Soaked hay in very hot weather

Chianti

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Do people still feed soaked hay in the field in very hot weather? Pony is on a track livery with two other fatties. Hay is soaked in ground nets and fed around the track. Owner and I are both concerned at it sitting out in the heat while waiting to be eaten. Hay is only soaked for 1-2 hours and is well washed with clean water before its put out.
 
Soaked hay heats up from within very quickly in hot weather.

I'd spread it out loose rather than feeding it packed in nets during a hot spell.

Yes. That's what I was thinking. The problem then though is that they eat it much faster! Three little hoovers speed around the track.
 
I feed mine wet in nets only in the evenings where they are hung in the shade and they get eaten straight away, during the day if out they get dry hay spread on the floor or in a net.
 
This is the worst thing about hot weather.
For me spreading it or even putting in a pile causes problems because it dries out so much faster and that makes my horses chest so bad :(
 
When Rigs had soaked hay, I would make sure he was fed 4 or 5 times a day. The hay was gone before it spoiled, even when in a trickle net.

He is now on Horsehage High Fibre, still safe and no issues with soaking. It is more costly but TBH so much less faff, less water, less time...
 
When Rigs had soaked hay, I would make sure he was fed 4 or 5 times a day. The hay was gone before it spoiled, even when in a trickle net.

He is now on Horsehage High Fibre, still safe and no issues with soaking. It is more costly but TBH so much less faff, less water, less time...
I’m very tempted to give that a try just while it’s baking next week.
 
I have a fatty and a thinny with a cough so at the least they need wet hay. At the moment their morning nets are hosed in a barrow until they are submerged and thoroughly wet, then the fatty has his in the (small-holded) net and the thinny has his loose in the barrow in the yard where he won't be disturbed. For the sake of the fatty, all the night hay is soaked and rinsed when I pull it out at dusk, and spread right round the track in tiny piles - so it's cooler and the small piles means it doesn't tend to heat up. I leave a decent distance between piles and because they tend to take a mouthful ot two and move on it does provide some movement and takes them a while to finish everything up.
 
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