What to do dilemma?

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pottamus

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I have a native that is prone to weight gain and potential for laminitis so he is in at night and out during the day on a small summer paddock with not much grass other than nibbling bits. He has always been a bit coughy on his hay but this has got worse over time and I realise I need to change his environment some how.
Does anyone have this problem and any advice?
My thoughts are to turn him out 24/7 in his small paddock over the summer and autumn. He has access to a field stable and feed his hay from the ground (rather than current haynet situation). He has little grass so will be eating the hay too. I can't give him hayledge for obvious reasons and on vets advice, but I can't soak his hay either as I have no water or elec where he is kept and have to bring drinking water round in the car from my home in containers as it is. Will this help the situation do you think as I really don't want this to take hold but I also do not want him getting laminitis under any circumstances either!
Other than that, his field stable is cob web free and he is on mats with small dust extracted shavings.
 
difficult one. What is the reason for not feeding haylage? I feed an Lami pony second cut haylage it has similar values to hay and he has been fine on that.
 
I used to feed my old laminitic pony Marksway High Fibre Horsehage which is marketed as safe for laminitics because it is late-cut, when the sugar levels are lower.
 
Bit of a faff I know but can you invest in an extra dustbin and when you carry the water, fill the dustbin with hay, take it home, soak, empty water out, then take back next time you go up, feed the hay , refill bin with hay and restart the cycle?
 
Well my vet knows him really well and has advised against it because it would have more goodness in it than the year old hay I tend to feed. Also, I would not be able to feed adlib which he really needs for his own sanity and to be honest..I could not afford the amount he would eat of hayledge. Lot's of reasons but he had a twinge of laminitis last year and I am not risking him getting it again.
 
Another option then is to feed something like Hi Fi Lite as a hay replacer, but if cost is a problem for you then might not be ideal.
 
We manage a horse on our yard that has had laminitis by strip grazing with electric tape, letting the other horses eat the more lush stuff in the morning when the sugar content is higher then turning her out on the remainder with them. Maybe you could somehow give less hay but let him have a very small amount of new grass each day.
 
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