Not eating hay

MrsElle

MrsElle

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Since moving to diy livery 4 weeks ago the horses are in overnight.

However, Ellie isn't eating any hay. I have tried her on four different bales, two supplied by YO from their own fields, one from another livery and one we have in our shed at home.

She hasn't eaten any of them.

She is on plentiful grass during the day, usually 8am until 6pm and has a feed when she gets back in the stable at night.

What I am worrying about is is this going to harm her? She may be eating a bit of bedding and a few wisps of hay that I don't notice, so she may (or may not) be getting a tiny bit.

Any ideas?
 
That was my concern too tasteofchaos. I have started putting a couple of buckets of HiFi in there but she is going through a bag every two days, so it's costing me a small fortune!

She has had lami in the past so am a bit wary of giving her haylage. However, it may be the lesser of two evils
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I'd leave some hay in for her - it maybe she has got enough grass at the moment so is 'full' when she comes in. My cob did the same when we moved yards - she went into a field with loads of grass and didn't eat anything extra for a couple of weeks while she stuffed herself!! The yard we had moved from had little or no grass so she just filled herself up!!
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I would just leave some for her so if and when she needs something to munch she has something.
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Slinky, I do leave her a huuuge net in and am thinking she might just not be hungry as yesterday morning I tied her up outside another stable and she started munching away on a haynet that was hung outside, holding exactly the same hay she turns her nose up at in her own net!

Cheeky madam!

She is fit, healthy and very well, and is putting on weight to the extent I have dropped a feed, I was just worried about her seemingly not eating for such a length of time.
 
Try steaming a smallish amount of hay by putting in a plastic bin, pouring over two kettles of boiling water and putting the bin lid on. Leave for at least 20 mins.

It seems to make the hay smell more palatable (at least for one of my horses).
 
have your haynets (the nets themselves) been next to something to taint them through the summer? (being as she ate next doors net of same hay? i would think that she is probably full when she comes in if grass is good! unless she radically starts to drop weight i wouldnt worry too much! have you had her teeth checked recently being as she is a grown up? a wobbly back tooth will stop them wanting to eat hay.
 
Not sure what to suggest apart from soaking the hay though doesn't sound like she has any objection to the hay itself as she'll eat it happily at other times of day/others hay. As Ofcourseyoucan mentioned maybe the net itself? A dog had cocked its leg on one of mine hanging outside the stable and horse wouldn't go near it til I got a whiff of it and realised what was wrong, had to put the haynets in the washing machine (water only no powder).
 
my wee oldie had problems eating hay. he can eat grass, haylege and i have got really soft nice hay for him that he can manage. His teeth are fine as such, but through age, they have become smooth and therefore ineffective with less than really soft hay. He won't even try to eat it. Do you think that could be the problem?
ets in the summer when he was out at night and on hard stand daytime (laminitic prone) i gave him a bucket of happy hoof and high fibre cubes soaked, he loved that.
 
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