If you soak hay, roughly how long do you soak it for?

[Beanriding]

Yesterday I posted a poll about trying to prevent a horse getting cast in the stable and found the responses really interesting and useful to see what people actually do in practice.

I’m curious about something similar when it comes to soaking hay for overweight horses/ponies (whether they have laminitis/specific conditions or are just overweight).

There seems to be quite a lot of variation in advice - some people soak for long periods, some only briefly, and others not at all. I’ve also seen more recently discussion suggesting shorter soak times may be enough to reduce sugars without stripping too much else out, and of course some horses simply won’t eat heavily soaked hay.

I thought it might be interesting to get a general sense of what people here actually do in practice. I'd also be interested if people rinse it after or not.

 

[asmp]

I soak briefly to reduce the dust so under 30 mins but there wasn’t a button for that! (Clicked other)

 

[FieldOrnaments]

To reduce sugars an hour is removes "most" sugars and longer times tend to leach out vitamins (especially vitamin A) as well, but for practical reasons we soak two lots a day morning and night so 12hrs each then drained and rinsed

 

[Beanriding]

I soak briefly to reduce the dust so under 30 mins but there wasn’t a button for that! (Clicked other)

Ah, I knew I was missing an option but couldn't think what! Thanks for responding to the poll though

 

[whirlwind]

Another who does 10 mins or so just to get rid of dust

 

[MuddyMonster]

I soak mi e to reduce sugar for metabolic stuff. The length of time I soak for varies though.

Through Autumn - Spring it's 8-12 hours.

In the Summer, it's usually 3-5 hours. In v.hot weather it's an hour or so as I find fermentation/bacterial growth becomes more of an issue in Summer weather.

Always rinse after soaking though.