Soaked hay

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Lucky788

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Struggling to get my horse to eat hay soaked for longer than an hour, any tips?
Do you rinse off the hay after soaking? I don’t want to keep throwing hay away. TIA
 
How long are you soaking for? if its warm you won't need to do it for hours and hours. And I always rinse really well-I read once that the effluent that comes off is akin to sewage.
 
my friend uses a wheelie bin, soaks for 12 hours roughly and then tips the bin to drain it (for good doer ponies and lami horse) at first her horse was not impressed, but she soon got hungry enough. she puts it in nets or a bit tub so it doesn't get trampled. but she soon started to clear the wet hay when she realised it was that or nothing!
I would only soak a day worth at a time in warm weather or it does seem to get a bit gross
 
I soaked over night last night so say for 12hrs but didn’t rinse it off before feeding, I’m limited to how long I can soak it for it’s either an hour or overnight...pippixox perhaps I need to do a bit more tough love so he knows it’s that or nothing!

Current routine is out on bare patch over night then in during the day, weight is steadily coming down but think soaking the hay could be a big help, but not to my bank balance if I just chuck it away.
 
An hour is better than nothing. Can you add a couple of kettles of boiling water to the water you soak it in, and stan the tub in the sun? Warm water has been shown to leach the sugars out more quickly.
 
MotherOfChickens said:
How long are you soaking for? if its warm you won't need to do it for hours and hours. And I always rinse really well-I read once that the effluent that comes off is akin to sewage.
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My horse loves the effluent. She would rather drink somebody's waste hay water than sparkling clean water.
 
9tails said:
My horse loves the effluent. She would rather drink somebody's waste hay water than sparkling clean water.
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tbh I'd not let my horse drink it-cant see that something that's so bad for the environment would be much good for my horse's guts.

OP rinse it until the water runs clear. I do think some types of hay are less palatable than others when soaked as well-some of the last hay I got was a bit of a mixed bag and the ponies were leaving some-they are not known for being fussy lol.
 
When my pony had lami, i would soak one haynet overnight and one through the day. As someone else noted, defo rinse thoroughly with fresh water to get rid of the gross hay water. Your horse might be fussy at first but it should eventually begin to eat it and get used to it.
 
my rescue pony has had lami this year for the first time....i'm weighing his hay and soak it for 24 hours and then thoroughly rinse it. the colour of the water is dark brown.... so definetly very sugary and bad for him.... he then gets his hay triple netted so it takes him a long time to eat it. if you're throwing it away, you're feeding too much.... and they'll soon eat it when they realise there isnt an alternative!
 
9tails said:
My horse loves the effluent. She would rather drink somebody's waste hay water than sparkling clean water.
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Please don't let your horse drink the waste water, the following extract was taken from research done by Myerscough college: research found that waste water from soaking hay is highly polluted, with an excessively high pollution (BOD) - up to 6 times greater than that found in the waste water from steaming hay. The research found that the BOD of waste water from soaking hay could be as high as 7.97 mg/litre, a level considered to be highly polluted and similar to levels in rivers upstream of a sewage outflow, not a good situation at all.
 
QuantockHills said:
my rescue pony has had lami this year for the first time....i'm weighing his hay and soak it for 24 hours and then thoroughly rinse it. the colour of the water is dark brown.... so definetly very sugary and bad for him.... he then gets his hay triple netted so it takes him a long time to eat it. if you're throwing it away, you're feeding too much.... and they'll soon eat it when they realise there isnt an alternative!
Click to expand...

He hadn’t eaten any after being in all day, it wasn’t because he’d left any. I will try soaking then rinsing and see if that makes a difference just don’t want to waste hay as in short supply where we are. It’s wolfed down dry but nose turned up by soaked :(
 
Diva won’t eat soaked hay. She was on it this week due to a low grade lami bout but she barely ate a thing for 4 days and I was chucking it away. I was soaking it for 10-12 hours. When I was getting down in the evening or the morning, the soaked hay hanging up smelt absolutely beyond vile. She’s marginally better with it if it’s been soaked for just a few hours.
 
I’m guessing it’s purely weight rather than dust your soaking for? I’d cut the soaking time down. Pretty sure studies more recently have shown that the old idea of soaking for 12 hours is no longer recommended? My own vet told me 12 hours but not a hope any of my horses will touch hay soaked that long!
Look on the laminitis website. I believe they have up to date more knowledgable advice than me!!
 
Have you tried feeding from the floor so he can find the bits he likes while he’s getting used to it? If not a small holed net will reduce his intake considerably. If using a small holed net I always give a teeny normal holed one as well so they don’t get too frustrated.
 
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