poor quality hay

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Christinaevans

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Hi, new to this but here goes - I have a fined boned pony (thoroughbred x section B) and Im struggling to keep the weight on. She wont eat the hay supplied by our yard. she wolfs down her brekki and tea (chaff based feed, speedi-beet, garlic and codlivine) but point blank refuses to eat the hay (although cant blame her as its not very good) Am considering haylage/horshage and wondered if anyone had any experience with this on finely tuned delicate types. (have used on my big horses before no probs). Is it likely to turn her into an unmanageable pony or just keep the weight on?
 
You could try the horsehage blue high fibre (or equivalent) as it isn't so sugary as the normal sort so shouldn't hot her up. She may well be fine on the normal stuff anyway. My TB has this as he gets a bit silly on the regular sort.

I'd change to Alfalfa instead of chaff as it has alot more protein in it for weight gain. I keep my Sec D x TB on alfa A Oil and unmollassed sugarbeet and she looks fab and has plenty of energy. She has regular haylage as she coughs and isn't silly at all.

have you tried soaking the hay?
 
Hi Yes she has to have it either soaked or steamed as she coughs........but I have even tried it dry just to see. I did have her on Dengie Alpha Oil (I think) but it did blow her mind and turned her from a concentrated pony to a bucking spooking pony full of energy right in the middle of my daughters dressage test! Its really hard because I need to keep the weight on without giving her too much DE. I did think I might ring round and try to find some good quality meadow hay or alternatively the high fibre horseshage from Marksway - it reads that it has low sugar and low protein and high fibre - its def worth a try.
 
My two are just not eating theres at all one on haylege the other on hay! I think they are coming in full enough and would prefer to eat the stuff outside! Not losing weight but i have tried everything else soaking putting it on floor filling it with treats etc...
 
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