I also checked the other stall at lunch today and I’m OK with the move as long as he seems alright after the fact… Unfortunately his buddies on either side will be moved no matter what. Ideally I’d leave it just as is because that would be easiest on him, but it’s out of my hands. The feeding bugs me the most because it’s inconsistent. I checked his feed today and it looks like they overfed him the hay (which is useless for him) and didn’t feed his cubes or alfalfa! THAT pisses me off. He was a pacing mess when I got there. They are switching managers and I think things are falling through the cracks in the interim. I don’t get why it’s so hard to just feed consistently. Extra hay because of a mix up is no big deal, but not feeding his senior and hay cubes is unacceptable. I need to have a face to face with the manager.
You don’t think he ate the cubes and senior feed? Because one scoop of feed would take my horses less than two minutes to eat. Is he usually a slow eater?
I know he didn’t because I checked how much was left when I was there at lunch yesterday and I place his scoop a certain way to make sure he’s getting fed properly. It’s a new barn, so I’ve been checking up on everything consistently.
Plus he’s calm and happy as can be when I get there at lunch most days. Today he was pacing and whinnying and frantic when I got near the bin with his senior. It’s just inconsistent.
Stupid question, but do they have a feed chart with the horses feed clearly listed, and the horses identifiable [ie Trigger lives in stall #2. and gets ___, ____ and ____ at ___ a.m. and ___ p.m.?
I loathe a barn that doesn’t have lists so that any dunce could show up- if everyone who normally works was struck by lightning- and get the horses fed, and turned out. I can not think of a single reason not to.
He does normally gobble it up fast, but I can always tell if he’s had it or not by his attitude. He’s very clear when he hasn’t had his senior feed. He’s like me - doesn’t hide his hanger well lol
Honestly I’m wondering if this is the issue. I have gone over his feed time and time again and he has a sign in his feed bin, but I wonder if someone else fed and missed it. They don’t have a clear feeding chart up. It’s more of a backyard style boarding facility. It’s in good shape, but no set training or anything like that.
I should also add - I said “stall”, but he’s actually in a 24x24 corral with a cover. It’s a nice set up.
Is his feed something you can bag up in portions or put in containers measured for individual meals? That’s what easiest with my barn - a 1/2 scoop is different to all the workers and to get truly consistent feeding, I put his meals + supplements in ziploc bags in a cat litter container with a lid that hangs on his stall. Then I just count the number of empty ziplocs when I go to the barn to make sure he was fed appropriately.
Like Theresak says, I’d do baggies if I were in your shoes. Mark them clearly as to which meal they are supposed to be, and refill each week, then you know he is getting what he is meant to get, and it’s easy for everyone to keep track of.
The art of happy boarding is to make it a complete no-brainer for the staff to fulfil your wishes 
This is a really great idea - I’m going to do it! It would probably make my life easier also since the 50lb bags of senior/cubes are hard to handle in the trash bin. I need to find super jumbo baggies because these are giant scoops, but I’m sure I can find them. Thanks for the tip!
Baggies yes, but marked no. You don’t want to ask them to look for the Wednesday PM baggie after the stack got knocked over on Tuesday. Just count the baggies.
Are your bales 4x4x8’? That makes one flake much more reasonable, especially if it is alfalfa and as an addition to hay cubes.
There are 2 gallon baggies. They are harder to find. My regular supermarket has them but Costco doesn’t.
4 bales (assuming normal weight bales, 70ish lb?) shouldn’t last you 3 weeks - it wouldn’t even last me one week for an average horse in work. How big are your bales? What is the weight on them?
Re: your feeding situation.
It is possible since this sounds semi-rough that the reason your horse didn’t get his feed was because there wasn’t feed set up for him. IME most self-care barns, we feed what is set up for us – if it is not set up, we assume the horse gets nothing… So you should be setting up his AM/PM grain for the barn workers.
If I were you, I would buy small stackable buckets like these: four should do
I prefer these over the 5g buckets because they’re smaller, people won’t steal them, and they’re easy to stack in tight areas (like in a grain bin).
