Would u soak ur haylage?

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Orson Cart

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hi chaps

Just looking for a bit of guidance/advice here.

I am new to being an actual horse owner and my first venture into this wonderful world is a mini shetland for my daughter :roll eyes:

She (the horse) is coming in at night at the moment, due to the routines of the other 2 horses at our yard. I know that , as an attempt to reduce lami, she should be on soaked hay but our YO and their family have a horrible allergy to hay so we are using haylage instead

I am concerned about the levels of sugar in haylage - should I be soaking this? ANd if so, how does one go about soaking haylage? Just dump a hay nets worth in a bucket for a few hours and then hang it up? Serve it dried or wet?

ALso - how concerned would you chaps be about locking stifles on a stabled shettie? Hopefully within the next few days they will be out 24/7 but I have read/heard so much about the dangers of stabling minis due to locking stifles that I am rather concerned - although her stable is big enough for her to trot around in!

Thanks for any answers you may be able to give - and a slice of choccie cheesecake for all those who made it to the end!

Ems
xxx
 
Firstly, hallo Ampthill. Used to live there years ago!

I think my betters - not my elders as I'm one of the old fogeys on here - will have wiser advice than such as I can give, as I have never had anything to do with a pony that small.....

However, one of my liveries kept her Dartmoor type here for some years. We only feed haylage as my horse has a serious allergy to any form of hay, soaked, steamed, whatever. Little 'Un had very small quantities of haylage, fed through a double small-mesh haynet, so it took her ages to eat it and kept her busy at the same time. She was absolutely fine on it until we had to change supplier, and the new farmer, making haylage for the first time, made it to his dairy cattle standard - far too rich and moist - and she went down with winter laminitis.

In the course of time she moved on, but I understand she is still fed haylage, unsoaked, and is quite OK on it.

When my cob mare was on yard rest with almost-laminitis and a skin disease to boot, this time last year, I used to feed her cow parsley, with the vet's blessing. We have tons of it growing along the brook in our field, and in the morning, for example, I'd give her about 1.5-2lb of haylage (she's a 15.3.MW) in a small-mesh net (you could try a Trickle Net)and about 5 whole branches (talking 4 feet high with 10-12 side shoots). That would keep her going until lunchtime. I'd repeat that 3 more times a day, ending with one at midnight (but I guess your pony is not kept at home?) She suffered no ill effects, lost quite a bit of weight, and really loved it - she'd stand there like a cow chewing the cud, and again, she really had to work at it. I was quite liberal with it, and if she looked too fed up she just got another stem or two.

Hope this might be some starter help, until your Sheltie goes out - and then I guess it will be muzzle time? Or restricted grazing? Little ponies can be very hard work.............
 
Personally I wouldn't soak haylage as it will turn it rancid quite quickly and it seems such a waste. What type of haylage are you feeding? High fibre haylage has been left longer before being cut and should have a lower sugar content or perhaps you could feed a hay replacer instead. ie low calorie chaff or fibre nuts split into several feeds if poss.
 
Because she is being stabled, I personally would soak the haylage for at least 12 hours (or maybe put it in to soak when you turn her out if this is easier) I would put her haylage in a small holed net and chuck it in a big tub trug and fill with water. I would maybe also think about double netting it once it is soaked (or before it makes no difference!!) I have a 10hh DHP x Shitland and I was recommended not to feed any less than 2kgs of soaked haylage per night (when we at old yard and they had to be stabled over night) Little natives can be such a worry sometimes!! :-)
 
I would personally try go for dry wrapped hay, rather than haylage for a laminitic..its basically very low moisture haylage.

Also, soaking haylage would pose a risk of re-heating or secondary fermentation which is not good at all and could seriously harm or kill what ever eats it..

hope you find an ideal solution that works for all

ETA - feed from a tricle net or or mini holed haylage net...or double net with 2 small holed nets
 
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I do soke haylage for around 12hrs or so, I have a pony pro to lami who is a retired v good doer so I won't risk giving him much haylage that wasn't soaked. It seems to stay fine for long enough for him to eat it without ill effect.

Quite a few other folk at my yard soak it as our grass is so good its difficult keeping weight off so when they are in at night it helps keeps guts going but reduced calories.

I guess you just have to keep an eye on your pony and do what seems right, but be very alert to the early signs of lami.
 
I personally wouldn't soak haylage - I have a very lami-prone semi retired pony, I'd like to feed him soaked hay but he can't have much of this at all as it really messes with his extremely sensitive tummy, so he has the Horsehage "High Fibre" haylage (Blue bag) instead. It's low sugar, molasses free and suitable for laminitics - this would be more suitable than the standard haylage which could be a bit much for a good doer/lami prone pony. (More info here: http://www.horsehage.co.uk/HH-HighFibre.html) To slow her down a bit overnight you could double net it too, this way you wouldn't have to give her huge amounts to keep her munching as it should last longer and keep her busy. Hope that helps x
 
Thanks chaps - that has been really helpful.

We're already on the high fibre haylage - so that's a tick in the right direction for me! phew! Going to get some smaller holed nets over the weekend for her to use, as we have a kinda grill thing that her haylage goes into at the moment.

She's only having half a slice of haylage a day, as we have loads of grass but I have also been putting wilted nettles and goose grass in for her every alternate night as someone said that was a good thing to do - do you chaps concur?

She is muzzled during the day whilst she's out - and will be muzzled 24/7 if she goes out all day and all night. Thankfully the grass is long and old, so at least the sugar content is fairly low and her muzzle stops her from eating it like billy-o!
She is also hacked, schooled or jumped for approx hour about every three days to help her keep her weight down. At the moment she is absolutely spot on in her weight.

I think - from what you chaps have very kindly said - that I seem to be on the right track here. This little 6 yr old, 7 hh mini has never had laminitis yet *touch wood* and I'm hoping to continue that trend!

Thanks ever so much for all your advice - this is such a brilliantly helpful forum.

Hope you all have amazing weekends
Ems (and Gilda)
xxxxxxxxx
 
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I would never soak haylage. As others have said it can be dangerous. Is it not possible to buy some small bale hay in. You wouldn't be using loads and would be so much better for the pony than haylage, and perfectly safe to soak it.
 
I guess you just have to keep an eye on your pony and do what seems right, but be very alert to the early signs of lami.
abs
 
ribbons said:
I would never soak haylage. As others have said it can be dangerous. Is it not possible to buy some small bale hay in. You wouldn't be using loads and would be so much better for the pony than haylage, and perfectly safe to soak it.
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Unfortunately not. The owners - who live right next to the yard - suffer from serious allergies to hay and it is one of the conditions of the yard that we do not use hay or straw at the yard. Which I am happy to work around as the yard and the owners are just fabulous and we have struck gold with where we are.

I think I will avoid soaking the haylage due to the dangers possibly involved. Glad I came on here to seek advice, as I had no clue myself! I will just keep her on it as it is and watch her weight and keep her exercise up whilst watching with hawk eyes for any early signs of lami. I swear to god I have read so much about lami in the last 3 weeks of owning this horse - it's about all I can think about! chuckle. :D

Who knew that horse ownership created so many neurocies! (sp?) :rolleyes::D;)
 
I have soaked haylage in the past. I used to soak it once for about an hour while I was at the yard then empty out water, fill tub again and leave soaking overnight. Rinse it really well before feeding and throw away anything the horse doesn't eat that day. I found that soaked haylage goes off/nasty really quickly.

It wouldn't be my preferred thing to soak but as I say, have done it.
 
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