Making sure horse has 24/7 access to food in the stable?

[Miss_Millie]

My mare is stabled overnight with a full small hole nibbleze haynet, but it is always completely emptied by the morning. I have no idea when she finishes it and hence how long she is going without food - I don't want her to get ulcers. She came to me already overweight, I'm trying to shift said weight with an appropriate diet and exercise, so I can't give her unlimited haylage.

Is there anything else I could do to make sure that she always has access to food overnight, like maybe a bucket of honey chop oat straw, as it has very little nutritional value but will keep her ticking over? Even though the net is really small holes, I'm going to try double netting too to see if that helps her to slow down. Unfortunately I can't spread out the hay at intervals as she in on livery. I imagine this would be a lot easier if keeping a horse at home.

 

[Widgeon]

I have a similar issue and eventually concluded that if he's managed to stuff in 5kg of hay inside the first three hours of the night, he's not exactly going to have an empty stomach for the remaining hours. So I stopped worrying, and have never actually had a problem. How long is she actually in overnight?

Ours are bedded on straw so I know that he's always got something to nibble if he's desperate - perhaps try offering a pile of nice quality straw as well as the haynet?

 

[Starzaan]

I would use something such as a homemade version of the Haygain Forager. I have run rehab yards for many years, and have lost count of the number of horses I have had in that need restricted forage, but also have chronic ulcers so need ad lib forage (I also have a very strict rule of all horses on my yard having access to forage at ALL times, so needed to work it out!). We have made our own slow feeders using a wooden box with slow feed haynets and caribiner clips. This way horses aren't damaging their backs and necks and TMJs eating from haynets, but they are slowed down.
I would feed her soaked hay mixed with straw, and offer it in this sort of form. It will need to be weighed, and I would recommend getting your hay analysed to ensure she's getting what she needs from it.

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

You really need to know the weight of what she is eating…when one of mine is plumpty I work on a feeding rate of 400/450g of forage per hour multiplied by the hours in and I soak half of hay and feed rest dry….mare eats easy dry ration first and then the soaked usually..the soaked has less calories and is harder to pull from net so lasts.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I agree with Starzaan.
We use Eazigrazers over the winter and offer plain oat straw chaff which they eat when they have finished the haylage.

Before we got the Eazigrasers, I got an obese Draft horse (bought that way) back to a sensible weight by feeding oat straw chaff and haylage in a haybar. It was easier because our horses are at home, so in the middle of winter they had the ration split into 4 'deliveries'.

 

[suestowford]

You could try offering fibre blocks. These are compressed chaff, I think it's about 1 kilo per block. I got some from Feedmark once.
I timed how long it took my small pony to eat his way through one and it was 2 hours. They aren't very interesting so he'd chew a bit then come back for a bit more later.

 

[ester]

Is the net on the floor unatttached? how much does the hay weigh as they do multiple sizes? My experience of nibbleze nets is that they are quite hard to get hay out of (I only ever needed the larger hole one, but wasn't attached to anything so nothing to pull against.) Also stumped a section A for whom double netting was a fail.

 

[SO1]

I have a good doer pony. He refused to eat top chop zero, feedmark fibre blocks, and special hay with very low sugar content.

He has normal hay soaked in nibleeze net and it does not last him all night.

There was no point in giving him the things he refused to eat so as there is nothing really sugar he will eat, he has just does not have ad lib.

My understanding is that uclers are more likely to develop if restriction is during the day than at night.

https://saracenhorsefeeds.com/sport...r-large-haynets-for-good-doers-prone-to-ulcer

You could try offering fibre blocks. These are compressed chaff, I think it's about 1 kilo per block. I got some from Feedmark once.
I timed how long it took my small pony to eat his way through one and it was 2 hours. They aren't very interesting so he'd chew a bit then come back for a bit more later.

 

[Melody Grey]

Old fashioned and possibly going out of favour as evidence suggests it’s better to feed from floor level, but we used to
Suspend nets away from walls. Takes much longer for them to
eat as they can’t get a good hold of it. Might be a way of feeding some, though not all of the hay?

 

[MagicMelon]

If you're trying to get her to lose weight, Id put out 24/7 personally on limited grazing with straw if nessary to top up lack of grass. Id make it a narrow long strip of grazing so hopefully horse will get exercise walking up and down it. Otherwise if you really have to stable cant you just mix the hay with straw and hang 2 or 3 haynets round the stable?

