Soaking Hay

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mickey

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My horse is getting increasingly fat - He is in a paddock that has, and has always had, little grass.

He is 15.3hh and I feed him 1/2 scp Hi-Fi lite, plus 1 handful pasture mix, twice a day. He is worked in the school for about 30 mins, 3 times a week.

I do like him to have a lot of hay overnight (he is in between 4pm and 8am). He has about 4 good sections. I have decided to soak his hay, as even the reduced hard feed and moving from haylage to hay does not seem to be having a great impact.

I am soaking it for 24hrs. Can anyone tell me whether this is the recommended time for leaching out nutrients sufficiently? I always thought that this was the time recommended, but maybe I am wrong?
 
Unless there is a need for hard feed, cut it completely.

I soak for twelve hours, which has worked for the fatties we've had :). Little Lad lost a lot of weight on ad lib hay whilst on three months box rest (laminitis).

I think you need to up the exercise if you can. Is it possible to lunge or long rein if riding isn't an option?
 
Not sure on the best amount of time to leave it.

Is there any reason why he needs the hard feed?? Mine do more work than that and don't get fed as they simply don't need it.
 
ditto removing the hard feed, you need him to be taking in less calories then he is using so he uses up fat reserves.

with hay for my fatty i soak for 12hrs, but try & change the water after 6hrs & then make sure i rinse the hay thoroughly before feeding to wash off the sugar water. The reason i change the water is because once there is an equal amount of sugar in the water & hay no more sugar will be drawn out. By changing the water half way through you can get even more sugar out :)
 
I soak because the current batch of hay we are on is quite dusty and gives Merlin a cough.
But I usually soak the hay overnight and take it out in the morning so it is ready to eat in the evening :) - I was always told to let it dry the same amount you soak it :)
 
He is in very light work so I would be tempted to cut out the hard feed.

If he needs to lose weight you could certainly up his exercise. I would also be tempted to reduce the amount of hay you are feeding. It would be worth putting the hay in a small holed haynet which is then put within another small holed haynet so that it takes longer to eat.
 
Yes 12 hours soaking time is fine.
But I really feel you should provide your horse with a balancer such as topspec lite, to provide all the goodness your horse needs. You mentioned he's on little grass, taking all nutrients out off his hay, you need to provide his daily intake off goodness
 
He shouldn't need hard feed for the amount of work he's doing.

If I were you I'd soak ad lib hay for him to whilst he's in, 12hours (I find) is more than sufficient for weight loss. Since he is poor grassing I would be inclined to maybe get a balancer just to ensure he's getting all he really needs...this could be seaweed (basic balancer) pink powder (or similar) or a pellet balancer (the more pricey option)
 
This is from the August 12 issue of H&H
when talking about feeding a good-does on boz rest ... "you should soak it (hay) for at least 16 hourse before feeding to increase the leaching of water-soluble carbohydrate"

Hope that helps.

As for hard feed my horse (who is a hand bigger than yours), who is in much more harder work than yours is fed less than yours, I'd cut it down or completley remove it and feed a balancer to provide vits and minerals as tbc has already said :)
 
Thanks everyone for your really helpful replies.

The problems with increasing the exercise are;

1/ The hacking is proving totally unworkable for me - To hack you have to cross a 60mph road with heavy fast traffic. It is really hard to cross the rd coming back due to vegetation. I don't feel relaxed out because I worry about him ending up on the rd. He then, understandably, gets hot. I am reviewing the situation and may relocate to an area with better hacking.

2/ He is seeing a physio - he has had a bone spavin for a long time (Since he was 4, and he is now 14). Recently (last 2x visits which are six weeks apart), she has said that his back is not good and I need to be careful with work. He did have a sacroiliac strain a few yrs back So I am eager to be careful.

So, it comes down to feed really. I can't get any paddock with less grass in. There really is a thin layer only, all yr round........and about an inch high right now.

The reason he is given hard feed is that the barn horses (in boxes) all get fed together. I guess I could just make it literally a handful of hi-fi lite in each feed? Nothing else except perhaps a powder-based feed balancer.

I have a bit of a thing about feeding ad-lib hay when a horse is stabled. I don't like the thought of him stood there for hrs with no forage to eat. He is in for at least 16/hrs out of 24, after all. The hay is this yr's cut as that is all we can get hold of. Not ideal - Green. But I would have thought that this would be less rich than very moist large-baled haylage?

I like the idea of using 2x haynets - one over the top of the other. would people really recommend leaving him hayless for long periods of time given that there is little grass too?

Thanks all.
 
It is really difficlut getting the balance right for very good doers, I own a native, who I'm ashamed to say has put too much weight on this summer, despite being on a track system which had very little grass on it.
She had a mild laminitis attack about a month ago which has spurred me into hardening my heart and being very strict with diet.

She currently is out during the day on a restricted strip which has hardly any grass at all, but you've got to remember that even the grass on the bare bits is continually growing, I keep checking how long the grass is on the other side of the fence to remind me what she is actually eating!

To keep healthy horses will need a total of 1.5% of their ideal bodyweight in feed daily; as her grazing is so restricted I tend to just feed that amount in well soaked hay and some high fibre and hi fi lite, which amounts to a surprisingly small amount when you weigh it all out. I am pretty certain that she will have finished all her hay before the night is out, but until I get her weight back down I won't feed ad lib. The risks from obesity far outweigh her being short of forage for a small amount of time. Once her weight is normal then she can cope with a bit more hay.
 
The thing is, that despite only ever being in light work, and being in the same paddocks (same condition) for 5 yrs, he has never put weight on like this. It's something I'm not really used to dealing with, as when I first had him he was the other way around!
 
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