Grinding / Chopping Hay for the Older Horse

[Pastorfish]

This is probably way old and I don’t know if anyone will still be reading it, but…

Brian, the thhn is a way bad idea! I work at a power equipment store selling stihl products. Even a slight increase past approved string sizes (or length for that matter) can increase the load on the engine dramatically and burn it up very quickly. So I can’t even imagine what thhn would do to it.

You could try using an approved head with composite (plastic) blades, a metal grass blade, or a more durable string. Stihl makes an orange and grey line that’s supposed to be five times as wear resistant as their standard line, but is still rated for use in standard heads.

I was quite surprised when I watched the training video on this, so I figure it’s something most people are probably unaware of. Doesn’t seem like it could make that much difference, but apparently it does. Anyway, just a little technical input

David

[Rusty15]

A girl at my barn has a leaf shredder that has been working for her 28 year old mare so far.

[carman_liz]

@Pecos

Looking for ideas

Have you tried triple crowns chopped forage?! Everything at tractor supply my toothless wonder mare wouldnt touch (rip katie) however, the triple crown chopped grass and then when she went metabolic i switched to their safe starch chopped forage, she devoured. Like every bite. Inwould soak it in warm water and give it to her drained but leave the bucket of the soaking water and she would chug that too for extra hydration. Their chopped stuff is never stemmy or dusty. They use a tiny bit of oil to help it not be dusty but its the cleanest nicest chopped anything ive EVER FOUND!!! Also, tractor supply sells standlee and now their own brand of hay pellets that u soak and they fluff up beautifully. My mare lived on Nutrena senior , soaked, tsc timothy pellets and beet pulp pellets, soaked, and a bucket of triple crown chopped safe starch forage, soaked and drained n the water left for her, for over 3 yrs before her stifle arthritis took her from us. Her weight stayed great and she was a picky eater. Like if i added even a quarter cup of oil to her feed for fat shed ignore it. Seriously try the triple crown chopped, i cannot reccomend it enough!!♡♡♡

[Kazie]

We have an older horse who just couldn’t eat his hay. He just mulled it around in his mouth and spit it out not getting any nutrition from what he ate. I read on this forum about chopping the hay. One person recommended a hedge clipper he bought at Home Depot very inexpensively. We found one at Walmart, used it last night and today all of his hay had been eaten. We chopped more for the field and he just dove into it.
Thank you for this very valuable piece of info.

[carman_liz]

@Pecos

I kinda understand her opinion on this. If you offer me a cheese sandwich or a steak, I am going to pick steak. :lol:

Thank you to everyone who replied.

Any other takers?

ME ME ME!!! I chopped hay for my mare for awhile before she had to be on straight soaked pellets!

I used the Worx blower/mulcher combo with the attachment that they have that you put over a garbage can and it sucked up the hay, mulched it, sometimes I had to run it thru twice, and used that. A bale took me about an hr but it worked!!! If you have them at home that would work easily for you. Good luck!!!