How much hay for your mini’s overnight?

scats

scats

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How much hay does your mini get overnight?
I’m giving 1.5kg soaked hay and a bucket of Top Chop Zero (that she knocks over and pees on…). She gets that from 6.30pm til I arrive at 7am, but it looks like nothing.
She is on grass - strip grazed- from 8am til 5pm and I have bought her a muzzle which I plan for her to wear asap, but she’s still learning to wear that at the moment (she was terrified of it at first so it’s a work in progress). No hard feed, obviously.

She’s 11hh and I don’t want any more weight on her now.

She has a small holed net but I can’t use a tiny holed one because she gets very frustrated by it.
 
Mine gets ad lib hay when he's in, he usually shares a stable with the TB who makes him wait his turn.
I only restrict his grazing when the grass is flushing but he still has plenty.
He gets walked, long reined or driven most days though so if he starts to look porky we do more work.
Neither of them will touch wet hay and I can't use nets at all, they are only good for playing with, every time I've tried he rears with enthusiasm and promptly sticks a foot through and ties himself up 😖 his feet are tiny so go straight through even the small hole ones.
 
P.forpony said:
Mine gets ad lib hay when he's in, he usually shares a stable with the TB who makes him wait his turn.
I only restrict his grazing when the grass is flushing but he still has plenty.
He gets walked, long reined or driven most days though so if he starts to look porky we do more work.
Neither of them will touch wet hay and I can't use nets at all, they are only good for playing with, every time I've tried he rears with enthusiasm and promptly sticks a foot through and ties himself up 😖 his feet are tiny so go straight through even the small hole ones.
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I might introduce some lunging. She doesn’t do anything at the moment (other than look cute 😅 ) but she might like lunging.
 
I have two 11.2hh Sec As, both EMS, one 230kg but had lami last summer, one 270kg never had lami.

They were muzzled until a couple of weeks ago, on the track around my field. There's hardly anything there now for them to eat so I took the muzzles off as they were coming in stupidly hungry. I'm waiting for the autumn flush of grass to be over so that I can open up the middle of the field (ungrazed since they went back onto the track in May) and put muzzles back on. Out overnight still but once I can open up the middle I'll switch to daytime turnout.

They come in at 7am and if I'm working at the yard that day (and so will be around at lunchtime) they'll have about 1.8kg timothy horsehage each for the morning, and another 1.8kg given at 12:30pm. Then turned out at 6pm. If I'm not working at the yard that day they'll have a net of about 3.5kg and then turned out at 6pm. I double net using the smallest Nibbleze nets. They also have a half a mug of speedibeet soaked overnight plus 80g farrier's formula plus salt.

Last weekend I bought a new bag of top chop lite but haven't actually used any yet. I have wasted most of this evening trying to find if there are any lick-type things that would be suitable to keep them busy. Answer is not really! Although Likit do a Himalayan salt lick that fits into their holders.

I would possibly suggest that what you're currently feeding is perhaps a little light. Even if she's of a slimmer build, she's probably still going to be over 200kg, and feeding 1.5-2% a day would be 3-4kg a day. The top chop zero arguably wouldn't really count (whether she eats it or knocks it over!) and she's probably not getting a significant amount from the grass, especially when you do start to muzzle her. As you're soaking the hay anyway, I'd probably suggest upping it to 2-2.5kg and monitor her closely with a weigh tape (for comparison purposes) to see if she's gaining or losing on that.

You could maybe try some of the fibre blocks put inside munch nets - I used to use Halley's feeds Ad Lib blocks which are a mix of straw and alfalfa.

I do recommend the Nibbleze nets - they are little holes but they quickly work out how to somehow get great big mouthfuls out so not too much frustration! 😂

ETA - I increased the haylage amount last week when it became clear that they weren't really getting much from the grass overnight - it was around 1.4kg x 2 or 2.5kg until then.
 
Mine loves to work, even walking in hand and it's good for both of you 😊
We have a little loop round the village, he's pretty well known now, so gets to stop off at the pub, the landlord loves him 😂 and be scratched and admired by anyone we meet on the way.
Added bonus is my farrier has only trimmed him once in the last 12 months, he checks him every time he comes out for the others but says the roadwork keeps his feet really neat and even.
 
JenJ said:
I have two 11.2hh Sec As, both EMS, one 230kg but had lami last summer, one 270kg never had lami.

