xgemmax
Well-Known Member
Hi all, my horse has been showing signs of being a bit ulcery (sensitive round his tummy and chest and a bit of wind sucking and 'yawning' after he's had his dinner) after being at the vets for lameness investigation and having a steroid injection for arthritis in his stifle so vet has suggested I keep him out 24/7 and make sure he always has hay. Previous to this he was out at night in his paddock that doesn't have a lot of grass but enough to pick at and in in the day with soaked hay and some barley straw which he more or less finished before I got to the yard, usually had some straw left.
My question is that no matter how much soaked hay I give him, there's never any left when I go back down, he's having about 5 big wedges of hay at night and all gone by morning. So i have started giving him 3 wedges of hay and 2 of straw as I don't want him to put on any more weight with his arthritis (he's already on the tubby side!). He now is leaving about half a wedge of straw and still gobbling up all the hay, and when I come down he's just picking at bits of grass.
Does this sound ok? I'm constantly worried now that he's not got enough to eat but surely he would eat the rest of the straw if he was hungry!?
He is still a bit touchy but not half as bad and have also ordered him an acid soothe herbal supplement from equinatural so will see how he goes with this to help in case he has some ulcers and vet is going to scope next week if no improvement
Also how long to people soak their hay for? I have been soaking for 20/30 mins as this is what trimmer said but everyone at the yard is saying that it needs doing overnight or won't make a difference to his weight? I was doing this before but it was making him quite bloated looking and he seems to be doing ok on the 20/30 mins. Also have a suspicion he may be insulin resistant so going to get vet to test him for this if he has to be scoped. I understand the management for this though is a low sugar/starch diet and limit grass intake which I do already?
My question is that no matter how much soaked hay I give him, there's never any left when I go back down, he's having about 5 big wedges of hay at night and all gone by morning. So i have started giving him 3 wedges of hay and 2 of straw as I don't want him to put on any more weight with his arthritis (he's already on the tubby side!). He now is leaving about half a wedge of straw and still gobbling up all the hay, and when I come down he's just picking at bits of grass.
Does this sound ok? I'm constantly worried now that he's not got enough to eat but surely he would eat the rest of the straw if he was hungry!?
He is still a bit touchy but not half as bad and have also ordered him an acid soothe herbal supplement from equinatural so will see how he goes with this to help in case he has some ulcers and vet is going to scope next week if no improvement
Also how long to people soak their hay for? I have been soaking for 20/30 mins as this is what trimmer said but everyone at the yard is saying that it needs doing overnight or won't make a difference to his weight? I was doing this before but it was making him quite bloated looking and he seems to be doing ok on the 20/30 mins. Also have a suspicion he may be insulin resistant so going to get vet to test him for this if he has to be scoped. I understand the management for this though is a low sugar/starch diet and limit grass intake which I do already?