Feeding advice please!

Like everybody else, we are pretty short of grass as the big field has not grown after it's hay haircut and we've run out of last year's hay. I have to keep in all day because of the flies and of course the horses have to eat something while they're stabled. So I am starting sugar beet (that's a first for summer!) and going back to 2 meals a day. But as for roughage, I have started on this year's hay. I realise this is not normal practice just a month after cutting but I am taking the storkiest bales and they were pretty dry when we bought them in.

I am also going to give the mare a bale of straw to chew on. I can't give her more than a slice of new hay a day because of possible colic risks (and they'll be none left for the winter). She gets bored and up to mischief if she's got nothing to eat in the box and she's losing weight. I have checked this out on the internet and it is suggested that straw is okay to feed to horses as long as it's clean and fresh of course. Again - any experience out there of this?

Drought conditions are bringing on unusual feeding practices n'est pas?

Now the mare is a greedy pig and if she doesn't have anything to eat for hours as she scoffs the hay in one, she gets up to all sorts of mischief as she's bored. So I am going to put a b

old school advise was it was fine to feed straw as a low calorie substitute to prevent boredom & stable vices, & that as a bulk replacer sugar beet was ok but not great, however a TV prog i saw done by hodell & barrett feeds? said Sb was good as a replacer for hay in the older horse if it could take the higher sugar & did not have diabetic problems etc

there are some who claim it ( Sb or straw) increases the risk of some colic, but then so does having the gut empty too long between feeds?

the best straw is barley, then oat, the last 'straw' [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] (corny joke i know sorry) is wheat,
avoid any maize waste as it is still high sugar if you have a lammi or a fatty.

we are all going to have to either bust the bank or get inventive i think this year, good luck, bye [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Rona, you got cut short......what were you going to say? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Pen

I didn't get cut short actually - it was finger trouble - drrrr! Looks like Galila will have to put up with wheat straw. She's not impressed I'm afraid. They do say that colic is not a problem - as you say better something in the tummy than nothing for hours.

It's a nightmare isn't it? I don't normally ever use haynets as I much prefer them to eat off the ground as nature intended but one way to slow down her getting through it too quickly would be to use 2 haynets (haylage nets are even better as the holes are smaller), 1 inside the other, they have to put a bit more effort into getting it out then, just a thought.
Sugarbeet is much more of a colic risk if it goes through an empty system my vet always used to say. The other thing to watch out for if you're feeding straw is that it doesn't get lodged between the teeth and gums, it can do this! Had a poor lad come to me years ago with this problem, all had to pulled out with tweezers and then covered his gums in bonjela daily for a week [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] .

Thanks re the teeth, I'll watch out for that, although at the moment it looks as if Galila would rather starve than eat straw! Will take the advice about a haylage net inside a haylage net. Good idea.

I totally agree with using the two net system, and couldn't you mix a little hay in with the straw? that might be enough to keep her interested. I have known several people who like you lottie prefer to feed at ground level,feed dry hay inside haylage nets (with long ties fixed inside) on the floor. I did think that these "hay pillows" could be a safety risk, but infact they never seemed to cause a problem, and it seems quite popular with people who have horses on prolonged box rest or for competition horses that don't actually get turned out [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Pen

You could put a bit alfa a in with the sugar beet [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Yes sugar beet will go in with the hard feed (not on its own). Off now to see if we can track down some of last year's hay!

go for old hay, not easy to find, dodson and horell do fyber- gy it can be used as hay substitute at some level and they have a rep. in calvados.

Ok can relate to this issue! i have a very good doer, she will scoff and scoff and then she has nothing to do so takes to dismantaling her stable with her back legs, all rather boring really! So we give her a nut ball, fill it up with pony nuts treats apple and carrot and away she goes (though she does tend to mess up her bedroom, atleast its still standing) i dont know if they sell them in france but u could prob order one on web try TDS Saddlers based in fourmarks i know they sell them. readi grass a good subsitute for grass, can be fed wet or dry but put some in the bucket with it like a mineral or salt like then it will keep her busy for longer and all this encourages natural foraging behaiour, so less time to be naughty!

Hi,
I will probably be shouted down for suggesting this, but would it not be better
for you mare not to be shut in all day. I am sure if you asked her she would agree. I know flies are bad, but if you put on a fly mask and some "home made" fly spray she would be happier wandering around.
Mine live out 24/7 all year round, they do have the option of going into shelters, but 9 times out of 10, flies or no flies they choose to be out.

I too much prefer the horses and donkeys to make their choice between shelter and field , a particularly good dooer could have a grazing muzzle maybe ? plus when I ride I think I'd prefer to ride after they have had their stretch out and about naturally already than to hop aboard a bored and possibly stiff horse

Mine all live out too 24/7
with field stables. Rugs in the winter
and fly masks in the summer,a fly rug
on the pony that gets sweet itch
They are much calmer than when they are stabled
plus it's less work for us, less mucking out
and they stay clean in the winter as they're rugged up.
The rugs are disgusting though, I have to be
very sly at the launderette [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Well I too would agree to this but, I personally am not able to, I pay £500 pm, yes sterling, for my horse to be in part livery, and it is not always possible for her to be out during in the day and there certainly isnt any 24hr turnout. And then there is the issue, of if the horse is on box rest, and these things still relate. And some horses can be very, very sensitive to flys, so sometimes being stabled during the day is the only option. It may just be that it is taking her time to adjust to the change in routine?

Hi I sympathise.
I take it that you are living in the UK as you say you
pay £500 sterling. At the livery yards I worked in when in the UK, the charges were up to £700 for part livery, disgusting. It seems to be the culture in the UK to cram in as many horses as they can, so there isnt the room for the horses to go out, and
also the owners of the yard wont put up shelters or put hay in the fields because how would they work out who's going to pay for it!
A lot of people get caught in this trap. That is why I couldnt afford to keep a horse
in UK and had to wait to come to France to get my own first horse!

My god thats expensive ! more expensive than buying a field and shelter surely or am I so out of touch . I realise these yards must have facilities but thats serious outlay [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

You have obviously never lived in the South of england !!!

On top of the £700 they were expected to pay for worming/shoeing/vacs etc. Only
facility apart from an average stable, was a small turnout paddock and a rubbish
school that used to flood, and even then you had to book when you wanted to use it.

Nearly 10 years ago a friend bought a 10 acre field for £150,000

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morseamy wrote:

You have obviously never lived in the South of england !!!


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nor would I want to from the sounds of it [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

We moved from the New Forest because the land prices were extortionate. You could expect to spend upwards of £35-£40,000 per acre!!! We went to an auction 4 years ago hoping to have a chance of getting an 8 acre plot that was advertised for £80-£100k, sorted out the remortgage on the house and were prepared to go to £100k max, it went for............wait for it..........................£375,000 plus all the extra fees on top. After it was bought, for the 2 years that we were still in the UK, nothing ever grazed on and it was never cut for hay. Rumour had it that the person that bought it was hoping to get planning permission to build houses!! The fact was that you would have had serious problems even getting planning permission for a small block of stables but there you go, hey ho.