 

[Goldenstar]

I would put some oat straw chop in a bowl in the stable over night.
If the horse eats it she needs it if not she doesn’t .
My horses are always on restricted forage they never have forage left in the morning when they are stabled at night which is for about two months a year.
However they don’t eat the chopped straw so I don’t worry about it and have stopped giving it if they where hungry they would eat it .

Horses produce less stomach acid at night naturally .
Being over weight damages horses far more than getting ulcers if a horse gets ulcers from dietary causes they are easily fixed .
The horses who’s ulcers don’t heal have secondary pain .
I prioritise weight control every time over 24/7 stuffing of the face .

 

[rabatsa]

Mine have straw in nets that they can pick at when the hay has run out. What falls on the floor gets added to bedding.

 

[vmac66]

Mine is overweight and high risk for lami so has to lose weight. She has 6kg of soaked hay at night, when it's gone it's gone, better she goes hungry then gets lami. She has a small low starch and sugar chaff feed morning and evening and is on very restricted grazing. I do think about ulcers but the alternative of a fat horse is worse .

 

[eggs]

My understanding is that a horse can go 4 to 5 hours without eating without ulcers being an issue. Weight loss for an overweight horse would trump constant access to forage for me.

I would leave a trug with something like Topchop Zero if you are worried.

 

[Nudibranch]

A trug of topchop zero. I got about 50kg off a very overweight Fell when she arrived by bringing her in to a yard area during the day for a slice or two of hay and unlimited chaff, then out on a track overnight.

 

[laura_nash]

A trug of topchop zero. I got about 50kg off a very overweight Fell when she arrived by bringing her in to a yard area during the day for a slice or two of hay and unlimited chaff, then out on a track overnight.

Same here, trug of Top Chop Zero. If they are totally refusing to eat it, I don't bother. That is quite common if they are in a routine where they've come in off the grass, in that case I just don't worry about it.

 

[AdorableAlice]

I have a horse I cannot leave with ad lib anything. If it is there it goes down the neck of this particular horse, and at the fastest possible rate she can manage. After so many colics I have lost count and a cost that I don't want to think about, I manage this horse by trickle feeding and watering her. At this time of year she cannot have grass. She does graze in winter.

She is an exhausting and frustrating nightmare to look after and keep alive but I love her and she is my last riding horse. I use hayballs and trickle nets, together with toys to make her work harder for her food. I feed the final 3kg of hay as late as possible, around 11pm. She also has a toy with fibre nuggets and 10 litres of juice. She is without food by 1am and stays that way until 7am. Once the food has gone she goes to sleep. I did try the zero chop and she inhaled it like it was her last meal, barley straw would kill her with impaction.

I've been in horses nearly 50 years now and never come across a horse like her.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Top Chop Zero is too tasty for these horses! I recommend Halley's or Honeychop plain oat straw chaff, they don't really like it, so will only eat it if they are hungry.

 

[Boulty]

I'd split the ration between 2 nets & do some experimenting. You could try suspending from the rafters do that the net swings about. Could try double netting (, wouldn't do both things to the same net as that's a bit mean). Could try having the net on the floor if barefoot as nibbleze are safe to do this with. You could try soaking some of it & / or mixing in some straw (or you could have some loose straw with a small amount of hay mixed in for her to forage about in or a bucket of unmollassed straw chop which is the most boring foodstuff ever). Would recommend using something like the tricklenet calculator to work out roughly how much you should be feeding for weight loss & weigh your hay / haylage (I believe haylage may have a slightly different calculation due to the higher moisture content)

 

[tristar]

i feed early to evening 4 lots if on hay only, they never have any left in the morning, if they did i would be worried

i think the secret is regular feeding times, a strict routine is the answer, so the stomach [and brain!] is tuned, i have done this all my life, never a problem, including to get weight off by regulating the quantity to get the desired effect, fatter, thinner.

and movement every day as the fat goes the muscle builds and a fit horse moves more

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

My mare is stabled overnight with a full small hole nibbleze haynet, but it is always completely emptied by the morning. I have no idea when she finishes it and hence how long she is going without food - I don't want her to get ulcers. She came to me already overweight, I'm trying to shift said weight with an appropriate diet and exercise, so I can't give her unlimited haylage.

