I had a trainer who only bought round bales and to distribute it to stalls and for long-haul trailering, it was peeled off the round bale and put in clean, hay-only 32-25 gallon trash cans. It was nice since they were on wheels and therefore easy to move around.
1 Like
Yeah, I donāt think itās up to the barn to supply hay to you in a way thatās convenient for travel. Small squares are much more expensive per lb than rounds, so itās not like itās an even trade. Just buy the squares.
To transport across show grounds, you could get one of the huge duffles recommended above, and strap it to a dolly cart like this
ETA: To (potentially) cut down on bale cost, you could estimate how many bales youāll need for the full showing season and buy that many from a cheaper source (and store them somewhere). Or negotiate a price with your barn where you pay upfront for all those bales.
Advantage of this is youād have the opportunity to start mixing in the new hay a few days before the show so itās not a hard switch added to the stress of a show.
1 Like
My barn provides hay for shows, but not shavings. Iād consider it a perk, not something they are required to do. Iād just buy the small squares. I take 3 bales (~120 lbs.) for a 4 day show - so Iād be hard pressed to figure out how to pack that much loose hay conveniently. Iāve actually never seen anyone at a show with anything other than small bales or chopped hay (Dengie). Iām sure thatās partly a function of geography though.
1 Like
I was fortunate that my last barn let me take the hay that my horse would normally eat, but that always required the stable manager to be present to provide that to me, since they knew how much he was fed. If I wanted more (which, I did since they werenāt going out in a paddock while at the show), I paid for the additional hay bales.
I view hay the same as bedding. When I go to shows, I donāt think twice about paying for the bedding at the show, even though my horse isnāt at the barn using up new bedding. I just pay it.
Are you talking round bales? Or large square bales.
At home I feed large squares of alfalfa and 2nd cutting grass off round bales. I get small bales of straight alfalfa to take to shows.
Occasionally I have a horse or two that canāt handle straight alfalfa and needs grass hay at the horse showā¦I couldnāt come up with an easy way to transport a decent amount of hay for 4 or 5 days without a gigantic mess. I had a Brazilian working for me at the time and we just so happens to have what I call, a middle of a round bale leftā¦meaning 80% gone, just the tightly rolled centerā¦he took industrial sized plastic wrap like you would wrap a bundle of wood with and be wrapped the roll of round bale up and popped it in my trailer. Worked like a charm!
Perhaps if you have a show schedule the barn could leave middles of the round bales to the side and you could wrap them up and take them as you need for travel?
If they are utilizing large squares, you can pull off the number of flakes needed, simply stack them one on top of the other and then wrap in a tarp like a present and tie off with baling twine. Itās a pain but it works and much cheaper than buying small squares
I would personally not put hay in garbage bags - hay is poky and will make holes; plastic traps moisture and heat. Both your hay and your plastic garbage bags quickly are the worse for wear.
I have sometimes put a flake or two in a discarded feed bag. Those are tougher, trap less heat and moisture, and theyāre already trash.
@poltroon The Contractor bags are a lot tougher than the ones made for household use.
They are meant to contain rubbish like old drywall, lath framing, all sorts of āpokyā stuff from demo at construction sites.
For the limited time hay is stored in these bags at a show - even a weeklong stay - hay stays dry & edible.Stored in a tack stall it prevents fines getting all over everything too.
A plus for me is the filled bag also acts as padding/stabilizer for the cart it sits next to in my trailer.
1 Like
These bags are tough enough to last through several shows. I fold up the empty ones & use until they eventually get a hole or rip large enough so no longer usefulā¦ which takes quite some time.
1 Like
Will the show staff deliver to your stall? Here we just book hay and shavings with stalls. Slightly more expensive than bringing your own, but way more convenient. (Providing your horse can/will eat it).
I use the XL square bales at home. It is WAY cheaper than buying small squares and easier to feed/portion out hay than round bales. I bought 2 extended day small hole hay nets. I can get 1 1/2 of the XL flakes into them. 1 flake generally weighs around 35 lbs. I can get 2-3 days of feeding out of one hay net depending on the weather and grazing available.
