Jericho
Well-Known Member
I have two porky ponies - an 18yr old welsh A and a 15.1hh commie x tb 12 yr mare, both very good doers. They are out 24/7 pn 4 acres of fairly poor mossy grazing, really no more than 2 inches in length now. They both have a small hard feed of Fast Fibre (a pint jug dry) to mix a general vit/min supplement in. Both look very well.
My question is whether I could get away with not feeding hay. Out of habit / pity I have always thrown about a third of a bale in to their field shelter hay bars. They always come and go spending 10 mins eating hay and then wander off to graze. They like their shelter and do use it to doze in and to escape the weather.
However my non horsey OH said why do I feed hay when they have grass which they seem to plenty graze on enough and they get a vit min supplement? I didn't really have an answer other than for fibre, which to be honest they do probably get enough fibre moving through their guts from being out 24/7. They both could do with losing some weight so I could i not feed hay?
My question is whether I could get away with not feeding hay. Out of habit / pity I have always thrown about a third of a bale in to their field shelter hay bars. They always come and go spending 10 mins eating hay and then wander off to graze. They like their shelter and do use it to doze in and to escape the weather.
However my non horsey OH said why do I feed hay when they have grass which they seem to plenty graze on enough and they get a vit min supplement? I didn't really have an answer other than for fibre, which to be honest they do probably get enough fibre moving through their guts from being out 24/7. They both could do with losing some weight so I could i not feed hay?
