Need advise please...

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moodymare_1993

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I have a 6yo tb mare. She is very healthy, teeth fine, everything up to date.

The problem I have is that she's losing weight. She eats her hard feed and haylage I've been giving her, but she won't eat her hay...she did until a couple of weeks ago, now it's like she's going on hunger strike when it comes to giving hay...

I have bought her lots of hay, and I can't afford to keep buying haylage. She eats hay when shut in the stable, but choses not to any time she's out, she still has a bit of grass in her field and I put out a large round bale for her yesterday in the field.

What would you do? I don't want her to lose any more weight. Would you just let her eat what's left of the grass and leave her to eat the hay when he's hungry...shall I shut her in to make sure she's eating hay...

It's not that I'm not feeding her....it's justse won't hay :/

Please help.
 
If she's not eating it in the field I'd either stop putting it in there, or look to feed haylage only (you could sell your hay, an replace with haylage).

But, how much hay is she eating overnight??
 
Oh okay I have this problem with a couple of my old horses in spring and autumn. They still want the grass so won't eat their hay out in the field. I shut them in for a number of hours in their barn so that they have to eat hay for a decent period of time. Once the snow is on the ground they are fine. It's only when there's still some grass available that they do this.
 
Spring feather... That's exactly what she's doing, but there is no goodness in the grass... And like I said she's losing weight. I too have been shutting her in her stable so she gets some decent hay in her, but sometimes she still doesn't eat as much as I like her too. It's like she's waiting to e let out onto the grass?
 
moodymare_1993 said:
Spring feather... That's exactly what she's doing, but there is no goodness in the grass... And like I said she's losing weight. I too have been shutting her in her stable so she gets some decent hay in her, but sometimes she still doesn't eat as much as I like her too. It's like she's waiting to e let out onto the grass?
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Mine do that too. I temporarily 'up' their hardfeed to maybe 4 or 5 feeds a day instead of just twice a day if (and when) I'm concerned about lack of eating or ANY weightloss at all. As said mine are soooo old (36 and 37) that for them to lose just a little bit of weight at the beginning of winter, could be detrimental to them and not something I risk.
 
moodymare_1993 said:
Amymay... yes she does lol. I out her in about 6pm and am down by 7.30 am and it's all gone bar a couple of spilled bits on the floor etc
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Great. Give her more, so that you see some left. And don't worry to much about the field. She'll start to eat it when she's hungry enough. And as Spring Feather says, feed more hard feed temporarily.
 
So shall I shut her in stable evey night ( aslong as its not pouring with rain she usually stays out overnight.) to make sure she's getting enough hay and leave her to it during the day. I think when she totally runs out of grass she will eventually turn to hay but I don't want her to lose any more weight In the mean time. She's already lost new than if have liked over the whole of winter. And is on baileys no. 4 for weight gain.
 
moodymare_1993 said:
So shall I shut her in stable evey night ( aslong as its not pouring with rain she usually stays out overnight.) to make sure she's getting enough hay and leave her to it during the day. I think when she totally runs out of grass she will eventually turn to hay but I don't want her to lose any more weight In the mean time. She's already lost new than if have liked over the whole of winter. And is on baileys no. 4 for weight gain.
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If she's loosing weight, yes, I'd stable her every night to ensure she gets as much hay as she can eat during that time.
 
Yes I'd either lock her in the stable overnight with adlib hay or put her onto 4 or 5 feeds split throughout the day until she puts the weight back on. I can do the however many feeds per day as I'm here all the time, you may well work so won't be able to realistically do this, hence locking her in at night may be your best bet for a little while.
 
Ok I will stable every night from now on. Thank you amymay and spring feather. Btw she is on a large Stubbs scoop of honey chop and 1.5 Stubbs scoops of baileys no. 4 with magic calmer in twice a day. Do you think that's enough? In terms of the different feeds in her feed? I have calm and condition but I haven't really seen a difference using that?
 
Calm and condition is rubbish.

See how you get on with adlib hay, and if she still drops think about more hard feed, but split like SF suggests.
 
Spring feathe, giving more feeds throughout the day isn't a problem. I have said above what she usually has.. Is that enough. I have to be careful what I give her cuz in the mornings she acts like she has a fire cracker up her arse lol. Hence why I have bought lots more calmer
 
Amymay, do you think the honey chop and baileys no. 4 is enough in terms of good feeds to keep giving her? Should I be thinking about putting another type of feed in her hard feeds? Or should I just split what I have for the time being into more feeds. And when you say Feed her more Feeds during the day...do i give the same amount in more Feeds or split the feed amount she Has into like 4/5 feeds? Sorry a lot of questions. Had a bad winter last year with my poorly horse as he lost loads of weight due to his illness. Just don't want to end up with another skinny horse :(
 
amymay said:
Calm and condition is rubbish.

See how you get on with adlib hay, and if she still drops think about more hard feed, but split like SF suggests.
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Agreed about the C&C. I fed gobs of it to my mare and no noticeable weight gain. I would feed anything that's a bit thin some equijewel, it really is fantastic stuff and IMO better than linseed. It seems expensive £30 ish but you only feed a cup or 2 a day.

Mine also won't eat the hay in the field at the moment. Their idea is grass trumps hay, haylege trumps grass and if your shut in anything will do!! Luckily I can have either so at the moment they get haylege whilst out and hay when indoors!! Fussy lot!!
 
moodymare_1993 said:
So do you think if I shut in during the night with Ad lib hay, 4/5 feeds a day and then put out a little haylage during the day would be a good idea?
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NOOOOOOO:)
Me thinks there is a little tongue in cheek going on here:)
How much weight has she lost?
Have you measured her with a weight tape?
She may just have lost her grass tummy from the summer.
Personally...if you havn't already done one and are concerned with her weight...I would get a worm egg count done....the little b*****s have been annoying this year...otherwise if the weight loss is worrying....a full blood count.
For the present.....just stick to the add lib hay/haylage when she is in...and don't feed any hay/haylage in the field...you may not have a lot of grass...but unfortunately there is still a bit of goodness in it.
Best of luck
Bryndu:)
 
My preference would be to start with keeping her in overnight with adlib hay to start with and if she doesn't put weight on within say 2 weeks then I'd look at upping her hardfeed to more each day. I always keep upping feed to the last resort tbqh as I prefer to get the weight on steadily and really topnotch hay should do that for a normal healthy horse. If she's not increasing her weight in 2 or 3 weeks then I'd look at gradually increasing the amount of feeds she gets daily ... or look for a better feed which needs less feeding but offers more of the 'good stuff' per serving.
 
She has lost more than her grass belly, and is losing condition tbh. Muscle is going too. Ribs are just able to feel, she just looks a bit rubbish lol. She had been on box rest for a month in summer and lost some condition but when back out on the grass she put it back on, so I think it is just her but like I said in an earlier post she isn't eating as much as she probably should. I will try ad lib hay at night and a little haylage in the morning to keep her belly full and if not then Turn to change in hard feed routine?
 
My poor doer comes in overnight during winter because I need her to come in and eat hay to keep weight on. If she stayed out 24/7 she'd be a hat rack, I always make sure she has enough hay that she has some left over the next morning.

I add micronised linseed to her feed to help with weight without fizzing her up.
 
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