People who soak / steam hay

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Abbeygale

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If you soak or steam hay for your horse, I guess most of you will know how much your horse will eat over night.

If you do late night checks and your horse has eaten all their hay - what do you do? Do you start soaking / steaming more hay for them - or would you give them dry?

Just interested in what people do
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I soak hay for my dressage horse as he has a tendency to get fat so soaking removes all the fatening stuff. He gets a measured amount of hay so when it's gone it's gone!! My old horse has soaked hay as he coughs on dry. He will only eat 8lbs at most.
However, during the bad weather they would get unlimited as they were in a lot. I just topped up with dry.
 
On the rare occassions that she has finished it all & needs to be kept in, I give more dry hay as I steam mine. I usually quickly boil the kettle & pour it over whatever I've given her.

On Saturday I gave it dry & much to my regret she coughed up some mucous.
 
my mare has soaked hay for the same reason - so I wouldn't normally give her any more hay in the evening - although if she has eaten every scrap, and it is only 11pm, and she will be in until about 7am, then I would consider it.

the pony has steamed hay for coughing - and although in so many ways she is gutsy wotsit she only rarely stuffs hay down. If i have had to top up the pony's with dry she is usually ok re coughing if it is a one off - do you find similar? Or does your old horse cough as soon as he has had dry hay?
 
Ah - yes I guess that would be quicker. I have a wallpaper stripper and water butt - and I was thinking of the amount of time it takes to get the wall paper stripper filled up, heated up and then actually steaming!

Do you often have left over hay in the mornings? What do you do with left over steamed hay?

I have to say I much prefer dealing with left over steamed hay, than left over soaked hay - much less messy and stinky!!
 
He would cough pretty much straight away. In saying that though I couldn't soak in the bad weather as had no water on the yard. He was actually OK. The hay we have is superb but it won't normally stop him coughing.
 
They get half a bale each of well soaked hay at night, and once it's gone...that's it!! wouldn't give dry hay at all.
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that has to last from 5pm till 8am.
 
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