It is hilarious - especially since this is what I left:
And I came back to a horse that looked like he had been eating donuts constantly!
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Wow!! What a difference.
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The MadBarn article was really good.
Regarding impaction colic, any idea how much additional risk that adds feeding straw? I guess, is it worth the risk adding some to hay?
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Weâre doing a combination of hay and straw with the ones who are getting it. And they are getting hay that has been soaked to get rid of the sugar. So added water but less of the bad sugar content might well cut down on any incidents of colic. Also, because they donât totally chow down on the straw like they do with hay, I think the likelihood of colic might be less because the intake will be slower and their guts will keep up? Weâre in the early stages of trying this out on the metabolic and chunky critters, but so far, so good.
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I have a small acreage. For my somewhat fatty mare, I put up a small track system about the size of double round pens (or maybe triple round pens).
I put 2 or 3 horses in there, get the lunge whip and move them around for about 10-20 minutes. They can walk, trot, and canter in there. Usually the dominant horse goes in the back to keep everyone moving forward. I stand in the middle and just encourage them to keep up the good work and usually one of the younger horses starts going and they all join in.
Itâs an easy way to keep them fit and exercise multiple horses at one time.
I took the electric fence down today because we are heading into hot weather season and they still have access to the larger paddock paradise track so they donât technically need the smaller track. Plus itâs in full sun so it will be for night grazing this summer. But it definitely worked well and was a bit safer than my round pen which can get slick in the corners.
I donât understand why people think a horse needs hay 24/7 especially if they have a tendency to get fat. I have horses that donât have hay in front of them at all times because I donât want a barn full of metabolic horses. I have had a few fat Fjords come in over the years and immediately cut their hay consumption and gave them only a handful of ration balancer. They were fine. I am seeing a lot of horses out there that are metabolic at a young age, I feel bad for them because of the issues it causes like laminitis.
There I said it out loud and I am telling you I have never had a horse founder in my barn and none have any other problem because they donât have hay in front of them all day. This is based on over 25 yrs of horse care and an old vet who guided me in this philosophy. My old horse live well into their late 20âs and are still in light work.
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Itâs not that they need to stuff themselves, itâs that itâs been proven that after 4 hours of zero forage in their stomachs, they are at risk for developing ulcers. So finding ways of keeping some forage in their stomachs available is really important. Iâd rather prevent ulcers than treat them.
Since the horse that sponsored this post is already somewhat neurotic with self-mutilation tendencies, Iâd really rather not deal with ulcers on top of his already quirky personality. Good lord, thatâs ALL I need LOL
My horse wasnât a fatty before this started. He was a skinny from a breed known for itâs skinnies that TURNED into a fatty. Itâs really fun managing a horse as they go from young horse rangey skinny "stuff it with feed to keep it from being a BCS 3 into middle aged puffball almost overnight.
But to your main point - I think that horsekeeping has evolved a long way from where it was when I first started with horses 35 years ago. Hays have changed. Grains have changed. Environments have changed. Back then a horse bucked we just strapped it down and hit it with the stick to keep it from bucking. If it tried to bite when girthing, we just dodged or let it hit our elbows. Now we check it for ulcers or pain.
Horses used to work very hard, and we had such a thing as serviceably sound. Now they work much less hard, feeds are so much better, and we vet the heck out of them.
I think thereâs a balance to be found. Ways of trying hard to mimic the way horses evolved with the realities of modern horsekeeping practices combined with tradition.
Thereâs always something new out there to add to the repertoire and spark potential changes - one of the things I love about COTH is that you can ask a question and we have so much expertise here, and people who are from a variety of backgrounds that will do things like link studies or are on the bleeding edge of vet & equine care. Now Iâm waxing eloquent, but itâs why I continue to ask questions even though Iâve been doing this forever 
Loads of good stuff to challenge what I know from years of experience.
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thatâs the thingâŠnone of mine developed ulcers from this practice. I see a lot of people use muzzles on them when they are out on grass, isnât that withholding food?
anywayâŠfood for thought LOL
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How do you know that they didnât have ulcers?
