11/15/2024
*** THE IMPORTANCE OF AD LIB HAY ***
A client asked me today if I was putting hay out in my paddocks yet. Actually, my horses have ad lib hay/haylage out 24/7, 365! Of course if they are overweight, then they are restricted more, but even the overweight ones get some hay at lunchtime as soon as the grass stops growing. I absolutely don’t want horses with empty stomachs, and mine are out 7am-4pm. If there is no grass in the fields, or a very small amount, this means they could be without forage all day.
Concerns with horses being without forage all day (so if your paddocks are very muddy, or during the winter when the grass doesn’t grow) include:
- stomach ulcers
- colic
- fighting with herd mates
- bolting hard feed and choking
- boredom
I absolutely appreciate that many horses and ponies are overweight, but that doesn’t mean they should stand on bare paddocks all day. Longer than around 4 hours out on a bare paddock and ulcers can start to form.
I have found that most of my horses will take two days to eat a full haynet in their paddocks. They have their haynets tied up in their field shelters, so it’s easy to monitor intake. Again, I absolutely appreciate that haying up in fields is difficult at some livery yards; they may not want hay in their fields or some owners may not be willing to pay/wanting their horses to have hay. Again, I’m sharing what I do, which is in a fairly ideal world! My horses are nearly all kept individually (but can touch over fences, before any of the eccentrics start moaning).
Another important positive of ad lib hay/haylage in the fields all year round, is that I can pull a horse in from the field and start riding ten minutes later, without worrying about giving hay or a chaff feed (schooling/jumping on an empty stomach will predispose your horse to ulcers due to the fact horses produce gastric acid 24/7, unlike humans, who only secrete it when they eat).
My horses also always have haylage left in their stables every morning, bar Hattie the NF pony! Although even Hattie now often leaves the last bits in her small holed haynet, so that is doing the trick! Again, if your horse is a good weight, they should have hay left in their stables the next morning. Strangely, for those horses that like to pig out, giving them an enormous amount of hay seems to have the opposite effect, and they tend to slow their eating down.
If you have the luxury of being able to put ad-lib hay/haylage/soaked hay, or even a mix of hay and straw, out in the paddocks, then do it. Don’t forget that the grass stops growing in the winter, and has virtually no nutritional value. Obviously paddocks that have turned to deep mud will always require an alternative forage source.
For those who couldn’t care less about hay, here is a lovely photo I took of George this evening! ❤️
