Is this a really bad idea?

little_critter

little_critter

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Before you shoot me down I'm new to looking after horses so still need help and guidance...

My mare refuses point blank to eat the hay we have at the moment, this has been going on for over a week now, she nibbles at about 1/4 of the haynet overnight but that's it.
The hay doesn't look bad or smell bad.
I'm worried that she's not getting enough fibre.
She gets 4 hours turnout but I can't imagine the grass is doing much for her at the moment. I've also upped her chaff a bit to get more fibre down her.
I've tried soaking it and I've tried hiding some chaff in it but she still only picks at it.
Now the (daft) question...
Could I try to disguise whatever it is she doesn't like about the hay by spraying it with some mint tea? Or maybe one drop of peppermint oil in lots of water?
My other thought was to buy some haylage and mix it with the hay but looking at how she eats the hay I bet she'll pick out all the haylage and leave the hay.
Help! any ideas / suggestions, it's really starting to worry me now.
Choccie cake for all help offered.
 
Can you not afford to try her on haylage? I presume she's a new horse, what did her old owners feed her? Bit different - but also what about trying to feed her from the floor? Perhaps she would find this more comfortable (presuming she manages to eat grass and probably hard feed ok from down there!) - but then I don't believe in using nets anyway :o
 
She was on hay or haylage before - didn't mind which. But she does tend to get more fizzy on haylage. I'd prefer her to be chilled.
If I feed the hay from the floor she still won't eat it - tried it.
 
My gelding wouldn't eat the hay this year - its beautiful but not the same as his usual hay as its very soft and shorter (normally I make my own but didn't last year - the one year it cost astronomical prices lol)

Anyway I started mixing in a little bit of horsehage (the blue high fibre horsehage is low sugar and less likely to fizz your horse up). I found that if I put a little bit spread out around the net he eats much more of the hay, so worth a try. He still doent polish off the whole hay net, but much more. You could also just try soaking the hay for half an hour and see if that makes it more palatable for him
 
Will any other horses eat the hay? This will tell you if her's being fussy or if there's something genuinely iffy about the hay.
How does she look weight and condition wise? What breed and age is she? Is she kept in or out?

My highland lives out and last year there was no grass to eat and she had hay and some days she didn't touch her hay and other days she ate half a haynet. Other horses (including TBs gobbled it up) but she just wasn't hungry. She didn't lose weight/condition and simply didn't need it. - This is when we had several inches of snow for 2-3 months.
 
Are other horses eating the same hay? It might be that it's rubbish hay. Mine also have started eating less now the weather's warmed up a bit.

Alternatively, sometimes horses seem to find hay or haylage a bit 'rich'. I usually find they start eating their net with enthusiasm then just stop or slow right down. Mixing with a different bale of hay or haylage or even feed quality straw can help there. You need to be careful, though if you decide to feed straw, it can cause problems including colic.

On balance I would recommend trying the 'mixing up with haylage' idea first and see how that goes.
 
I think this is a common problem this year. Mine are being very fussy and wont eat their hay, I tried changing the hay and then they started preferring the one that they had refused - damn horses!!

Have you tried soaking the hay? just in case there is something that you can't smell but is on the hay?

In all honesty I would very much doubt that spraying the hay with anything will make her eat it - good idea if she does tho!! I would maybe try and mix the haylage and hay together so that even the hay takes on the smell of the haylage. The purple (timothy) horsehage and the blue (high fibre) would be the ones to try. In the mean time perhaps you could give her a bucket of Allen and page fast fibre soaked, just to have in her stable at night and maybe a bucket of hi-fi chaff. She can at least nibble on these if she doesn't want her hay.

Good luck!! I have decided to order haylage for next year, I can't do with the stress again!
 
Has she had her teeth checked? Sometimes they go off eating it if they are having pain from sharp edges. Worth checking if you haven't done so already.
 
not sure how long you've had your horse for but if it's not long and you bought your horse local would it be possible for you to buy some hay from her previous owners and see if she eats it.

horse hage do a selection of hay, it's not cheap but you could mix it in with the hay and see how that goes down.
 
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