Too much haylage??

M

Marigold43

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 December 2013
Messages
58
Visit site
My mare was looking a little underweight, nothing serious but I thought she needed to put on just a bit extra. She's just been wormed and her worming programme is all up to date. Anyway I've probably doubled what I was originally giving her and boy, her behaviour is now awful!!!! I rode her today for the first time in 2 weeks - was off as she had a pulled muscle which has been treated. I lunged her beforehand and she threw a few bucks but nothing major. Well, riding her was a whole other story!!!! She was awful!!! Bucking pretty much every time I asked for an upward transistion. Her left rein is her problem one due to her sore left hind leg but she was even a madam on her right rein, although not nearly as bad as the left!!!! This is very out of character for her. She is normally very easy and calm! She's 5 years old and 3/4 bred Trotter. Teeth were done a few months ago and feet seem ok (she's barefoot) My feeling is that she's fizzy from me upping her haylage but she's never had a problem
With haylage before, even when I moved her from hay to haylage! Can't tell you what type of haylage it is - just some big large wrapped bales that the yard have and it seems to come from
Various places. So will I just reduce the amount I give her and see what happens??? I can then maybe look
at giving her a cool mix to increase her top line instead of the extra haylage? Does that seem the best option? Also if it is the haylage, how long before she'll come "down" off it???? 😂😂😂
 
Has she been turned out every day.............
Its a bit much to expect to jump on after two weeks to be honest, even with a bit of lungeing.
As to the fact that she has been given twice what she had before, to my mind she might have be standing for hours with nothing to eat, is this the case........ Not surprised she was underweight if getting half what she needs!
If the haylage is making her too hot just soak it for 4 to 12 hours to remove sugars and check she is getting plenty of turnout, and no sugars from licks or nuts.
 
Last edited:
She's just had an equine massage therapist out to her and some issues were found that were duly worked on. This behaviour has coincided with increase in food. She was very lively and fresh when being led into the indoor arena as well. I don't scold her for this behaviour as nwe'd to rule out food as a cause or discomfort before seeing if she's just being a diva!!!!!
 
I'll be out on her again tomorrow and as the weather improves, hope to get more turn out for her. Unfortunately I don't have access to all year round turn out. There's an outdoor arena that I turn her out in periodically. She wasn't in any way majorly underweight - I just thought she could do with a little extra on her - she's very well looked after and I'd be crushed if I thought I was doing wrong by her....,
 
If the yard can't offer field turnout then I would move, you can't expect a horse to stand in a tiny stable every day of the year, its ridicuous, I will say no more.
 
So, just to check..........
This horse has had very little turnout over the winter and has not been ridden for 2 weeks,
She has had her haylage ration doubled because she was underweight,
She has a sore hind leg and bucks when asked for an upward transition,
She is to be ridden again tomorrow.

BUT she is very well looked after...........

I think I must have read this wrong.
 
No, you read that all perfectly right! Unfortunately I do not have the perfect situation for my horse in terms of winter turn out but there it is! She wasn't ridden for two weeks as was waiting on the equine massage therapist to make it over to me to see my mare! She's not emaciated, I just felt she was a little under weight! I was advised by the massage therapist to walk her in hand yesterday and then to lightly ride her today, which I did! I was just looking to see if infact, haylage, could cause change in behaviour. You are entitled to your comments, of which are duly noted, however, this is not the kind of help I was looking for or need!
 
Having done some more research, I think I'll reduce the haylage and maybe top her up with a cool mix. She'll be out in the paddocks soon so the little bit of weight I'd like to see on her will soon be put on. Thank you to those who took the time to reply and provide advice - much appreciated.
 
my mare can only tolerate a small amount of haylage and gets pretty unmanageable if she is solely on it. I give her mainly soaked hay and a small net of haylage for breakfast.....if you are not working her I would be careful about increasing her feed unless it is something like speedibeet or fast fibre....check on the sugars etc of the coolmix and maybe rethink whether she really needs extra weight as spring should be here properly soon and the grass will provide plenty of extra for her..can she not have hay rather than haylage?
 
Lightly riding a horse does not mean lungeing or cantering. It means walking in straight lines and large circles and maybe a tiny amount of trotting. I think you did too much and the muscle person will not have cured all residual soreness in one session time will cure that. So although your horse sounds fresh I do not think you can rule out pain either. Swapping extra haylage for cool mix is unlikely to change anything, if you prefer to increase weight with hard feed I recommend high fibre cubes instead.
 
Light work was probably miss use of the term by me then. I followed the therapists instructions to the letter. She advised I could lunge, trot and canter (in large circles). No jumping or pole work. I walked her in hand the day after her session as per advice and rode her the day after that, as per advice. I've booked a follow up session at the end of the month for another course of treatment.
 
