Overweight horse

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littlen

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Will it do my horse alot of damage if he eats his straw bed?!

He is out with a grazing muzzle during the day as he is an impressive size at the moment and has low grade/borderline laminitus. He puts on weight by looking at grass nevermind eating it.

I bring him in with soaked hay but he seems to prefer his bed to anything else.
How much damage will it do to him, I know it obviously isnt good for him so is there anything i can do to stop him eating it.


Also, how long did it take your horses to get used to their muzzles, as he seems to stand there looking miserable and I have not seen him eat with it on, and im worried the lack of forage will be doing him more harm than good.
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Hmm. First of all yes, get him off the straw bedding, and ideally onto rubber with minimal shavings imo.

Grazing muzzle a disaster for our gelding, there are lots of debates on here about them, but again imo go with restricted turnout or starvation paddock. TBH can you not have him in during the day and out at night, it does make a difference.

Very best of luck with your horse.
 
I thought straw was ok for horses to eat?? I just didn't think it has all the qualities hay does. Could be wrong though.

I agree, I would change the bedding to shavings etc.
 
I think some do feed straw, but if I was trying to control the diet I wouldnt want ponio eating his bed.... I also think staw to be fed would be of higher quality than bedding!
 
Thanks.

There are a number of reasons he isnt on shavings. I was previously on shavings and switched back to straw. The main one being cost as I get straw free from YO and shavings are around £7 a bag here. He is a very messy horse and I don't have mats and would have to use alot of shavings to make his bed deep enough to be comfortable. Also my stable leaks and I found that the water soaks through to all of the shavings leaving him lying on a wet bed, and this does not happen with straw.

I thought about mats but have no idea where I would get them and due to personal circumstances dont have a couple of hundred to pull out for them im afraid.

I have tried other types of bedding including cardboard and easybed , but again found similar problems. Also YO is not keen on shavings etc due to disposal issues with it.

I would love to bring him in more often, or during the day, however he is a weaver and gets easily stressed in alone (im talking throwing himself off walls) and I dont want to cause him more problems such as ulcers etc. He is bad enough being stabled with others nevermind alone.
Starvation paddocks are not an option due to livery rules.
 
just reading your last post.....it it were me....I would move yard as YO doesn't have access to restricted paddock and won't allow you to use shavings, you are defeating the object by muzzleing him etc....he's in eating his bed!
Personally I would either look at going somewhere that does offer the grazing I needed for my horse and where you can use what bedding you wanted...pref not straw!
My geld was laminitic and I had him on straw for a short time....what an idiot i was....he would eat his bed and have nothing to lie on....arghhhh...lil buggers!!! lol
This is only my opinion and advice, we all do things differently but this is how I would go about it.
 
We have sprayed diluted Jeyes fluid onto a straw bed to discourage a horse on box rest from eating it before - don't know if you can try something like that? Though worth checking its safe just in case I have the wrong product mentioned there
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Re: rubber matting. I don't know much about it so don't know if this is good but this rubber matting isn't too bad price wise. You could just cover half the stable which (guessing the stable is 12x12??) would come to around 80. Or would that still be too much ?? (bearing in mind it would probably save you a fair bit on bedding
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Do you have an arena at the yard you could turn him out in ??
I'm not used to yards
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So why can't he be on restricted grazing ??
 
Thanks everyone.
I did think about moving yards a number of times, the problem is that he is a rescue horse and it has took him about a year to settle and feel safe here, and he has finally been accepted into the herd after months of being bullied in various groups and obviously I am worried about moving him somewhere where he will have to start again so to speak.

We have 3 paddocks which are rotated to stop field becoming boggy etc but paddocks are not overly long and muzzle is on to reduce his grass intake as he is a very good doer compared to all other horses in this field.

He never tried eating his bed until he started to be muzzled, so he must be hungry as he didnt eat straw previous to being muzzled and having grazing restricted.

I would definatley switch to shavings if it wasnt for the lack of matting. The stable is quite large and I did find shavings a nightmare when I was on them last, the mess and time it took to muck out was a nightmare especailly when working full time. I would look into other bedding however if anyone has other readily available reccomendations?!



Ginny- Thanks for this I will certainly look into these!! My stable is quite large although im not sure exact dimensions
 
I have known people spray Jeyes fluid on straw to discourage eating the bed aswell, altho don't know how successful it is.

It sounds as though you don't have many options to manage his weight by changing routines etc. so is there any scope to increase his exercise and burn off more calories that way?

My horse is also a good doer so I can sympathise with you in trying to keep the pounds off...... I am using restricted grazing and increased exercise sessions to try and keep her weight under control.....but its not easy with so much grass this year

Good luck with him
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We have sprayed diluted Jeyes fluid onto a straw bed to discourage a horse on box rest from eating it before - don't know if you can try something like that? Though worth checking its safe just in case I have the wrong product mentioned there
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Just what I was about to say, what about spraying his bed with something... Im sure tack shops do a sprayable version of cribox or similar..... Or can you muzzle him in his box aswell? Or get him a sugar free salt lick/ suspended swede or something to keep him occupied and not eating his bed?
 
You are well advised to get him off straw, a horse died at our yard last year after eating half its bed and suffering colic. It was too late for her by the time they got her to the vets.
 
I remember reading a post on this a while ago and recall a few people saying not to use Jeyes as its expensive and if the horse does still eat their bed probably not much good for them either. There was another alternative but can't remember exactly what it was-possibly something acidic though like lemon juice, or maybe pepper or chilli? Sorry thats not much help!

Does he totally ignore his hay and eat the straw instead? I bought my mare a 'wee pony' haynet recently because even with doubled up haynets, she still manages to finish them in an hour. This one has really tiny holes so takes her longer. I also have a problem with her not eating a thing with her muzzle on-she just stands there looking forlorn. I'm not sure what the answer is with this, except perseverance. I posted about it on stable yard to see if some horses never get on with them. Someone suggested giving her some hard food whilst wearing the muzzle, so you could try that.
 
WHW (ILPH) use straw for their horses who are over weight, with a meal at night. I put my Ardennes mare on straw mixed with hay for the first couple of weeks to help her lose weight without any adverse effects.
 
spray eucolyptus oil and vinger on the straw bed a little straw want him but you dont want him eating to much because of his weight and can cause a blockage!
 
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