Just hay !!

[debs_07]

hi guys ... some advice please ..

my trainer came down today to my yard to do some work with my 6 yr old mare ...my mare was very excited when we got into the school but when she got her jollies out .. she was great ... he suggested i cut out her feeds ... as there is no winter turn out and is only gets out for a the odd hack and the odd lunging session in the week ... i feed her on calm and condition and alfa A oil ... opinions please on feeding just hay please guys

Thanks
debx

 

[Irishcobs]

Depends on if she will keep weight on, on just hay?
Maybe change the Alfa A oil for Alfa A lite as she's not getting that much exercise.

 

[debs_07]

well i not know at the moment if she will keep the weight on ... will just have to see ... but will bear in mind the alfa lite .. thanks xx

 

[TGM]

Much depends on her appetite, but a lot of horses can do well on just hay if they eat enough of it! Grass is obviously a horse's natural feed, and hay is dried grass, but does lose some of its protein and vit/mins during the drying process, so if you want to feed 'by the textbook' you might want to look at feeding a balancer (TopSpec, Blue Chip etc) to make up for the nutrient loss.

However, having said that, a lot of horses do not read the textbooks and do very well on hay alone!

 

[tanflislibs]

plenty of horses are on bare minimum, horses really dont need that much hard feed and suppliments, people find it strange when a hors ehas little or no feel, but think why is your horse on the feed and does she need these things, are they working. one girl at my old yard has a tbx hanov and he is on all thins comp mix and barley, chaffs, etc etc and he's nuts, ithink the conditioners just make him sharper, but he needs them to keep weight on as he really finds it hard to keep in a healthy shape. think of your horse and how it benefits from it.

 

[gladelpone]

I don't think there is anything wrong with feeding just hay, I feed my mare Dengie good doer and apples so she has something when the rest are fed but apart from that she just has hay. She looks well and has ample energy. Might want to make a mineral lick available too

 

[Breezesbenefactor]

Try the hay perfect in winter as it actually aids to warming the horse which not all hard feeds do. As for the weight you've got six weeks till the new grass shoots coem up which is when my horse gets the runs and begins to shed weight so I supplement her with a show mix to maintain her weight. Just go with it for a couple of weeks and see how you get on

 

[Tia]

Have your hay analysed - it is not expensive and doesn't take very long to have the results back. Then you will know exactly what is in it and whether you need to subsidise your horse with any extra feed. Make sure that if your hay has been bought from different fields that you have an analysis done for each field though otherwise you are not getting a proper reading overall.