on electric fencing. Now we have the frost coming I will watch him again as frost increases sugar in grass. He will only go out on old grass once the winter is well underway and the grass has stopped growing etc

When I do give hay in the winter I double net and make will give ad lib in small amounts ie trickle feed him.

IF he did balloon in the summer he would be restricted on hay only no grass etc just to give him bulk.

But the good thing is you realise you have a good doer..

Mine is arthritic too so I like to keep his weight in check so as not to put strain on his joints and the amount of hay I would give ie 5 slices during 24 hours depending on how big your horse is(mine is 14.1h) plus salt lick and hand ful of pony nuts to keep them sweet. If they are being worked in winter I probably would give some ie dengie hi fli lite in a trug

Good luck though just like people horses do look a lot fatter than years ago
 
My cob is an extremely good doer. What works for him is:

Turn out at night on restricted grazing

Bringing him in during the day & feeding him 1 scoop of Bluechip Lami-light & 2kg of soaked hay (12hrs soaking)

Before turning out again for the night I give him another scoop of the above

I also try to ride him at least 3 times a week for a good 1-2 hours at a time, if I can't ride I lunge him in the school

I definately won't be rugging him this winter.

Slowly but surely he is loosing weight which, I really pleased about.
 
i feed her the recommended amount for her to make sure she has enough fibre. then i soak it!

she's meant to have 20 pounds of hay but because she has grass to nibble and hard feed she has 10 pounds soaked. she still looks really good, her first skinny summer!
 
Another advocate of leaving them naked, nature has a habit of getting the balance right if only we would let it.

abitodd, STUNNING cat in your signature – I have two of those :).
 
Thanks for all your replies :D

I would mix the haylage with straw but unfortunatly the quality of the straw varies- sometimes its awfully dusty. She will HAVE to come in at nights as of about the end of next month (yard rules) but I have had reports of her hollering for me at the gate and getting quite upset if im not up at my usual time to bring her in! she loves her cozy stable:D
I will be clipping her at the end of the month and so would not allow her to be unrugged as I dont think its very fair.At the moment she is only out in a light turnout if its wet/muddy (which is fairly often as we live in scotland!) at night she only wears a cooler fleece if she has been worked in the evening (to keep her muscles warm)

ps. Its is SO muddy here at the moment I wouldnt have time to ride if i left her unrugged as i would be forever grooming lol...cant win can you?! ;)
 
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