Weighing Haynets,

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FlorenceBassey

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I've always fed haylege ad lib but now potts is on a diet, can someone reccomend how much to give a 14.3hh 18 yo connie x in light work, stabled at night and in small paddock with limited grass during the day please.
 
Sorry to be picky (esp' after the discussion on boots!) but do you know the energy content of your haylage or the hay you will be feeding?

A seed hay will be higher in energy than a meadow hay, haylage has the same kind of differences depending on the type of grass its made from and the manufacture process.

At a guess I would feed 1-2 slices (can't remember the weights am guessing it would be around 5kg been a long time since I weighed I am ashamed to say) of a small bale of hay at night then 1 slice in the morning. This is assuming that you are also not feeding any hard feed. the evening may need to be cut back to 1 slice as well depending on what the weight loss is for.

Why have you put Potts on a diet if you were feeding ad lib before? If Laminitus I have found that feeding barley straw and carrots helps enormously to keep weight down and still maintain a working gut.
 
carrots to a horse trying to loose weight and avoid laminitis?!

avoid the carrots and oat straw is better than barley (unless you can "chop" the barley straw)
 
My 15hh Connie gets 10lbs of hay during the day and about 14lbs at night but he's not on a diet!

Do people think it's odd to weigh haynets? I always weight mine (unless feeding ad lib) as I'm amazed at the difference there can be in weight of haynets that I think feel the same!
 
I know - I was equally sceptical when I was told about it but it worked for me. The shetties have lost weight their hooves are in better condition their coats are gleaming and they are in general much happier. Aparently carrots have a very low sugar content much lower than apples etc and help flush away nasties from the blood etc.

I was told by a few that barley straw was better than wheat or oat? I asked around before I started as I was still very sceptical about feeding straw rather than hay. Different strokes for different folks.

To FB again - if what you have been feeding agrees with your horse then why not simply reduce it?
 
This section of Baileys webiste is quite helpful...
http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/feedingexplained/calculator.htm
You can adjust the feed ration according to weight to be lost/gained and as others have probably said I'd start by cutting the hard feed & upping the exercise (if possible). Alternatively you can soak the hay/haylage to leech out some of the nutrients and also put it in 2 haynets to slow your horse down a bit.
Good luck - I have a good doer so know what a nightmare they can be!
 
the only reason i can possibly think of why the carrots work to loose weight is because they go through them so quickly that they dont have time to absorb the nutrients...

saying that we dont feed apples anyway, and only feed carrots during in the winter to keep weight on them (bought by the trailer full, so works out cheap)

our preference for oat is because it has shorter stalks and is more palatable
 
I haven't had the problem of the carrots going through them fast at all! They are mainly water so I can understand that they may make some loose. I was told that they have nutrients but little or no sugars/ carbs and that is why they are good. They can eat them get what they need and keep the gut working with none of the fat inducing qualities... I think I may do a little research into carrots and just see what is actually in them.

Will look into the oat straw, they have done really well on the barley so I am a bit loath to change something that is working, but its a good idea.
 
Carrots are full of sugar. My mare has had laminitis and apples and carrots are strictly off the menu - vets instrutions.

I have started to weigh my haynets this year. I used to give ad-lib hay but since the lami attack her hay is weighed and soaked for 12 hours and she has lost a considerable amount of weight.
 
Although I have had no problems with carrots myself I think this is interesting in terms of total sugars in comparison to treats on the market...
http://www.sugarstacks.com/carrots.htm
Having said that our little old laminitic will only have the very occasional one - swede chopped up into fingers would perhaps be better? Apparent;y carrots have the highest sugar content of all veg after beets!
 
Sarah1 said:
Although I have had no problems with carrots myself I think this is interesting in terms of total sugars in comparison to treats on the market...
http://www.sugarstacks.com/carrots.htm
Having said that our little old laminitic will only have the very occasional one - swede chopped up into fingers would perhaps be better? Apparent;y carrots have the highest sugar content of all veg after beets!
Click to expand...

I had no idea!

What ever I have been doing it has been working but thats not actually that many carrots to a twinke is it! I am very strict with grass mind...

Mine don't get "treats" any more, they are allowed the occasional sugar free polo and apple but thats it. Their treats are strokes! Perhaps I should look into swede and give that a go. May help them loose more or mix the two together to give them a better variety. Interesting.
 
Paddydou said:
I had no idea!

What ever I have been doing it has been working but thats not actually that many carrots to a twinke is it! I am very strict with grass mind...

Mine don't get "treats" any more, they are allowed the occasional sugar free polo and apple but thats it. Their treats are strokes! Perhaps I should look into swede and give that a go. May help them loose more or mix the two together to give them a better variety. Interesting.
Click to expand...

Crazy isn't it?! I knew they had a lot of sugar in them (well, more than you'd expect) but as you say when you see the equivalent next to a twinkie or a couple of oreos it's quite an eye opener!

My horse loves swede so at least I know that's something I can try tho I try not to overdo it with the swede in case it gives him a sore tum. He also loves bananas so I do have to be very strict!!!!!!! Actually he'd probably eat anything...:rolleyes:

I think as you say the best way is to not treat or tit-bit at all - my lad has those equibites to top up his vits & mins but they're fed from his bowl not from the hand.

As you say whatever you've been doing it's working so why fix something if it's not broken? I think these things are always handy to know, just in case! :)
 
Well thanks for that, he is on a diet because he came back from loan very over weight, when i saw light work he does 35 minutes a day either schooling hacking or lunging, but no competing, jumping etc there is no way i'm taking him off hard feed whilst he working
anyone that is in the same situation can you tell me what ur doing??
 
My boy that events did a little too well over winter and we have had a uphill struggle over since. He is in meduim work and turned out from 6.00am until 4pm in a small paddock with a little scrubby grass. At night he gets 8lb of soaked (1 hour max) hay and is clearly not hungry as he always leaves a little. He gets two feeds a day of Alfa A lite and staypower cubes. Around easter I halved the cubes and replaced them with a balancer as the weight problem was not shifting. He was still carrying more than I would like looking more like a WHP than an event pony. We then decided reasoned that the only thing we could think of was that he was leaving his hay and eating his bed (he has been on straw for years with no problems) so 3 weeks ago we changed him onto shavings. He is still leaving a little hay but has lost the real bloated look that he had.
So not sure if this is of any help to you really but the other thing I would possibly suggest is what I did with my fattie connie last year - who like your came back from loan the size of a house - on the way to the field every morning I would stop in the school and lunge him for 5 mins on each rein. He still worked as normal in the evening and didn't add much time to my morning routine but boy did it shift the flab!
 
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