Rye grass hay ? pro's & cons of feeding please

[amc]

I've been offered some Rye grass hay at £3 a bale, very big bales too, it's dust free & smells lovely but as hay is going at £3.50 for fair to good & £4 for good hay I'm wondering if I'm missing something about this deal ? I fed it years ago when I hay TB's in "proper work" and found it fine then but now have a ID x TB who does a fair amount of work, ridden 5/6 days a week, hacking 4 times for 1-2 hours, schooling 30 mins on the other 2 days plus 30-45 mins hack, he's fine weight wise & is fed ad lib hay & haylage & a small breakfast & tea of short feed, I'll introduce new hay gradually but need to make a decision on buying 100 bales in the next week.......so any advice gratefully received, thanks Ann

Also in NL

 

[K27]

Ryegrass is lovely stuff and most horses seem to love it!- my 2 horses are on Ryegrass haylage and they look fab on it, and as a result need less hard feed. I wouldn't feed Ryegrass out of choice to a native type or horse that is a v good doer as it can be quite rich conditioning stuff, but sounds like yours has plenty of work etc. If its weighed out as well, that might help, so you know how much your horse is getting.
The only downside with Ryegrass hay is that it may need to be soaked to remove spores etc, but the price sounds ok for a bale, at £3 a bale, I wouldn't imagine there is anything wrong with it- it's just luckily for you the supplier doesn't sound greedy!!- one of my horses is on hay and we only pay £3 a bale.

Maybe try a couple of bales before you commit to a big order and see how you get on and if your horse likes it/eats it or prefers haylage!