Soaking hay for fatties!

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 May 2009
Messages
6,102
Location
My own planet
Visit site
Okay so have been doing loads and loads of reading ref fat ponies.... and yep loads of places suggest soaking of hay for 12 hours.... so have managed 10 hours soak today and a rinse.... does this mean i can "give more" hay ? or should i keep to the same amount? ie restricted rations.. tbh i have soaked 2 sections all day, and given him 2 sections of 20 min soaked hay.... he usually gets 3 good sections but has probably ended up with slightly more today- BUT he hates the "long soaked" and has gone for the hay net with the 20 min stuff in! rather than the floor 10 hour soaked stuff.

Hope you understand - advice please
 
Can you not mix them, or is he not touching the 12hr soaked?

I don't think you should be giving him more hay, it kind of defeats the object.
Are you double netting to slow him down too?
 
Reason for soaking is he is becoming very very very stressed by being hungry - he has gone from being a sweetheart to being a very nasty piece of work - and tbh 3 sections for a 17hh and he is a very big built horse (well we all say that lol) 6 till 6 seams a little mean. Nope he wont touch the long soaked stuff at all! - so i suppose it makes me feel a little bit better if i get to yard tomorrow and he has stuff left. I am double netting - i did buy one of the tiny 25mm holed nets but the poor thing rubbed his nose red raw on it- he has just about recovered. It was this post i made that made me think if i soaked the hay for the extended period that i could possbily feed more - bit like us munching on lettuce if you know what i mean!
 
Bloody hell, I didn't realise he was so big, I always assume the smaller ones to be the fatties.

Mine is a grumpy cow without a constant supply of hay. When she is in, she is fed little and often, so she is trickle fed as such.

Any chance the staff (assuming there are some) can give him small nets throughout the day?

Is he on box rest? Sorry, I've missed the story behind him.

Are you concerned about lami, or you just don't want him too fat?
 
If you have soaked it for 12 hours then you should be fine to feed it ad lib.

My boy always turns his nose up when I start soaking his hay, but keep at it and eventually they realise its that or nothing. The Welsh cob now polishes off nearly all he gets given (greedy pig)!
 
Can you soak it for about 5/6 hours? I find there is a point where the hay goes from smelling sweet to being brown and rank!! The longer you can soak it for, the less calories it will contain, so effectively the more you can feed to maintain the weight.....

I hate having to starve horses to keep weight off them! My fatty girls are out on a bare paddock and having a section of hay a day each, plus what they eat when they come in and are tied up! It seems really mean, but they obviously manage to find plenty to eat going by the amount of poo in the field every day!! (& they look well!!).....I would love to treat them to a huge pile of hay to munch through!!!
 
Quirky - he has just had 10 days in due to standing on a stone and really badly bruising his foot - he was in loads and loads of work before that and i was just keeping him steady at 560kgs - (but tbh i let him come out of winter a little too well if you know what i mean) and he is upto 603kgs according to my weight tape - it does seam to be all belly though BUT the grass - whilst very short - is so lush it is untrue - this is the worst i have ever know the grass - even the poor doers at my yard at FAT ! the warm days, the rain the sun and then the occasional 3 degree night have all made the grass like eating sugar.

I am terified of him getting lami - a horse of that size would be lost - and i love him to bits - note to anyone reading - post me in mid December and say "cut him down now" - i never ever want to have a day full of worry the way i do at the mo. He goes out at 7.32am - the latest i can to get to work and is in by 4.25pm - the earliest i can get him in by. Over the weekend i will only have him out for 2 hours in the morn and 2 hours in the afternoon and will do a good hours hack.

good doers who would have one!
 
Did you know you can have a blood test that can assess their risk to laminitis, I believe it is like a glucose test for us.

Although it won't give you license to feed copious amounts, it can put your mind at rest (or otherwise).

I had mine tested prior to inter joint steroid treatment as she is on the weightier side. Fortunately, it came back as low risk, so I am maintaining her weight with limited haylage and lots of walking (no trot as yet).
I don't know how much the test cost as it's buried within my rather humungous bill :(.
 
I know you have to take weight tapes with a pinch of salt, but unless your horse is a true lightweight I don't think 603kgs sounds overweight
 
Can you clip him?

That helps them to lose weight, and as I don't show mine I am clipper happy in the summer - just done my third all out clip this month, more than I do in the winter! I put a very light weigh rug on at night only for a few days, then once the coat has grown a few millimetres I whip the rug off (unless it's bitterly cold!) and it really helps keep my fatties quite trim, and I can give them a bit more to eat so they aren't quite so desperate and unhappy at my starvation rations. Worth a try?
 