You could easily fit 1-2 XL flakes into a bale bag. If I were you, Iād get the one with wheels attached to ease moving it. You could also get one of the Stanley tool trunks from Loweās and use it to store extra flakes of hay. They come with wheels and have a great handle. A friend of mine uses one as her tack trunk.
Haychix nets. They hold a lot of hay and are really sturdy. I get my hay from my own fields in small squares. It is extremely labor-intensive. So we are considering going to large squares. One of my first thoughts was how will I go to a horse show. Then I realized that I go to horse shows about 15 days per year so why am I throwing 400 small bales of hay when I only need 15. I need the net for day trips anyway so just get two more for show days.
1 Like
I guess Iām the outlier here. I would not want to change the hay my horse was getting just to take him to a show. To me, thatās asking for intestinal trouble. But Iām a dressage rider that goes to a show once a month, not a H/J rider that spends weeks on end on the road.
We fed regular bales where my horse was boarded. The expectation when I would go to a show was that the BM was fine with me taking a bit extra over what he would get at home, but I was very diligent about feeding a flake or two at a time and would always take good care of the bales I took with me and returned what I did not use, tied up all neat. Horse is going to eat, either be it at home or at the show.
Do you all expect to have to buy your own grain for a show as well?
This is one of the reasons that I think I could never show H/J. The thought that I was double paying for basics would drive me insane. I get that I have a unused stall at the home barn, but the daily costs are negligible if Iām spending the month at a series of shows. Empty stall at home, no grain, no hay, no shavings, no stall cleaning, no turnout, etcā¦ plus paying a premium at the show for EVERYTHING.
Shavings is another story. I never expected my barn to provide those - the amount of shavings to cover a stall at a show is going to be at least triple what heād go through in the same time frame at home, between turnout and already existing shavings in his stall.
OP - Iād probably invest in a crapload of haynets. If your horse will tolerate the small hole nets, youāll have a ton less waste or vacuuming on unfamiliar ground if you were just feeding on the ground. Itās going to take some time to prepare enough to take to a multi-day show versus just tossing a couple of bales in the truck, but if your BM is ok with you taking existing hay, itās the best for your horse, IMO.
Bonus also being that hay in a net is going to be much easier to manage while traveling and to move around once you get to the show.
Why would getting small squares automatically mean changing hay? In Florida, people that feed coastal rolls can get coastal squares. In Ohio, people that feed O/A or T/A or just grass hay rolls can typically get the same as small squares. Perhaps thereās some areas where this isnāt the case, but Iād bet more often than not, it is the case.
1 Like
Iām in CA and our barnās hay comes from OR - definitely tough to say if a different format hay came from the same area. And obviously, species of grass is only part of the nutritional equation, the dirt it was grown in being the other.
Getting the same species of hay and getting the same batch of hay are 2 different things.
I self board and typically can fit about one and a half tons in my storage area. Right now Iām dealing with one hay dealer for Timothy. He does source from different places but when I get a load it tends to be all from the same farm and lasts me 5 months at least. Itās 3 string 11O lb bails.
If we pick up a 50 lb bale at the feed store for going camping or to a show, it would absolutely be different hay, horses might or might not eat it. Had this happen camping a few weeks ago. Yes it was Timothy, no they didnāt like it thank you very much.
If its local grass hay, even more variable, you have no idea whatās in there, people will even bale reed canary grass.
Iām in CA and our barnās hay comes from OR
I am in Texas and my hay comes from Californiaā¦ truckers loved us
As for traveling with hay, we like many are using āsmallā three string balesā¦ the alfalfa we buy can be in bales up to 135 pounds (we buy by the scaled weight)ā¦ when we need some to take with in the trailer I just feed a bale down to lighter more manageable weight then retie the stringsā¦ no big deal, no change of hay being fed, no running off to get a small bail as I can size the bale to whatever size I want
