Winter feeding when stables over night

Interesting thread! I have a good doer permanently on a diet but who coughs at the slightest bit of hay (even soaked bizarrely enough). Anyway I bought a couple of pallets of timothy haylage from Devon Haylage which is advertised as 'low sugar'. Currently he gets one slice a day (this is about 5 - 6Kg). Problem is he guzzles it even in small holed nets. When he's stabled during the day that's not too bad as I can divide it up into 4 nets. Now that he's stabled at night though he gets one big net which he simply inhales, leaving him standing with no forage for approx 9 - 10 hours. Worrying - although the horse himself seems fine with it all!
 
OldieButGoodie said:
Interesting thread! I have a good doer permanently on a diet but who coughs at the slightest bit of hay (even soaked bizarrely enough). Anyway I bought a couple of pallets of timothy haylage from Devon Haylage which is advertised as 'low sugar'. Currently he gets one slice a day (this is about 5 - 6Kg). Problem is he guzzles it even in small holed nets. When he's stabled during the day that's not too bad as I can divide it up into 4 nets. Now that he's stabled at night though he gets one big net which he simply inhales, leaving him standing with no forage for approx 9 - 10 hours. Worrying - although the horse himself seems fine with it all!
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Which small holes nets are you using? Mine are 2cm holes but I believe you can get them even smaller.

My boy is on a permanent diet too. He has a teeny holed net from Martsnets. I give him a small normal net as well so he doesn’t get too frustrated. His is always gone by morning but I was pleased to see when I checked the CCTV that it’s lasting until around 5am.
 
Small holed nets never stopped one of mine. He just developed a technique to almost suck the hay out like spaghetti! He had buckets of oat straw chaff and his hay mixed in with normal straw.

I've bought one of these now and they are fantastic! They hold about 4kgs of hay and will last mine a good few hours. He will go to it in preference to his loose hay sometimes as well as he likes flinging it about. He doesnt have anywhere near the same level of greed as the last pony though and does seem to self regulate which helps massively!

Parallax-HAY-PLAY-blue.jpg
 
ooooo that's interesting I will have to check out the 2cm ones! I have a shires net with has 4 cm holes. I filled that with dry hay (about 4 sections) and a standard haynet with soaked hay (about 3 sections) he didn't touch it (I don't think) but when I fed him the wet hay by hand he ate it :S
He seemed to leave most of the wet and some of the dry which is surprising! again only 3 poos :( he gobbled the fresh section I put in this morning but I wonder if the sheer mass of hay he could see slowed him down as he knew he had loads ..... hmmmm a morning trip to the muck heep with a barrow full of uneaten wet hay :(

This boy! maybe he is slowing down on his poos cos he wants his mum to spend more of her money on hay rather than bedding this winter... to make light of it but it is stressing me out.... such a worrier!



meleeka said:
Which small holes nets are you using? Mine are 2cm holes but I believe you can get them even smaller.

My boy is on a permanent diet too. He has a teeny holed net from Martsnets. I give him a small normal net as well so he doesn’t get too frustrated. His is always gone by morning but I was pleased to see when I checked the CCTV that it’s lasting until around 5am.
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Horsekaren said:
again only 3 poos :(
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It takes around 48 hours for fibre to pass through from being eaten so I wouldn't expect what he ate last night to make any difference to what he pooed last night. So it's not going to make an immediate difference. You also just need to find out what is normal for him. Every horse is different.

Quite a clear article. I'm no expert and there may be better info someone can point you to.

http://www.hygain.com.au/horses-digestive-system/
 
meleeka said:
Which small holes nets are you using? Mine are 2cm holes but I believe you can get them even smaller.

My boy is on a permanent diet too. He has a teeny holed net from Martsnets. I give him a small normal net as well so he doesn’t get too frustrated. His is always gone by morning but I was pleased to see when I checked the CCTV that it’s lasting until around 5am.
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I use the Martsnets too - but my horse still manages to clear his nets pretty fast!
 
a section of hay? what is a section, its like how long is a piece of string? (or baler twine :D) My hay doesn't automatically fall into same size sections, same as a scoop of feed can be different sizes. I weigh my hay as fat cob comes out of the winter fatter than when he went in otherwise.
 
I hate seeing horses stood in with nothing to eat. Back when I was on a yard I would see people bring their horses in a 5pm, by 9pm they had no hay left so had to stand in with nothing to eat for 10-12 hours.

I give as much hay as they can eat. If they are fatties then they get a small hay net and also a big straw net.
 
Peter7917 said:
I hate seeing horses stood in with nothing to eat. Back when I was on a yard I would see people bring their horses in a 5pm, by 9pm they had no hay left so had to stand in with nothing to eat for 10-12 hours.

I give as much hay as they can eat. If they are fatties then they get a small hay net and also a big straw net.
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...Out of interest what type of straw do you feed please?
 
i would suggest that you weigh his hay as each small bale can be different so counting slices is not accurate, at the beginning of winter i weigh my hay till i get a feel for the weight and then i just check occasionally....i would try giving a specific amount of dry hay in 2 small holed nets at either end of the stable so you can monitor how much to give him and wouldnt give him hay in the morning unless he is staying in... once you have established how much to give him you can start wetting the hay by putting a couple of buckets pf water over it so he gets moisture but its not soaked. as long as he eats this you can start soaking if you feel he is gaining too much weight. some horses take a while to get used to soaked hay so by doing it this way he should slowly get used to it...good luck
 
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