How much hay to feed?

[Lowen Ki]

New pony arrives on Saturday and is quite overweight. He will be in for a couple of days while we worm him etc, and then he will be turned out overnight and stabled during the day.

He is 14.2 and 7 years old.

I've only had 16.2+ horses recently and am unsure of how much (in weight) hay to feed the little chap? Is there advice online somewhere so I can be sure not to overfeed him?

I think he's greedy

 

[mulledwhine]

our new greedy chubby pony, get 1 1/2 wedges in his net at night.

He loosing weight, so this is working for us

 

[Lowen Ki]

Thanks Daisydo good luck with your new pony! How quickly is the weight coming off?!

 

[mulledwhine]

it has been quite slow, about 4 months, but this week every one that sees him says he is deffinatly looking slimmer , wish the same could be said about me

 

[Damnation]

If you have a little weighing scale (they type you hang up with a hook on the end) you can then weigh how much hay he gets.
There is a general rule somewhere to do with how much hay to feed according to the height and weight of your horse, perhaps if you google it? Find out what his ideal weight should be and feed accordingly.
I would also soak the hay for 24hrs, so its just bulk, no real goodness in it

 

[mulledwhine]

Ok, here comes a really stupid question, sorry but never even had to think about soaking hay before.

After soaking do you have to allow it to dry or just feed it damp?

 

[why1040]

Feed it wet (it's a bugger to put up as it drips everywhere and weighs a ton)

 

[mulledwhine]

thank you

 

[Lowen Ki]

Great thanks for the tip! I take it we should weight it dry before soaking the net - else we will be weighing the water? x

 

[Damnation]

Yes weigh the hay dry.
Firstly put it in a wheelie bin, and fill it so the haynet is covered with water. Leave it in there for 24hrs, remove the haynet and empty the bin of water, give the haynet a quick hose off to get rid of the dirty water residue, then let it drain for a few mins then feed it wet. Simples

 

[myhorsefred]

lowen ki - yes, weigh it dry first, then soak it.

 

[Ibblebibble]

you don't need to soak for 24 hours, in fact i don't think i would want to feed my horses anything that had been soaked that long, have you seen the colour the water goes half hour is long enough

 

[Lowen Ki]

Thanks guys! Just chatted to Spillers helpline. They recommend feeding 2kg of hay, which has been soaked overnight & is then fed to him wet for the daytime. Great stuff feel all confident I know what to feed now!

 

[horsegirl]

I would suggest putting the hay in 2 or even 3 small holed nets so the pony can't shovel it all down and then stand for hours with nothing