Thanks for the suggestions folks

A) did not know you could get a lami test - so will ask vet when he is out next week to see my other box rest babe !
B) he has such a thin coat- he may as well be clipped - he has not had a rug on since end of April - no matter how cold or wet it has been... may have to consider clipping
C) i think the more i read on here the more paranoid i get - in the past i woud have said he was a good doer - now i think he is on the critical list for lami ! - and i am such a stess head at times
D) whilst 603kgs may not sound a lot - his belly is pretty big - but sometimes i look at him and he looks fine - other times i look at him and think - ruddy hell you fat pigglet - but lots of the horses on my yard look like tucked up whippets on a good day - but even my tiny tb - has a bit of a belly at the min and he never ever puts weight on !
 
It is not the size of his belly that you should be worrying about - you need to condition score his neck, ribs and hindquarters. If you can't feel his ribs easily, if his neck is cresty and if there is a gutter down his hindquarters then he is overweight. Belly size can go up and down daily according to how mcuh fibre they have been eating and is not a true indicator of condition. Soaking hay is not always foolsafe either - if hay is high sugar to start, then prolonged soaking may not be enough to make hay lami safe. Get hay analysed to see high sugar it is if you are concerned about overweight or risk of laminitis.
 
Ribs are their - not easy to feel but not too difficult - no gutter in back- neck bit larger than i would like but not huge - he just looks like a potato on matchsticks! I have read a lot about hay anyalisis and soaking which is why i have come on here again to ask more questions. My issue is we are currently buying in small batches of hay to keep us going until the main crop is done - so i would end up getting hay done most weeks - we are limited to buying x number of bales per week to stop folks hoarding it !. Where would you send hay to? how long does it take to get analised? any idea of cost etc.

thanks again for everyones help

GW
 
I feel your pain, yep I have the same problem but i now have a regime they are stripped grazed throughout the day and at night they have hay that has been soaked for 12 hours ( I have a dry lot area, so not stabled) but I dont give it till about 9pm at night, as you say it would be polished off in a few hours. I also did a lot reading on soaked hay and you can expect the sugar to be reduced by 30%.They probably get about 3 large slices each.
Good luck.. its all trial and error. I also at the beginning of spring elec stripped one side of the field, very long and hilly but not wide so they had to walk alot, I am just resting that now hence the new system but it worked really well.
You will find your way, just have to be flexible and try different things and once you find it enjoy the peace of mind Yay!
 
His weight don't sound to bad for his height.
Iv got horses which can be very fat if allowed. What I do is stable by day with soaked hay over night and their amount off topspec lite. Resisted grazing when out or muzzled if fat
 
Sounds like he is just a little bit overweight, but not obese, from your description. When you get a consistent supply of hay you can contact Dodson & Horrell and get it analysed - they will do this for about a tenner I think. Is he back out now? Have you tried a muzzle if there is a lot of grass in the field? Or can you strip graze or use a track system (probably difficult if you are at livery).
 
Soak hay for 24hrs, changing the water after 12 and double net your hay so the holes are really small.
You can then feed a larger net.
Otherwise feed smaller nets but more often, that way they aren't going for long periods without food which can cause other problems.
You could try Dengie Good Doer or Spillers Happy Hoof which are high in fibre but low in sugar and calories. They have vits and mins added and loads of fibre which will keep there tummys happy.
Try a muzzle in the field or bring them in during the day and out at night. The sugar levels in the grass are lower at night.
Obviously regular exercise is needed and if you haven't got time to ride or lunge, do you have access to a horse walker?
If you can try and find a weigh bridge it get an accurate weight of your horse as weigh tapes depending on the time of day they are used and the position you put them in give different readings.
Most of the feed companies have free advice helplines that can recommend a feeding regime for the work your horses are doing.
To be honest your horse doesn't sound overweight but you know your horse and if you think he's a bit porky then shedding a few pounds won't hurt but don't compare them to the hat racks on your yard as every horse is different and carry their weight differently.
 
ring around hay suppliers and ask for some 'pony' hay. Most will sell it off cheap if they have any. It's of very little nutritional value, and I used to pay about £1.50 a bale, soak it for a couple of hours (sometimes it was a tad dusty) and then feed ad lib.
'Pony hay' simply means 'old' hay. Just check it's not mouldy, though most is absolutely fine.

whereabouts in the country are you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top