Mark them AM, and PM with your horse’s name, and set them up and stack them - that way there is no possible way your barn staff should miss. Simple and reusable and IMHO better than baggies which have to be emptied/dumped by the worker into a bucket…
And… talk to whoever does AM/PM feeding ASAP because it really sounds like no one is on the same page about your horse. That’s the one thing about boarding barns I do not miss – communication is a two way street and often times “big problems” boil down to both parties believing that communication has happened when neither are on the same page or even remotely same planet.
Is your vet a horse vet? I’m jus5 asking because hay is not "just for entertainment "! And just because you’re feeding alfalfa doesn’t mean he doesn’t need an adequate amount of forage. (Is he in a grass field at all?). Speaking as someone that has dealt with severe gastric and pyloric ulcers, hay is actually the most important feed! Mine and others in my barn, are on hay nets so it’s always in front of them, and the ones that aren’t get 2 flakes in the morning, 2 at lunch and then 4 to 6 at dinner (all dependant on flake weight)! Each of our 40 horses all eat approx half a bale to 3/4 per day! Plus they all get the grains needed per individual horse. We also have a feed chart on every horses stall, so yes anyone can do feed!
We figure 3/4 of a 50 lb bale per horse per day. That’s around 40 lb a day. Bigger horses get more. The mini gets much less. So each horse goes through about 22 bales a month.
Stalls belong to me. I will place a horse where I think he will be the best fit. If it doesn’t work, I adjust it. I do notify the owner - hey Nate is rearing up over the top, so I am moving him next to someone who does not care. But the owners have no real sway - my choice.
People don’t realize or forget that bales of hay are different weights in different parts of the county. I’m in California and bales generally weigh between 100 and 120 pounds. When I bought my own hay, two horses ate 10 bales per month, or roughly 20 lbs per day, which would be 2% of body weight for an average 1,000 lb horse. My horses are currently getting a little less than than (3 flakes per day, lighter flakes). My mare eats every last scrap and thinks she’s starving but she’s really not My gelding wastes a good chunk of that but is at a good weight.
I wasn’t very clear I meant if you have 2 different feedings with different stuff in them, Mark them am and pm. I did board for a while with a lady who did them by the day of the week and the feeding. It was just one symptom of her paranoia… The barn staff were ready to eat her.
We’ve asked a few times for clarification.
Either way unless the flakes she is feeding are 10+ lb i I don’t think 2x a day hay is very appropriate for a stalled horse. That’s asking for ulcers - they’re supposed to have hay in front of them as much as possible. I can’t imagine going 8-12hrs without hay in between, and I am a person - horses are supposed to graze much more frequently!
If you are confused by poster’s comments, you might want to try googling some articles on how the equine digestive system works, what it is designed to do and how it stays healthy. You’ll find that horses are designed to eat continuously and a steady supply of forage (which includes hay, grasses, legumes, hay cubes, etc.) will help keep your horse his happiest and healthiest. You can find many well-researched articles that advise owners the best diet for a horse starts with forage first as their bodies need it to function correctly. Diets with inadequate forage and/or too much fasting can cause ulcers, colics and other maladies.
Many posters on this BB understand how important forage is for a horse and that is why you are receiving comments questioning why your horse “might” be getting so little hay. I say “might” because no one knows for sure how large your bales are or how many pounds of hay your horse is receiving in a day. Or how many hours each day he is being asked to fast. Of course if your horse has dental issues and lacks teeth to chew hay, then your comment about the hay being “just entertainment” would make more sense. On the other hand if your fellow isn’t eating hay due it being “stemmy” and of poor quality, that is a separate issue.
On different note, if you are feeding hay cubes, that can be a good source of forage, but most horsemen agree they should be soaked first so as to avoid choke. Maybe you are soaking first, but it wasn’t clear from your posts.
Perhaps there is a very sound reason why your vet doesn’t think hay is an important foundation for your fellow’s diet. But it is an unusual conclusion and I suspect that is why this thread has more than a few posters scratching their head.
Here’s why op isn’t feeding much hay.^^^^
