What's worse, being out at night or being in but eating new hay?

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Morgan123

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My farmer's run out of last years' hay, so from now on my Welshie (who's previously been in at night to manage weight) has to be either out at night or in on very nice but nonetheless new hay (I think 2/3 weeks old). At the moment I'm happy with his weight, he's SLIGHTLY on the fat side but basically OK (can feel his ribs easily etc). The field he's in is massive with an average grass covering (as in, my old TB is slightly on the thin side, he is just about ok weight wise if I keep him in hard work and in at night).

Is it still better to have him in at night even if he has to be on new hay? Unfortunately I don't have a means of picking up any old hay locally as have no car at the moment and nobody else on the yard is really fussed. I'm probably worrying needlessly but not sure how sugary new hay is in comparison with grass???
 
Can you soak the new hay thoroughly to remove the sugars from it?

Or how about out in a grazing muzzle at night?


Or give it a go and if he starts to put weight on then you'll have to thing again

I would think 2/3 week old hay has quite a lot more richness than some made 12 months ago.
 
Keep him in during the day when the grass sugars are lower than at night . Then he can be in for a shorter time and you can substitute a meal of unmolassed chop and/or unmolassed beet pulp for the hay. I would not feed New hay, in theory it can ferment in their gut and cause a fatal colic.
 
Thank you. Unfortunately can't muzzle him or have him in in the day since our stables get really hot (also would mean he's in for fewer hours than overnight). I believe there is new research showing that soaking hay does not actually remove the calories though not sure of the link.... so still stuck!!
 
Have you thought about high fibre haylage even if just temporarily? My three good doers are on it and whilst I'm careful with their weight I don't struggle to keep it off them. As with all new feeds though, try and transition it over a few days.
 
The new hay shouldn't cause any problems for your horse however it will be much higher in nutrients than the old hay. Any way you could supplement some of the new hay with hifi or similar for a few weeks?
 
Hmm. I wasn't sure about this as he is super-greedy so anything resembling 'feed' (i.e. fed from a bucket) will just make him wolf it I think. Has anyone tried that with a greedy horse, and how do you slow them down and stop them thinking it's super excited that they have a massive feed?! Also, would you just feed normal chaff instead of hay, and how do you know how much???

Thank you!
 
it depends how dry the hay is. Once dry, the hay does not change sugar content (unless it's moldy or fermenting). http://www.safergrass.org/pdf/old_hay.pdf
I also find hard to believe that soaking does not reduce sugars. Just take a big tubtrug to soak a flake of hay overnight and look at the color and smell of the water, it's obvious that it contains sugar. If you prefer numbers, here are some: http://www.safergrass.org/pdf/SoakReport2.pdf
But, I am curious, why you can't simply use a muzzle to reduce grass intake?
 
Because he looks like he's going to die :-s. What can I say, he is a bit like a rescue horse really, terrified of everything. They used a muzzle in the home he didn't like. He will either rear or just stand in the corner of the field shaking all day (which will solve any obesity issues but make him miserable and unhandlable!).

I'll try and find the link to the new research about hay, I was surprised too.

Thank you for your help.
 
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