What to do for the best?? Blinking horses!

[davisn]

Hi

I am in a bit of a pickle & would appreciate your advice.

My mare has put on a bit too much weight recently. A week ago I started bringing her in during the day & feeding her a slice or 2 of hay. This hay is good quality, but is very fine & quite short, but luckily I only bought a couple of bales whist waiting for my usual supplier.

She started coughing on this hay almost immediately, so I started soaking it, but it hasn't really made any difference. There is no discharge or anything, just a tickily cough. So I have got a grazing muzzle, which she wears during the day, off at night, & she is staying out.

Last year I fed her haylage as I didn't have any dry storage. She was fine on this, but certainly didn't drop any weight during the winter - she is such a good doer. The winter before we were still in a livery yard, feeding hay. She got a cough then, although was fine the year before on hay. This was a wet, green snot cough, which the vet treated with anti-biotics, which helped, but it didn't clear up completely until we moved up here.

So, what do I do? I have a few options:

i) I can feed the 'good' haylage I fed last year, but it won't help her weight & it's not always possible to work her as much as I would like as we live on a mountain by the coast & get really strong winds (you can't stand up straight) & a lot of rain.

ii) I have found some good hay, courser & longer than I have at the moment, but do I take the risk.

iii) I can get some dry haylage. It's wrapped, but was allowed to dry out too much really. Apparently it's off an 'old' field, ragwort & dust free, but not very rich with very little sugar in it.

Which would you go with?

Also, am I ok to continue/increase her work while she is still coughing or should I wait until it has cleared up? If it doesn't improve in a few days with her being out, or gets any worse I will obviously get the vet out. It's just so off putting & makes me feel guilty when working her & she coughs in trot or canter. Poor baby.

 

[soloequestrian]

I would feed the haylage but ration it a bit, especially if she is on rough grazing that she can still pick at over the winter. Also leave her out without a rug.

 

[kittykatcat]

feed the haylage, work out how much she should be getting based on 1.75% of her bw and feed in double or even triple layered haynets so she doesnt get bored when in. When out muzzle/strip graze or whatever to reduce grass intake, up exercise where you can and dont over rug!!

 

[davisn]

Thanks very much.

We have plenty of grass, hence the over weight problem, surprisingly as we have upland grazing, so she will be out throughout the winter weather permitting, certainly during the day if not at night.

She is still unrugged & this will last as long as possible.

I hate haynets, so feed out of trugs on the floor, but as they are at home I can space the feeding out quite well & do little & often. She isn't a piggy & doesn't eat too fast, she's just very good at converting it to fat! She actually eats less than the gelding, who is the same height. The only difference is she's full appaloosa whereas he is half appaloosa half quarter horse.