Not finishing dinner

kellybee

kellybee

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One of my horses, the bossy one that can sometimes be aggressive when there's food about (with the other horses, not with me), has been leaving food in the bottom of his bucket the last few days.

I feed a scoop of hi-fi molasses free and a scoop of speedibeet twice a day, and put a bale of hay out betwen them morning and night. I always put a bit of blackcurrant cordial in with the beet to soak because one of the others is a fussy eater, and they all usually eat just fine, but the last few days (since the snow thawed) Alfie's been leaving up to half of his feed, instead favouring the hay. He isn't cold, has no physical signs of being unwell and it's not that he isn't eating, just that he seems more interested in the hay. He hasn't been ridden since new yr so I'm wondering, am I feeding him too much or should I be concerned about something else?

He had his teeth done in October, doesn't drop feed and is a healthy weight, if slightly rounder than he should be.
 
my bossy alpha has dont the same once or twice lately..more noticable when they get a new bale of haylage. I reckon he just gets in there and stuffs his face with haylage and isnt that hungry ?
 
They usually haven't finished the hay from the morning when I feed at night, then I find it's all gone by morning. Maybe they just don't need so much hard feed then. I just get paranoid about hunger whilst the grass is so wet (Alfie's a miserable git when he's hungry and his teeth come out).
 
Mine always prefers hay, and doesn't eat the grass much, bit since the snow thawed she is liking the grass again, maybe it is just a case of getting bored and you could try adding perhaps mint cordial, but I wouldn't worry if he is eating overall.
 
My mare will sometimes leave some of her tea, I leave it in with her and she usually eats it during the night, but not always. She regularly leaves a fair bit of hay too, though mostly she noms the lot. I wouldn't worry as long as he's got an appetite :)
 
Thanks :) I feel better now. I've been waiting with them whilst they eat anyway as I could do without the lammy shetland gorging on his leftovers, so at least I know what exactly he's had.
 
Mine started to leave some of theirs recently but I realised that I had been gradually without really thinking upping the feed with the bad weather and if I am honest the feeds were probably too big
 
Same for me, They were all on half a scoop of each twice daily then I upped to a whole scoop. I've reduced the chaff but not the sugarbeet so I guess I should feed them less, esp as they're not in work atm!
 
Hmm, good point actually I have increased mine by a lot since the really cold spell as she was not holding weight but having piles of hay, she only has fibre stuff too but should probably reduce it by about half now!
 
Mine stopped eating his hard feed too. He only gets a couple of small scoops of happy hoof to put his supplements in but he always used to look forward to it and gobble it all down.

For about the last week he will eat about half then go to eating his haylage. I was worried at first but he seems fine otherwise.

No idea why he's doing it?????
 
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