How much hay ???

[Horsegirl25]

How much hay should I be feeding my 14.2 Welsh sec D in winter ? He gets around 5kg in the morning and 5 at night (if he is in all day) if he has the morning in the field he will get around 8kg a day.
On days that I will be slightly later down he will get 6kg at night.
However the net is always empty by morning which makes me wonder should I be feeding more ? Or is he getting a sufficient amount ?
He gets a small hard feed morning and night also. Is worked 5/6 days a week for 30/40mins a time and competes (jumps) most weekends. He is fairly fit however if I worry about weight gain if I up the hay.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I just feed mine what they want in winter and I would with most horses unless they gained too much weight, I like them to have a good supply so they are not without they normally have a bit left, I wouldn't say your under feeding as such but just depends on the horse really, maybe add a few kg and see if it makes any difference to his weight.

 

[ycbm]

If his weight is good but he runs out of food then you need to change some of all of the food for lower calories and give him more of it.

What's he bedded on?

 

[Horsegirl25]

If his weight is good but he runs out of food then you need to change some of all of the food for lower calories and give him more of it.

What's he bedded on?

He’s on shavings

 

[PurBee]

My 50% welsh d mare 14.2 unworked gets 10kg currently, with no hard food. Its about right for her for winter tick-over.
Sounds about right for yours to be on 2 small hard feeds a day on top for the 40 min exercise slot.

Is your boy on the slimmer side and could happily have another few kg’s added? If youre on a mixed grass hay id just give more, as they generally are much lower calories than ever popular ryegrass heavy hay.

If youre happy with his weight/condition then small holed haynets do help slow them down, and my mare was a speed hoover before using small hole nets. 1.5inch holed haynets without knots are ideal. Some ’haylage nets’ are smaller holed.
She went from eating 3kg in 45 mins to 2 hours, and the boy slowed down to 1kg per hour.
As you have just 1 horse and no competition from another horse, a smaller net could work well for yours so he’s more evenly paced nibbling throughout the night/day.

I even made some haynets out of cargo netting 1 inch squares, which i doubled up to 1/2 inch to then have that as stimulation nibble times after they finished their main hay bags with bigger holes. ( 1 inch and smaller will frustrate most hungry horses and they’ll tear at it, so i dont use super small holes for main haynets. They have to train themselves a new technique to eat from smaller holed haynets, so its worth using 1.5” first to prevent absolute frustration!)

So you could consider having a 1.5”-2” net for half his hay kg, and another 3/4”-1” super small hole net with the other half hay in it. Then he can gobble at the bigger holed one first, likely will….then when he’s not so hungry he can nibble graze slowly with the smaller holed net.

 

[Horsegirl25]

My 50% welsh d mare 14.2 unworked gets 10kg currently, with no hard food. Its about right for her for winter tick-over.
Sounds about right for yours to be on 2 small hard feeds a day on top for the 40 min exercise slot.

Is your boy on the slimmer side and could happily have another few kg’s added? If youre on a mixed grass hay id just give more, as they generally are much lower calories than ever popular ryegrass heavy hay.

If youre happy with his weight/condition then small holed haynets do help slow them down, and my mare was a speed hoover before using small hole nets. 1.5inch holed haynets without knots are ideal. Some ’haylage nets’ are smaller holed.
She went from eating 3kg in 45 mins to 2 hours, and the boy slowed down to 1kg per hour.
As you have just 1 horse and no competition from another horse, a smaller net could work well for yours so he’s more evenly paced nibbling throughout the night/day.

I even made some haynets out of cargo netting 1 inch squares, which i doubled up to 1/2 inch to then have that as stimulation nibble times after they finished their main hay bags with bigger holes. ( 1 inch and smaller will frustrate most hungry horses and they’ll tear at it, so i dont use super small holes for main haynets. They have to train themselves a new technique to eat from smaller holed haynets, so its worth using 1.5” first to prevent absolute frustration!)

So you could consider having a 1.5”-2” net for half his hay kg, and another 3/4”-1” super small hole net with the other half hay in it. Then he can gobble at the bigger holed one first, likely will….then when he’s not so hungry he can nibble graze slowly with the smaller holed net.