Haylage can make them go a bit crazy. I introduced my horses to it a year ago and one of them went nutty - she forgot how to walk and would gallop everywhere in the paddock. Luckily it didn't take her long to get used to it and level out. I think the feed changes you mentioned would be a good idea. Just check the cool feed for sugars and some of them have a lot of sugars to make them palatable.

Don't rule out pain either. Muscle problems can take a long time to repair as the muscle needs to heal and strengthen. I fell into the same trap as you after one of my horses had a muscle injury. After treatment and a month recovery period I thought she was good to go. We started back into work slowly but when we progressed to canter I noticed she was struggling with the transitions. Checked her over and alas we were almost back to square one. I think it's great that you have followed advice to the dot, but it might be worth in her case bringing her on more slowly. Every horse is individual and she might just take longer to recover. It would be a good idea to talk about that at the follow up check.

I hope some of this has been helpful!

PS - everyone, lets keep negative comments to ourselves and only answer threads where we will be of help :) Even though the living arrangement isn't totally ideal, this is a well loved horse with an owner that is doing what she can to make her happier
 
Dear Marigold

What ever you do you must keep feeding high levels of forage,be this long chop hay/haylage or a short chop hay replacer or the best of all turnout on good grass.

The digestive system is key to the wellbeing of the horse as it is designed to digest fibre fact.

If you do not have any hay in your hay nets in the morning you are not feeding the forage levels your horse needs fact.

A cool mix is not the answer to your horses problems but stable management is somthing I would think about.
 
Oh thank you so very much for your advice and kind words. My horse is very well cared for and if lack of all year turnout is my biggest crime, then sadly, guilty as charged. She's now on rest because I think the main problem is pain. I've continued with the haylage as I am hoping she will even out on this. I have a chiropractor now coming out to her next week and a saddle fitter to assess my saddle. I'm just going to spend the next few weeks lunging her and will use a Pessoa type aid as this will be kinder to her and encourage her to engage her back end and ultimately build muscle in that area. Thank you again for taking the time to reply and for your support ��
 
Rest is not something horses with many pain issues need, just the opposite.
Unless your vet has diagnosed and confirmed that rest is going to help, I would not consider it to be a good thing. If it is in pain it may need drugs.
The best thing for most horses is turnout all year round, that is why most people insist on it.
A competition yard which is training horses will turn them out for a few hours every day, or have them on the walker as well as riding them for an hour every day.
Horses are not designed to stand in every day, and they are trickle feeders, they will eat for 16 out of 24 hours if kept in a more natural environment. But they will be browsing regularly.
There is another post on here where OP keeps her horse stabled all the time, and can't understand why it is unmanageable. Aparently she can't afford to do anything for it other than walk it in hand over a few poles once a day. Horses are expensive and often need a lot of specialised care. This is well known by anyone who has had one. If you can't provide the care a particular horse needs, then you have to give it to someone who can.

Twenty minutes lunging in a pessoa is not a cure for anything.
 
Last edited:
I think it is likely to be a combination of a number of things:

1. too much food and too little work
2. minimal turnout
3. possibly pain related - either due to pain or the removal of pain
4. being a 'teenager' (I've often found that my four years olds are angelic but start to push the boundaries when they get to 5)
5. spring arriving

Even one of my slightly bonkers horses does not get worse on extra haylage rations so it unlikely to be that in isolation. It depends how much weight your horse dropped (horses re designed to drop a bit of weight in winter and then put it back on over the summer).
 
Many years ago when my horse was younger and active I changed from regular hay to haylage (due dust in the hay)and he became very excited. I was told to cut it back and give just one fourth of bale each day I had been giving as much haylage as he had been having hay and this was too rich(he was living out all the time) he then calmed down to his normal behavior.
 
I'd move her on to hay, and if you must supplement with hard feed I'd use fibre cubes of some sort. I wouldn't rush to do that, though; the grass and the turnout will probably do all that's necessary.
 
Marigold43 said:
Oh thank you so very much for your advice and kind words. My horse is very well cared for and if lack of all year turnout is my biggest crime, then sadly, guilty as charged. She's now on rest because I think the main problem is pain. I've continued with the haylage as I am hoping she will even out on this. I have a chiropractor now coming out to her next week and a saddle fitter to assess my saddle. I'm just going to spend the next few weeks lunging her and will use a Pessoa type aid as this will be kinder to her and encourage her to engage her back end and ultimately build muscle in that area. Thank you again for taking the time to reply and for your support ��
Click to expand...

I would get the vet to assess where and if the horse has pain , saddle fitter is a good idea but no chiropractor can diagnose what's wrong with your horse and if one seeks to do so they are breaking the law .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top