How much hay?

[Gorgeous George]

I have a new 16.3 middleweight gelding who I'm told holds his condition pretty well, he will soon be getting 4 scoops of hi-fi lite and 3 mugs of baileys lo-cal a day, he is also out on lush grass for about 6 hrs a day. The question is how much hay should he have a day? I have just been plonking it in the rack without much thought

Also do you think horses mind if their feed is mostly made up of something like hi-fi or do they find it boring

I suspect this is just me thinking it looks dull!! Just want to make sure I'm doing the best for my boy.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

I have a 16.2 med/light Hann/TB, jhe's out at grass for a similar time, but in a grazing muzzle. He's fed a scoopp of HiFi Lite & some blue chip + couple of carrots twuice a day. He has around 12lb soaked hay each night in hius stable & he's doing fine.(He's worked 6 times a week goes show Jumping once a week).

As for horses finding 'chaff' boring...no they don't...they constantly eat hay/grass & don't find that boring. It's the owners who 'eat with their eyes'.

 

[Gorgeous George]

Thanks for that I was giving George 2-3 sections of hay a night which having just weighed it comes out between 9-12lbs so is probably about right.

What do other peeps do, do you weigh your hay or just put in a full haynet / rack each night?

Thanks

 

[jumpthemoon]

I always feed ad-lib hay in a small holed haynet so they can't pig through it!

 

[AmyMay]

My preference would be adlib hay - and no or little hard feed.

 

[bex1984]

I know he's quite a big boy (I don't mean fat!!) but 4 scoops hifi and 3 mugs of the other stuff, plus 6 hours on lush grazing and some hay sounds like quite a lot? Or maybe I'm just too used to having horses which are on a permanent diet...

 

[Nari]

My ID gets through an amazing amount of hay, about 5 sections from a big square bale a night (nearly a small bale)! He gets very little hard feed though, is out 5-6 hours a day on poor grazing & does about 45min schooling a day (gradually increasing after a few months off). To be fair he does have a bit of a hay belly but it doesn't interfere with his work & at least with ad-lib hay he doesn't crib. If I try to put it in small mesh nets to slow him down he decides it's too much effort & starts cribbing. YO is constantly moaning about the amount he gets even though it's not included in the keep.

 

[Shipley]

I weigh my haynets to see how much he is eating they are small holed and its ad lib really I just keep an eye on the amount.

 

[catherine22]

I always give mine enough so that he have some left in the morning

 

[MagicMelon]

I personally always give enough that they have some left in the morning too. I hate to think of a stabled horse hungry. My 16hh lightweight horse who is always slim but stays that way all year round, gets about 1/2 a bale overnight which he never eats all of. It depends on the horse and how greedy they are I guess!!

I think some horses do get bored of the Hi-Fi Lite, one of mine did anyway! Is there a reason it'll be on the Lite version rather than just the Original kind?

 

[MagicMelon]

I personally always give enough that they have some left in the morning too. I hate to think of a stabled horse hungry. My 16hh lightweight horse who is always slim but stays that way all year round, gets about 1/2 a bale overnight which he never eats all of. It depends on the horse and how greedy they are I guess!!

I think some horses do get bored of the Hi-Fi Lite, one of mine did anyway! Is there a reason it'll be on the Lite version rather than just the Original kind? Id only really feed the Lite for horses which are prone to being overweight / already are!

 

[Gorgeous George]

I chose the lite simply because it has less the sugar and I wondered if all the sugar in the grass and feed was hotting him up? The energy levels of lite and original are the same.