Okay guys so today's post is going to be a little bit different from normal instead of writing about what I've done for the day I am looking for some advice and opinions.
When magic moved from the old yard to the new yard he swapped from being on hay to haylage for the first few weeks he was staying in while all the others were out and was getting to feeds a day as well as two medium sized Haynets. Magic then started going out all day so I cut out his feed in the morning and decided that he didn't really need it as you could see he was starting to put lots of weight on. So for the last two weeks he has been getting one hard feed in the evening like all the yard owners horses get at the same time as her horses. Then he's been getting haylage, but at the minute he's going through two and sometimes three Haynets in the night, and I don't know if this is normal, he doesn't look particularly over weight or anything like that. When I first moved him we had assumed that it was because of the fact that he'd been on hay before that wasn't the world's best quality and now he had moved to haylage which was much richer, so the yard owners opinion was that he was hungry so he was just filling himself up, but he's still doing it. When I went a way for three days she said he put loads okf weight on because he was comfort eating sort of thing then his weight leveled out as he started to see me again. But I'm not sure if this is normal. I don't know whether to get different Haynets that have even smaller holes, at the moment he only has small Haynets with medium sized holes. So in really am not sure what to be doing. I don't want him to be getting fat but not really sure whether it is that he is genuinely hungry or whether he's just eating for the sake of eating. Anyway guys I'll leave it with you and hope that someone can give me some advice.
Until next time
Amber and Magic
When magic moved from the old yard to the new yard he swapped from being on hay to haylage for the first few weeks he was staying in while all the others were out and was getting to feeds a day as well as two medium sized Haynets. Magic then started going out all day so I cut out his feed in the morning and decided that he didn't really need it as you could see he was starting to put lots of weight on. So for the last two weeks he has been getting one hard feed in the evening like all the yard owners horses get at the same time as her horses. Then he's been getting haylage, but at the minute he's going through two and sometimes three Haynets in the night, and I don't know if this is normal, he doesn't look particularly over weight or anything like that. When I first moved him we had assumed that it was because of the fact that he'd been on hay before that wasn't the world's best quality and now he had moved to haylage which was much richer, so the yard owners opinion was that he was hungry so he was just filling himself up, but he's still doing it. When I went a way for three days she said he put loads okf weight on because he was comfort eating sort of thing then his weight leveled out as he started to see me again. But I'm not sure if this is normal. I don't know whether to get different Haynets that have even smaller holes, at the moment he only has small Haynets with medium sized holes. So in really am not sure what to be doing. I don't want him to be getting fat but not really sure whether it is that he is genuinely hungry or whether he's just eating for the sake of eating. Anyway guys I'll leave it with you and hope that someone can give me some advice.
Until next time
Amber and Magic
You could try a haynet with smaller holes, but if he is being stabled then he could just be eating for the sake of eating and because it gives him something to do.
ReplyDeleteHorses are meant to be eating almost 24/7! That's totally normal and healthy. The only reason they get fat is because they can eat hay faster than they can grass like they would in the wild. So you could definitely try the smaller holes to slow him down. However if he's not fat I wouldn't worry about it. He's growing and needs plenty to eat, as long as it's roughage and not hard feed. It's the hard feed that can cause growth issues. I don't really know the difference between hay and haylage, but if it's just roughage and not sugary or something he should be fine. Chrome went through a lot of spells of getting a bit chubby and then getting thin when he started growing again. That's normal during growth spurts. I would definitely try a haynet with smaller holes before I would start restricting his roughage intake. They need something to eat at all times because of the way their digestion works. If they are left with an empty stomach they start creating too much acid and can get ulcers. It can also lead to bad habits like wood chewing and wind sucking from boredom. I hope this helps!
ReplyDeletethat did really help, I've kept filling his hay nets how i had been if anything i've been filling them a little bit more and so far he seem so to be eating it much happier. so i think that's what I will stick with doing from now on :) and hope that it works. if that doesn't then i'm going to go and buy hay nets with smaller holes in them :)
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