Is there anything else I could do to make sure that she always has access to food overnight, like maybe a bucket of honey chop oat straw, as it has very little nutritional value but will keep her ticking over? Even though the net is really small holes, I'm going to try double netting too to see if that helps her to slow down. Unfortunately I can't spread out the hay at intervals as she in on livery. I imagine this would be a lot easier if keeping a horse at home.

my gelding had ulcers, I can't give them too much due to laminitis. I just gave them a big bowl of Allen and page at night to fill them up for longer

they have one net at 5 the other at 10pm

 

[Miss_Millie]

I have a similar issue and eventually concluded that if he's managed to stuff in 5kg of hay inside the first three hours of the night, he's not exactly going to have an empty stomach for the remaining hours. So I stopped worrying, and have never actually had a problem. How long is she actually in overnight?

Ours are bedded on straw so I know that he's always got something to nibble if he's desperate - perhaps try offering a pile of nice quality straw as well as the haynet?

She's in for approximately 14 hours overnight, on average. I hadn't considered straw - is it easy for them to digest?

 

[Miss_Millie]

I would use something such as a homemade version of the Haygain Forager. I have run rehab yards for many years, and have lost count of the number of horses I have had in that need restricted forage, but also have chronic ulcers so need ad lib forage (I also have a very strict rule of all horses on my yard having access to forage at ALL times, so needed to work it out!). We have made our own slow feeders using a wooden box with slow feed haynets and caribiner clips. This way horses aren't damaging their backs and necks and TMJs eating from haynets, but they are slowed down.
I would feed her soaked hay mixed with straw, and offer it in this sort of form. It will need to be weighed, and I would recommend getting your hay analysed to ensure she's getting what she needs from it.

The haygain forager looks good! Does it work for haylage though? We have haylage as part of our livery package, so it's the only option.

 

[Miss_Millie]

You really need to know the weight of what she is eating…when one of mine is plumpty I work on a feeding rate of 400/450g of forage per hour multiplied by the hours in and I soak half of hay and feed rest dry….mare eats easy dry ration first and then the soaked usually..the soaked has less calories and is harder to pull from net so lasts.

Thanks for the advice, based off of that, I'm feeding her an appropriate amount for the hours she is in - 1lb of hay per hour. She is on haylage rather than hay, so not sure if I can soak it?

 

[Miss_Millie]

I agree with Starzaan.
We use Eazigrazers over the winter and offer plain oat straw chaff which they eat when they have finished the haylage.

Before we got the Eazigrasers, I got an obese Draft horse (bought that way) back to a sensible weight by feeding oat straw chaff and haylage in a haybar. It was easier because our horses are at home, so in the middle of winter they had the ration split into 4 'deliveries'.

Eazigrasers look great, wish I could get one but it says they can't be used with haylage.

 

[Miss_Millie]

Is the net on the floor unatttached? how much does the hay weigh as they do multiple sizes? My experience of nibbleze nets is that they are quite hard to get hay out of (I only ever needed the larger hole one, but wasn't attached to anything so nothing to pull against.) Also stumped a section A for whom double netting was a fail.

The net is tied to the wall, she has approximately 15lbs of hay overnight. I was looking at hay pillows as they are perhaps better for their necks?

 

[Miss_Millie]

If you're trying to get her to lose weight, Id put out 24/7 personally on limited grazing with straw if nessary to top up lack of grass. Id make it a narrow long strip of grazing so hopefully horse will get exercise walking up and down it. Otherwise if you really have to stable cant you just mix the hay with straw and hang 2 or 3 haynets round the stable?

I wish I could do this, but I'm on livery and the grass is very lush. She's turned out in a muzzle to help restrict grass intake.

 

[Starzaan]

The haygain forager looks good! Does it work for haylage though? We have haylage as part of our livery package, so it's the only option.

It does work, but you can make a better version yourself quite honestly. It does work for haylage. I have a few liveries that have them. ?

 

[ester]

The net is tied to the wall, she has approximately 15lbs of hay overnight. I was looking at hay pillows as they are perhaps better for their necks?

If she's not shod nibbleze have instructions on how to tie it and push the string inside the net, that's what I always did as much prefer it to them pulling on the net and they have to use their lips to get it out rather than grabbing at it.
It did occasionally get dumped in the water bucket but I figured that was his problem!

 

[smolmaus]

The net is tied to the wall, she has approximately 15lbs of hay overnight. I was looking at hay pillows as they are perhaps better for their necks?

I liked my hay pillow until it got pissed on twice in one week and I gave up on it. An unsecured floor net with the strings properly tied away would be cheaper and potentially less disgusting