slow hay eating down?

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Thai

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My horse is a glut! she just eats all the time! At the moment i give her 2 chunks in a haylage net and then a few hours later i give her 3 in a haylage net in a haylage net! Shes in at night and out in the day and shes starting to kick the side of her stable in fustration for food. Dont know wheather i should get her one of those likits to hang in her stable or an elim-a-net or something to occupy her. Anyone have any ideas!!??
 
My boy is the same, he eats like nothing you have ever seen. While there is hay and straw in his stable, he will be eating. I honestly do not know when he sleeps! He also is in at night out during the day. As night he is getting a large haynet about 4pm, a top up at about 9. The haynet really is huge, and often double netted. Is yours on straw bedding?

Mine seems to have slowly realised that the hay has to last him all night and I am now finding a little bit left in the morning, which is good.
 
i have a wewlshie that pigs all his hay & then stands around looking hungary at people over the door but as a verey good doer i cant put more hay into him so i now have onne of those BIG trug buckets that i jam pack with his hay & then lace a haylage net to it makes him really work for it.
i have hole punched holes around the top of the bucket & once the net is over the top (doubled up only over the top bit) i thread a lace through & tie it up tightly.

works brilliantly & on the odd acasstion that he ha emptyed it its not to painfu when he throws it over the door :p
 
No she is stabled on shavings but im hoping to change her back to wood pellets in the hope she wont eat it!! She has a haynet about 4 and a top up at about 10. I was talking to horselyx people who said that having a horselyx in her stable may occupy her but i tried a little one first and she went at that no end too! They say that after a while the novelty wears off but somehow i dont think shell ever get tired eating it!!
 
I give my two girls who are good doers several things to occupy them. They have an elimanet with 2 slices of soaked hay, smaller holed net with mixture of small amount of hay and oat straw at opposite side of stable. They also have a snack ball with mug of high fibre nuts, feed with 2 scoops of hay/ oat straw chop, blood salts and couple of mugs of power and performance. They also have a salt lick and tub of horselyx. I sometimes also hand a swede up for them. I thought about using a muck bucket with haylage net in but was worried about them getting hoof stuck in it. My girls go out at 5.30am to 4pm on very good grazing so I know that they have plenty to much on then.
 
wow busy stable!! do the feed balls work? i was worried about them standing on it!! after a while, do they not lick the horselyx as much? Because i was thinking about getting a bigger horselyx to occupy her but i am worried she will get through about 1 a night!!
 
Haha - my girls are so spoilt:) I just stress about them being able to trickle feed but with less calories! Mine love kicking their snack balls around! They tend to use their horselyx lots during the first few days but then use it more economically! The medium tub lasts them all winter!
 
If it snows or ground freezes then I will also add a bucket of chopped hay/ oat straw as an extra - I have just got some from makers of Bliss. I used to give my mare a bucket of readigrass but it brought my daughter's mare out in lumps!
 
I bulk out my native's hay with oat straw and double net his fairly small holed hay- he would literally eat until he popped!

This, combined with a muzzle for turn out seems to be the mud most effective way of managing his weight and still ensuring he is trickle feeding :)
 
hi my horse is a glutton aswell have tried loads of things a haymizer haynet which basically like 2 haynets inside one another he pulled so hard at it trying to get hay out he gave himself an RSI
LIKIT LICKS HE JUST ATE IN ONE GO were there is a will there is a way i find that the cheapest and the simplist way to keep little piggies ocupied are apple in water buket floating around chase it around like apple bobbing they love it and a swede on a peice of string hours of fun hope this helps :p
 
Research is telling us now that insulin resistant horses suffer with hunger. It can come across as greed but the horse is genuinely starving.

Once they get onto a diet low sugar/starch but high in fibre and minerals, their symptoms and insatiable hunger are relieved.

This article sums it up nicely

http://www.viim.org/horse-cushings-insuline-resistance-metabolic-syndrome.php

Rather than filling the stable with molassed treats, I'd be more inclined to mix hay with oat straw and feed ad lib. Eventually a horse will self regulate.
 
Mine eats at superspeed too, I do find soaking the hay helps because 1.It takes calories out so i can give her more! 2. It seems a lot harder to pull out of the net. I put it in a haylage net but it is now mostly twine as she rips it to shreds trying to eat double-time.

I put a lick in for her in a lick holder with restrictor on top (although my rugs have to pay when she likes to smudge sugar goo all over them) She also has a feed ball which is fab- it is her favourite thing to play with! I put pony nuts in it and they last quite a while.

Also hide carrots in the bed and she digs them out- time consuing and low calorie. However she does eat her straw bed :( meaning to get her on shavingsbut never get round to it!

I also used to hang dried nettles up around the walls and shed find this fun to pick at- also appeared to take her a LOT longer to eat a few dried nettles hanging up than a whole hay net?? odd but there you go..

salt licks always in the stable... cant think of anything else at the moment. I think you can buy hay bags or something that cover the net up and have one hole at the front so they can only eat from one small area? will try and find a link.

here we are found something.. this is american though

http://www.tackwholesale.com/premium-nylon-with-bottom-mesh-p-8.html
http://www.tack-wholesale.com/Catalog_Pages/Hay_Bags.htm

'slow feeders'
http://www.busyhorse.com/
 
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I wouldn't waste your money on Elimanets. I've tried them and they didn't slow my pony down in the slightest. Double small hole nets do a much better job, although I'm currently using 4 one inside the other :rolleyes:
 
Aoibhin said:
i have a wewlshie that pigs all his hay & then stands around looking hungary at people over the door but as a verey good doer i cant put more hay into him so i now have onne of those BIG trug buckets that i jam pack with his hay & then lace a haylage net to it makes him really work for it.
i have hole punched holes around the top of the bucket & once the net is over the top (doubled up only over the top bit) i thread a lace through & tie it up tightly.

works brilliantly & on the odd acasstion that he ha emptyed it its not to painfu when he throws it over the door :p
Click to expand...

Aoibhin- Really interested in your way of feeding haylage. Do you just place the haynet flat over the top of the bucket then lace it to the top of the bucket? Also, do you just then place the bucket in a corner or fix it to something? Don't suppose you have a photo of your creation? it sounds like a really good idea!
 
My horse also will eat for england and never stop!

The first year I had him I listened to everyones 'advice' of ad-lib hay he will regulate himself... does he heck!! He came out of that winter fatter than when he had left the summer!! :eek: and i was getting through nearly a bale a night!!! Cost me a fortune as well.

Over the past couple of years I have finally found something that works for him.

He is a very good doer and so only has 2 sections of hay a night now in a double haynet to slow him down.
Also Fast fibre in his dinner - excellent stuff. Can't recommend it enough. He has half a jug (dry matter prior to soaking) of this in his dinner - it really bulks them up so they do not feel so hungry, really has saved me a fortune in hay!
Also a snak ball which he can kick around all night. One jug of economy pony nuts put in it.

The key is to fill them up with fibre. Not all these sugary lik-it toys. Yes it gives them something to do but doesn't stop them being hungry!

Good luck and hope you find something that works for your horse x
 
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