How much hay do you feed?

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cheekywelshie

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I just moved my boy to a new yard. In his old yard he was on haylage and had limited turnout - afternoon (2-6) with no grass whatsoever - mud pit. He had 3 haynets - 2 at night and 1 in the morning.

In new yard he can go out 8am til 3/4 - in winter. There is grass but as you'd expect the nutritional value is prob low this time of year. They have hay and haylage and I've decided to go back to hay. I'm not sure how much to feed...I bought two large small holed haynets and he has them at night - i stuffed them quite full but then worried i was feeding too much?!? He gets two small feeds a day as well - just a cup of low cal balancer morn and night and a handful of chaff/tiny handful of oats - and I mean tiny
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I weighed one of the haynets and it came to about 13.5lb or 6kg...

He's 14.3/15hh (!) Almost 15hh. Welsh D - weight needs to come down a bit - he's about 540 or 535 when I last weighed him
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Girth will go up 3 holes either side
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He's ridden about 4/5 times a week.

Any help will be appreciated. Should I feed less hay?? He doesn't get hay in the morning as he goes straight out - but does get one of the small feeds I mentioned above. I remember you feed more haylage than hay so should I feed less?
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i feed my 15.2 tbx 2-3 slices of hay, 1 slice of (small bale) haylage, 2 feeds a day of 1 scoop chaff, half scoop dengie alpha beat, goes out 9-3, not working much at the moment! would need more if he was in work or in stable more. hope it helps a bit!
 
The fatties at our yard are on about 12-15lb of hay per night roughly..... double netted to slow them down. But really to get weight off I'd have thought is would be best to work him more if possible? Not 100% sure though as not had a good doer myself
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Bean was on about 16-20lb and Lady has ad lib... which is probably working out about 6 slabs, so about 24lb per night atm
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Holy crap
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thats 27lbs of hay a day if both haynets weigh the same!
Definately cut right back,my 17hh tb only gets 16lb hay over night,and he looks well
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(with one feed a day)!
 
I got confused by the scales and tyring to work out the 2.5 per cent bodyweight ratio - it said 6kg and 13lb 16 I think -so if it's 2.5 percent of 540 (but he needs to slim down..) ???

Help!
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My 2 youngsters (11hh and 14.1hh) have 3 slices of hay per day and they are chubby!
My TB skinny mare has unlimited hay of a night - around 1/2 bale in her stable from about 5pm till 9am and theres always a bit left in the morning, she then goes out and shares the said 3 slices with the others.
 
I feed ad lib hay, I like to see a little bit left in the morning. On the sort of turnout routine your horse is on now, my Arab good doer would eat about half a bale a night at this time of the year. When there's grass he can go down to as little as a quarter a bale each night. I always use the small holed "trawler" nets. A bit pricey, but worth it and they seem to last forever.
It just depends on the individual horse. If it was obvious that my horse had run out of hay in the night I'd add a slice until I found it was lasting right through. Or vice versa.
 
mine get 6kg a day and 1 small feed to put supplements in. They are 14.1hh, 13.2hh and currently 14hh (still growing) all good dooers.
on some feed websites you can put in height, weight, work load etc and it will tell you how much hay they should be gettng.
 
You need to be feeding about 2-3% of his body weight in forage. Use a weigh tape to determine this and invest in a spring scale to weigh your nets
My horse only eats 2% of her bodyweight. ie she is 500kg so needs 10kg of hay a day each of her nets is 5kg each. one in the morning and one in the evening.
Start with 2% and see how he goes he may need a little more or even a little less.
It is always nice to see a little waste in the morning, that way I know she is getting enough.
 
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I got confused by the scales and tyring to work out the 2.5 per cent bodyweight ratio - it said 6kg and 13lb 16 I think -so if it's 2.5 percent of 540 (but he needs to slim down..) ???

Help!
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Its difficult to judge as we want them to have enough to last them the night but when they are slightly chubby at this time of yr you are better to give a lot less and try find a way to make it last longer,double net a haylage net etc
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Other option is to increase workload
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p.s...tbh the ratio/bodyweight thing is only a guide,you will need to adapt to your ponies waistline,cut out hard feed and just give a feed balancer,or a handful of chop with vits and minerals added if he working!
 
thanks
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I am probably feeding slightly too much then (2 nets at 6kg) - but there Is NEVER any left when I get there in the morning! He always seems hungry! ?!

He gets Lo-Cal balancer morning and night.

He is ridden as much as I can do (I have a sharer two days) - so about 4/5 days a week. And turn out.

I have a balance on order!
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thanks
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I am probably feeding slightly too much then (2 nets at 6kg) - but there Is NEVER any left when I get there in the morning! He always seems hungry! ?!

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Some will eat until they pop
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My boy is out from about 9 til 4. There is a coverage of grass but nothing really. He gets 2 feeds of 1 scoop hifi, handful of mix and top spec (which I will be stopping when the bag runs out and replacing with hifibre cubes), 1 net of haylage at night, only 8lbs but YO puts a handful over in the morning and late at night so prob 11lbs in total. He has been fed this all winter and is overweight. I'd love to give him more but spring is just arround the corner and I will really struggle with his weight then.
Oh he is 16.2 MW.
 
We like ours to have ad-lib hay but they are good doers and will put weight on with no effort at all, so we supplement the hay with good quality oat straw. Amazingly they usually have a bit of that left each morning.
 
My Girl is a good doer, worked 5/6 times a week, is out from 9-4 and get a tiny handful chaff, tiny handful nuts twice a day (to keep her amused when the others are being fed) and 3 slices of hay over night in a small holed haynet-there's never any left, but she doesn't need any more, so she doesn't get any more!
 
Cut out the hard feed and feed plenty of hay. He sounds as if he doesn't need it. If haylage then def no feed.
If he is still hungry just up the hay.
Mine have unlimited hay they have very very larges haynets that fit 6/7 slabs in and this twice a day (if there is some left I know they are eating enough) they are also fed twice a day ang hunted once a week and my 12hh pony gets unlimited hay/haylage mixed.
 
that is a lot of hay, greedy bugger!

I have a 14.2 welsh D, weight tape about 475 I think atm, used to be overweight.

he is turned out all day on a bit of grass though it is very yellow and rubbish now.

and 2 8lb haynets at night, and he normally eats 6lb of each.

If you I would be double netting the small holes as I like them to have constant forage/soaking/adding some straw. I would def stick to hay not haylage

and how tiny is tiny re the oats, sometimes I would appreciate the extra energy but figure it would mostly go on his wasteline so wouldnt feed anything like that!

oh and my boy is prob in similar work atm about 5 days a week, fast work for 2, lesson for one, perhaps hunted at the weekend.
 
I have a 16.2 tb-type and two smaller ones (a 19month and 9 month old) and they go through about a bale of hay a day split in two with 2 hard feeds. They have a little grass to nibble on, by really not much.
 
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