Hay Wars - Pony edition

[hillhavenmercedes]

I have had my chubby haflinger pony for eleven years and never once have had an issue with her not eating (even when she came down with strangles many years ago). Recently- within the last two months- our boarding barn received their winter trailer of “second” cut hay. As implied by the quotes the quality was no where near spectacular but I did not worry too much since she has always eaten anything.

Slowly, more and more horses stopped eating the new hay as we transition over, mine being one of them. We chalked it up to the poor quality and the barn purchased a new trailer full of true, good quality looking second cut hay. Problem fixed? Nope. She barely touches any of it. She spreads it all across her stall (all two flakes of it) and then poops on it. I have tried leaving is for days to see if she will eat it with no results.

My final attempt has been to bring her out to the hay area to have her pick which bale she likes. On a rare day she will find one bale she LOVES and I pick it out for her and she eats it all but other days she won’t touch anything out of fifty some odd bales in the barn. This is a pony who used to drag me to the hay bales just for a bite. I worry she has come down with something but temp is normal, and she is drinking/eating grain/pooping all fine. Her teeth were just done in the beginning of summer as well. Any ideas on where I can go from here?

[keysfins]

Any chance the growers used anything on the hay for curing or preserving? Are all the ponies disliking the newest batch, too?

[cayuse]

This has happened to me. Like what Keysfins said the hay was treated with something. Last year I bought 80 bales of beautiful hay and all three of my ponies refused to touch it. I later found out it was fertilized with some kind of treated septic sludge and several other people had issues with their animals refusing the hay.
If you rule out the hay could it be ulcers?

[hillhavenmercedes]

The majority of the horses in the barn are eating the hay now yes. There are only three who will not eat it. The other two boarders purchased their own hay as a result but pony doesn’t seem to like the hay they bought either… She ate all of it normally the past three days but then I came in today and she wouldn’t touch it again. She’s always been an easy keeper but ulcers have crossed my mind, no weight loss though as of now. She seems to eat enough of it over night to be “healthy” but is not vacuuming up every scrap like she has always done for the past ten years… She just likes to keep me worried I guess ??

[hillhavenmercedes]

The majority of the horses in the barn are eating the hay now yes. There are only three who will not eat it. The other two boarders purchased their own hay as a result but pony doesn’t seem to like the hay they bought either… She ate all of it normally the past three days but then I came in today and she wouldn’t touch it again. She’s always been an easy keeper but ulcers have crossed my mind, no weight loss though as of now. She seems to eat enough of it over night to be “healthy” but is not vacuuming up every scrap like she has always done for the past ten years… She just likes to keep me worried I guess ???

[keysfins]

Have you checked her mouth, teeth, tongue, gums, etc., for any lesions or other reason why she could not eat or chew?

[SusanO]

The hay may have been sprayed with a preservative like PPA and that is why the pony won’t eat it. It won’t hurt the horse but many don’t like the taste. Eventually if they get hungry enough they will eat it. Maybe some bales had a higher moisture level when baling and have more preservative. Some horses are fine with the taste especially when they have eaten hay with it before.

[AKB]

I would buy something that she likes so you are sure she is getting enough fiber. Soaked hay cubes, Lucerne Farms Dengie, or high quality hay that you purchase, should do it. My horse is picky. If he doesn’t like something, he won’t eat it. If he is hungry, he is unpleasant to be around. When we travel, I bring our hay along.

[AKB]

Standlee compressed hay is another option.

[FraggleRock]

My in-laws stallion and the old gelding we gave them for company don’t like second cut hay very much. It is beautiful second cut, my horses love love it (we have the same hay guy), especially my mare with bad teeth. For whatever reason those two horse don’t like the second cut nearly as much as they do the first cut. No real reason that I can find, although the stallion grew up eating fairly tough stalky hay and maybe that’s what he’s used to.