Horse diet - calories from hay vs. pasture - STRAW??

[Zu_Zu]

I found out that Eastern Kansas Native Prairie Grass is a great diet hay in '04

• I discovered that Eastern Kansas Native Prairie Grass to be a great diet hay in 2004 ~

I purchased some a small test load … quite lovely hay :yes: however :eek:

not one of my horses nor ponies ( inside ones and or outside ones) two different breeds and all sexes would touch it !

It took three days til any of them would eat it … and then not very enthusiastically …

I was forced to switch back Brome and the ‘soaking’ plan … the stall cleaner (moi) was tired of the stall mess :lol:

Glad to read that it works for IR/ Cushing horses’ needs … wish it had worked for my horses’ needs .

[Katy_Watts]

[QUOTE=Zu Zu;8275299]

• I discovered that Eastern Kansas Native Prairie Grass to be a great diet hay in 2004 ~

I purchased some a small test load … quite lovely hay :yes: however :eek:

not one of my horses nor ponies ( inside ones and or outside ones) two different breeds and all sexes would touch it !

It took three days til any of them would eat it … and then not very enthusiastically …

I was forced to switch back Brome and the ‘soaking’ plan … the stall cleaner (moi) was tired of the stall mess :lol:

Glad to read that it works for IR/ Cushing horses’ needs … wish it had worked for my horses’ needs .[/QUOTE]

It took mine 7 days before they ate as much as before, but another week before they would eat it in my presence. That hay may have worked well for your horses, but obviously YOU need to be satisfied that they enjoy their food. It kept mine alive a lot longer, they could eat it free choice, and I didn’t have to soak. I don’t understand when people say ‘hay got wasted’. I don’t put more out until they clean up what I fed before. When they learn they cannot train you to feed them what they like, they eat what you give them. When boarded one of my horses discovered that ‘other’ hay exists when she got a little by mistake. She then went on hunger strike and did not eat ANYTHING for a full 24 hours. BO was going nuts, but I insisted it was OK, and then she went back to eating her own hay, pouting and NOT having laminitis.
Horses that would starve themselves to death with hay in front of them should probably be removed from the gene pool anyway.

[Zu_Zu]

Perhaps I did not wait long enough … tht I had …

I tht I had given them sufficient time to adjust to the hay … I guess I was wrong…I stand corrected.

I removed the peed on hay daily and gave them a fresh flake `` like to keep my stalls clean …I was not complaining about ‘wasted’ hay just a cleaning issue.

Yes, I do want my horse and ponies to eat their hay …

I made the modification I felt I needed to for my situation …the border line Cushing ponies (2) did not have any laminitic episodes when I switched them back to ‘soaked’ brome…

as far as living longer … they are 25 and still very healthy.

Certainly no need to dispose of them because they refuse to eat Eastern Kansas Native Prairie Grass :eek: !

and Dr. Donald Walsh has been my vet for decades … is always consulted and he always speaks highly of YOU and your work.

[QUOTE=Katy Watts;8275320]
It took mine 7 days before they ate as much as before, but another week before they would eat it in my presence. That hay may have worked well for your horses, but obviously YOU need to be satisfied that they enjoy their food. It kept mine alive a lot longer, they could eat it free choice, and I didn’t have to soak. I don’t understand when people say ‘hay got wasted’. I don’t put more out until they clean up what I fed before. When they learn they cannot train you to feed them what they like, they eat what you give them. When boarded one of my horses discovered that ‘other’ hay exists when she got a little by mistake. She then went on hunger strike and did not eat ANYTHING for a full 24 hours. BO was going nuts, but I insisted it was OK, and then she went back to eating her own hay, pouting and NOT having laminitis.
Horses that would starve themselves to death with hay in front of them should probably be removed from the gene pool anyway.[/QUOTE]

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=Katy Watts;8275320]
I don’t understand when people say ‘hay got wasted’. I don’t put more out until they clean up what I fed before. When they learn they cannot train you to feed them what they like, they eat what you give them. When boarded one of my horses discovered that ‘other’ hay exists when she got a little by mistake. She then went on hunger strike and did not eat ANYTHING for a full 24 hours. BO was going nuts, but I insisted it was OK, and then she went back to eating her own hay, pouting and NOT having laminitis.
Horses that would starve themselves to death with hay in front of them should probably be removed from the gene pool anyway.[/QUOTE]

I board with my mother (to whom food=love) and my stepfather does a lot of the feeding. He is a “cow person” and also very money conscious. He does not allow the horses to manipulate him (too much). He has a system for hay wastage:

1. hay goes in my persnickety IR horse’s hay net. Soaked as necessary. He is in a covered dry lot (aka the indoor longeing arena) so dropped hay is clean and dry but he will.not.eat.it off the floor.

2. best of dropped hay (not the little chaffe mixed with sand) is forked up and fed to horse #2. Horse #2 eats a lot of it but not all. Even he has standards.

3. scraps from #2 go to the beef cows who can eat it or lay on it as it suits them.