I don’t think he looks fat but I also think he could be slimmer, I am not entirely sure what his ideal weight should be.
He is obviously a chunkier breed but he is also on the more sporty end of a Welsh if you get what I mean.
We are using small holed nets currently but he is so smart he works out how to get hay out them quickly !!! Do you have any recommendations for the ‘super small holed’ ones ?

 

[PurBee]

I don’t think he looks fat but I also think he could be slimmer, I am not entirely sure what his ideal weight should be.
He is obviously a chunkier breed but he is also on the more sporty end of a Welsh if you get what I mean.
We are using small holed nets currently but he is so smart he works out how to get hay out them quickly !!! Do you have any recommendations for the ‘super small holed’ ones ?

Whats the size of holes of the nets he’s using? A few mm can make all the difference.

Heres an inch hole hay net:

https://ofw.one/product/trickle-net-original-small-hole-hay-net/?v=d2cb7bbc0d23

or uk amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trickle-Net-Effective-Recommended-disorders/dp/B013RAID8K?th=1

But really at 1inch 25mm size i dont like knots - its advised to have knotless because the knots can cause lip hair chafing, as theyre nibbling at the knots a lot more than a much larger holed knotted net. Knotted ones are far more common than knotless. You could try knotted and keep an eye on lip hair and front teeth condition as he uses it over weeks.

Those knotted ones are strong and small holed so worth a punt to see if it helps slow him down. You can also double-up the 1 inch with another 1 inch, which will create smaller holes, but as i said, give him a good couple of kg in his usual net at the same time to avoid frustration Introducing smaller nets.

I bought cargo netting which is knotless and made up my own net bags using orange hay bale twine to ‘sew’ them together. I made some i doubled to be 1/2-1inch knots to be super small. This is the netting i bought:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LJIANW-Net...44&sprefix=cargo+netting,aps,133&sr=8-12&th=1

The only thing with the cargo netting is that its not suitable for soaking hays as the net material will eventually rot and weaken developing holes- its a much softer material than the thick plastic nets, which is what i was after, knowing theyd be mouthing it a lot. I was probably being over cautious about softer material, so would definitely trial a stronger plastic cargo net material.

There may be knotless cargo netting 1 inch hole thats made from tougher poly material than the green one i bought, i havent looked. I noticed amazon sells some black ones too that may be a more slippery plastic material, rather than the cotton-like green cargo netting.

Im in the EU so its best to google uk small hay nets so you dont get import charges. Many companies have sprung-up over the years doing small hole knotless nets.

Some people use small hole ground box feeders, as some believe haynets cause issues. Theyre similar in principle to small hole nets, and have a small mesh guard over the hay preventing gorging, while also helping the horse eat from a more natural grazing position.

 

[ycbm]

He’s on shavings

Then I would give him a big trug of plain straw chop to keep him going overnight if he wants more food. Mine is bedded on straw which he picks at when his hay is gone.
.

 

[Sossigpoker]

You need to weigh the hay and his total feed should be between 1.5 and 2.5% of his bodyweight. Depending on if he needs to lose , gain or maintain weight.
I use TopSpec TopChop Zero over night to give him extra once the hay has run out.
He gets 4 scoops , dampened- he will much on that once the hay is gone and hes hungry again.

If you have straw at the yard , you could mix straw with the hay in the net to slow him down. Also , use nets with 1 inch holes , such as Nibbleze or Shires soft haylage nets

 

[Bob notacob]

It doesn't sound like you are starving him ,lol . The figures you have given all sound good. A snackette of a slab of oat or barley straw ,to pacify the inner piglet wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Ditchjumper2]

Mine have always had ad-lib hay as being old school always believed if there's non left in the morning then they haven't got enough. Straw beds also mean they have something to pick over.

 

[Bob notacob]

I hate haynets ! Firstly they make a horse eat at an unnatural height. They are stressful for a horse. They can cause a repetitive strain problem in the neck . Small holed haynets drive horses crazy. Bob has his hay served au natural, Whilst it often appears that Bob wastes hay ,the stuff he rejects has been carefully examined and rejected .No amount of coaxing ,short of starvation will make him eat it . I value his judgement. I just love to watch him eat loose hay . How he truffles through it flinging it left and right . Always wants to eat from the bottom of the pile. It makes him happy! I would not deprive him of this pleasure for all the money I could save!