Riding with a stomach full of haylage?

Gallop_Away

Gallop_Away

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Just looking for opinions. Basically my horses have grazed their summer paddock down to the bone. The yard rule is nothing in at night until after 1st of October unless for health reasons.
So we put a bail of haylage in the field on sunday so they would have something to graze on and it has all but been devoured by our two horses.
Obviously thats a lot of haylage in a short space of time and I'm now a bit worried about riding them with their stomachs full of haylage. My mare in particular seems to have a rather round full belly this morning.
Thoughts?
 
That's going to be a lot of sugar all at one time, id pop them on the lunge and see how they go! Are you able to put it into hay nets at all?
 
I wouldn't go hooleying around the county on them, but a light schooling session should be okay. Also, round bale/heston/small bale? That would be a factor too. If the haylage is made correctly, there should be less sugar in it, but what is more likely an issue is the sudden change from 'nothing' to a different feedstuff with different levels of ph, protein etc. hence the gas.

Or if you are that worried, don't ride them until they settle down. A couple of days is not going to be a disaster.
 
odd rule about not being able to stable them.out of interest do you still have to pay for the stable you arent allowed too use? could you not just bring in for an hour before you ride?
 
We didnt think they would eat it so quickly to be honest.
No we only pay for turn out over the summer month jewel.
Im thinking of just going for a gentle hack as I know walking is good for a windy tummy.
 
Gallop_Away said:
Just looking for opinions. Basically my horses have grazed their summer paddock down to the bone. The yard rule is nothing in at night until after 1st of October unless for health reasons.
So we put a bail of haylage in the field on sunday so they would have something to graze on and it has all but been devoured by our two horses.
Obviously thats a lot of haylage in a short space of time and I'm now a bit worried about riding them with their stomachs full of haylage. My mare in particular seems to have a rather round full belly this morning.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Try looking into those bale nets. We put them round the haylage bales last winter and it really slowed them down and reduced the waste on the ground considerably.

As too riding I'd avoid galloping about the countryside but horses are evolved to take flight on a full stomach with no problems. It's not like they could turn round and ask the lion to give them an hour to digest their food before chasing them.
 
Yep it was a big round bale Id say theres about 1/4 left. They have ad lib haylage in the winter and dont eat nearly as fast so we assumed it would be the same with this one
 
A horse on the Steppes will really be browsing 16/24, rather than gobbling up a bale of haylage, so really, common sense dictates: a good two hours before fast work, but walking will be fine.
 
They don't look starved the greedy little turds :D lol thank you everyone. Ill just go for a gentle plod around the farm tonight to see if it helps settle things down and count down the days till the 1st x
 
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