To soak or not to soak??

My mare is laminitic prone and I soak her her for 12 hours in order to take all the sugar out. I have read on here recently that soaking for 30minutes is enough but I still soak for 12 hours.
 
I would soak (and do), it takes out some of the sugars which can only be a good thing. I soak for 30 mins and then rinse. My mare won't eat it if it is soaked overnight - I believe it can become a little bitter tasting is soaked for a long time?
 
Has any one done any tests for sugar in hay thats soaked for different lenths of time because there is such a conflict between soaking times, i soak for 1 hour in a stream that carries the sugars etc away with it. Lestynlad i would soak your hay for the time being, then gradualy add the dry hay.
 
There have been studies on soaking time and carbohydrate removal. Up to 24 hours, the longer you soak the more you will remove, beyond 24 hours it makes no more difference. 12 hours will remove the majority, and usually ties in nicely with when horses are being fed so I tend to recommend this.

Soaking for 30 minutes is great for dust removal for horses with dust issues, but isn't going to have any appreciable effect on carbohydrate removal.

Just in case anyone wasn't aware, feeding a good quality balancer (Spillers Ultimate Balancer, Baileys Lo-Cal Balancer are 2 examples) is important when soaking hay, as the process of soaking will also remove some essential vitamins and minerals.
 
I soak my mares for 12 hours, if it's soaked for longer then she turns her nose up at it. I also feed Bailey Lo-Cal with a small handful of Hi Fi Lite to slow her down.
 
I have always soaked hay when needed but I am sure I read recently a vet saying to soak much more than 30 mins was bad, something about encouraging mold spores ?????

I may well have dreamed it though :D
 
soulfull said:
I have always soaked hay when needed but I am sure I read recently a vet saying to soak much more than 30 mins was bad, something about encouraging mold spores ?????

I may well have dreamed it though :D
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There was a thread on this forum - which I think has been pulled.

There are lot of old wives tales and myths about hay soaking and sadly even some horse care professionals subscribe to them, rather than checking the science.

If just trying to damp dust and mould spores then 30 mins is fine.

But sugar removal works by osmosis. To be effective this needs plenty of clean water and plenty of time. Warmer water can speed up the process, but can also make the hay go a bit squidgy.

There are natural yeasts on just about everything - including hay. During the soaking process these yeasts spring into action and ferment the sugar. It's not that dissimilar to making beer.

This can make the water in which the hay is soaking quite vinegary. So when hay has been soaked for any length of time it is reasonably important to wash off the vinegary soaking water. Not everyone does it, but some horses have quite sensitive stomachs and for these it is important.

Dispose of all soaking water, do not reuse or let the horse drink it

I flush soaking buckets daily and scrub with salt once per week just to keep them nice and fresh.
 
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