They were muzzled until a couple of weeks ago, on the track around my field. There's hardly anything there now for them to eat so I took the muzzles off as they were coming in stupidly hungry. I'm waiting for the autumn flush of grass to be over so that I can open up the middle of the field (ungrazed since they went back onto the track in May) and put muzzles back on. Out overnight still but once I can open up the middle I'll switch to daytime turnout.

They come in at 7am and if I'm working at the yard that day (and so will be around at lunchtime) they'll have about 1.8kg timothy horsehage each for the morning, and another 1.8kg given at 12:30pm. Then turned out at 6pm. If I'm not working at the yard that day they'll have a net of about 3.5kg and then turned out at 6pm. I double net using the smallest Nibbleze nets. They also have a half a mug of speedibeet soaked overnight plus 80g farrier's formula plus salt.

Last weekend I bought a new bag of top chop lite but haven't actually used any yet. I have wasted most of this evening trying to find if there are any lick-type things that would be suitable to keep them busy. Answer is not really! Although Likit do a Himalayan salt lick that fits into their holders.

I would possibly suggest that what you're currently feeding is perhaps a little light. Even if she's of a slimmer build, she's probably still going to be over 200kg, and feeding 1.5-2% a day would be 3-4kg a day. The top chop zero arguably wouldn't really count (whether she eats it or knocks it over!) and she's probably not getting a significant amount from the grass, especially when you do start to muzzle her. As you're soaking the hay anyway, I'd probably suggest upping it to 2-2.5kg and monitor her closely with a weigh tape (for comparison purposes) to see if she's gaining or losing on that.

You could maybe try some of the fibre blocks put inside munch nets - I used to use Halley's feeds Ad Lib blocks which are a mix of straw and alfalfa.

I do recommend the Nibbleze nets - they are little holes but they quickly work out how to somehow get great big mouthfuls out so not too much frustration! 😂

ETA - I increased the haylage amount last week when it became clear that they weren't really getting much from the grass overnight - it was around 1.4kg x 2 or 2.5kg until then.
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Thank you. We do have good grass so she is strip grazed very strictly at the moment (to the annoyance of my other two horses!). I’m terrified of her getting too fat because I know how hard it will be to get it off her if she does.
My guess is she is probably eating a lot of her daily intake in her field time, despite the restriction, which is why I was being so strict overnight. It’s so difficult isn’t it?
 
scats said:
Thank you. We do have good grass so she is strip grazed very strictly at the moment (to the annoyance of my other two horses!). I’m terrified of her getting too fat because I know how hard it will be to get it off her if she does.
My guess is she is probably eating a lot of her daily intake in her field time, despite the restriction, which is why I was being so strict overnight. It’s so difficult isn’t it?
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It's awful!!! The worry with EMS/lami is non-stop. My lighter one doesn't need to lose any weight (she's ribby) but has fat pads due to the EMS, and I need to always be wary of her sugar levels in case of a lami flare-up. The other one I don't need to be quite so vigilant about sugar, but I want to ideally get another 20kg off her (she's lost 50kg since I got her last year).

It's such a delicate balancing act. For mine, I'm more comfortable with them getting the majority of their daily forage from the haylage, as I know that's low in sugar. As the vet said when mine had lami last year - get her feeling as stuffed as possible before she goes out, so she won't actually want to eat much grass. But even so, the overall forage obviously needs to be controlled 😫

If you make sure you weigh-tape regularly, so you are aware of her gaining (or losing) and adjust accordingly, you're on the right track. Soaking will take a lot of the goodness from the hay and so potentially allow you to give closer to 2% bodyweight than 1.5%, especially once she's muzzled at grass.

Basically, I make it up as I go along 🤷‍♂️😂
 
You can get various hole sizes in nets, so try one with slightly bigger holes than she has. I think they all get frustrated to start off with, until they work out that it doesn't get them anywhere. If she's leaving her chaff then she's possibly just not that hungry.
 
scats said:
I’ve ordered a nibbleze for her, and the small version of the little piggy. Slightly different sized holes in each. Interestingly she’d left a bit of hay this morning 😂 Maybe I’m worrying for nothing!
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Seeing a little bit of hay left is the best sign that you're getting things about right :)
 
I would do a bit of ground work and lunging with her she will probably enjoy it even ten minutes a day can help with weight.

My friend takes her mini pony out with her on her dog walks he loves it.
 
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