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They can still trickle feed, actually, even with a muzzle. I wasnât sure about using one with slow feed bags as I personally only have dry lots which is why I asked the question. A muzzle is probably the closest to ânaturalâ grazing in the wild - constant food but they have to work hard for it.
Thatâs great that itâs your experience. The science says otherwise, but I would posit that Fjords might have adapted to conditions with sparser hay. I donât have them so I canât test that theory.
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seriously? How do you know they did have ulcers?
Regarding straw, many horses eat straw and are quite ok with it. I found it to be more common in Europe and also would feed mine a mix as needed. Thereâs some nice straw out there.
I have PREâs so they can have metabolic tendencies. My last one actually ate quite a bit, but he was in regular work, so that helped. Out of work, it mightâve been more of a struggle.
Current PRE is still young and growing (3 years old) so itâs hard to say how easy of a keeper he is. At the moment he just gets a balancer, vit e oil, and Aloe. He typically has hay or grass available at all times, and some of the hay is netted (roundbale in field, for example). Itâll be interesting to see how it all goes as he ages.
Exercise can help quite a bit, IME.
Iâm fine with horses not having hay in front of them for a very short period, but Iâd prefer them to always have access to forage. Even if itâs through a muzzle or very slow feeding haynet(s).
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Yes, seriously. You said that none of yours developed ulcers. Did you know that because you had them scoped? Or was it the conclusion you came to based off of behavior and appearance?
How did I know that they did have ulcers? Not sure why youâre asking that, because I didnât say that they did. The only way Iâd know, would be by scoping, personally.
Edit: I wasnât being snarky or anything, it was just a question out of curiosity.
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My fatty eats hay just fine with a muzzle on, and she eats grass as well, itâs just at a greatly reduced rate, which keeps her svelte. I donât want her to do without entirely, but she really needs to work for it and have it trickle in. Even a slow feed net with tiny holes slowed her down nearly imperceptibly, but a GG muzzle works very well.
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We switched to the 1" hay net and MAN can my horse still eat quickly. I am impressed by his prehensile lips. This is why I have no zip ties left on the farm, he dismantles things so easily.
Iâve watched him on the camera and heâs done very quickly at night (and then he spends his time staring out the window). Iâm out of town this week so Iâm watching from afar, but I think weâre going to have to switch to something like straw when we return. Iâve noticed a return of some of his boredom and frustration self-mutilation behaviors (he bites at his chest and chases his tail).
I wish I could leave him out, as that would be a better option (we have dry lots only) but I think the other two, who are skinnies, would cause too many issues. Plus, he and the other gelding who hasnât quite exploded like him but now has a lovely pot belly are the herd leaders who go in first and come out first so it will agitate the others. Maybe reconfiguring the paddocks and separating them is what Iâm going to have to do then they might not care as much.
We did start our workout program so hopefully that helps too!
I have put hay in a hay net (normal size holes) then put that into a savy feeder and that certainly worked to slow things down. I have friends that have done this with a portagrazer also.
Might be helpful for those equids that donât tolerate/need a break from their muzzles.
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Itâs a good idea - Iâll try that when I get home.
I was going to ask the same question but you beat me to it @CanteringCarrot. An absence of data does not mean anything definitive. While my fjord gets by with weighing hay bags and an auto feeder, there are times where heâs going 5ish hours without eating. I do worry about ulcers with him, but I have to limit him. While he shows zero obvious signs, he is also pretty stoic so there is no way I would say with any degree of confidence he does or doesnât unless I had him scoped.
I love watching them eat!! Their lips remind me how dexterous an elephants trunk is!
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There are a variety of horses where I board, and Iâd love to scope all of them and see what the results are (not gonna happen and Iâm not going to actually do this!). Itâd just be very interesting. Iâve seen a shiny, happy, in good weight (not a hard keeper) horse have grade 3 ulcers on a scope. They were just a touch girthy, and owner thought she was being âextraâ about it, but it was a good thing that the horse was scoped. Iâve also seen a horse that shouldâve been the poster child for ulcers not have any/scope clean. So I donât think itâs always so straight forward based off of what we see on the outside.
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