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Getting a horse to eat more hay

6K views 20 replies 8 participants last post by  Horseychick87 
#1 ·
About 2 weeks ago I brought home the big girl, she isn't in bad condition, but a little thinner than I like and in need of muscle. She is on longer term loan to me, at her previous residence was with several other drafts that were very pushy about feed.

Her regiment now is:
3 pounds of Beet pulp pellets
1/2 pound flax seed (approx 1.5 cups)
4 pounds of Safechoice original
1 pound of wheatbran
Probiotics

Once this is all soaked, it ends up being about enough to fill up a 5 gallon bucket. She has free choice oat hay, but doesn't seem to eat as much as I would like. She eats maybe 2 flakes a day.

Any thoughts on getting her to eat more hay?
 

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#2 ·
First thing it to eliminate the free choice hay and give her a measured amount so you know exactly what she is eating. Oat hay is one of those things that some horses eat first over everything else while others will practically stave before they eat even a bite. Was it cut in the milk stage and still green?

My other question is what is the goal of what she is currently eating? Seems all over the place, more complicated. unbalanced and more expensive than it needs to be.
 
#3 ·
She's looks like she is a good weight and has a very nice coat, so if it was me, I wouldn't be pushing her to eat more.

But, if you think she needs to eat more, do you have an option to provide her with a different kind of hay that she might like better? I don't know what oat hay is like, we don't have it out here, but do know that horses each have their preferences. Something like an alfalfa blend might tempt her more.
 
#4 ·
She looks fine to me - I can't see that she needs to gain weight and actually that's a lot of food you're giving her so she's probably full and not interested in her hay. I'm not familiar with oat hay as in the UK oats are grown for the grain and the rest of the plant is baled as straw which some people do feed to horses that tend to get overweight or prone to laminitis. If the hay you're getting wasn't cut early it might not be very appealing to your horse or very good nutritionally, hay is important in their diet if they don't have access to grazing so maybe you need to look for a good grass or alfalfa hay to mix in with it
 
#5 ·
I'm also not sure why you want to push her to eat more. She appears to be in good weight and is healthy. So long as she is getting adequate protein, >12-15%, then the best thing to build muscle is to give her a job and put her to work.

If a kid is sitting on the couch all day, he won't get stronger or build muscle, no matter what kind of diet he's eating.

Like LHP said, your diet for her seems overly complicated. Because she is a draft and they are very prone to EPSM, I would strongly recommend you read this article. Sometimes simpler is better
Beth Valentine's EPSM Report
 
#7 ·
Like others have said she look good at her current weight.

I would eliminate the wheat bran, not exactly the best thing to feed her honestly. It can lead to metabolic issues later on and isn't balanced in Cal:Phos. It does not actually work as a laxative as many old time horsemen believed. It does in people, but not in horses. You'd be better off with a monthly sand purge product.

That also seems like a lot of flax, but then I'm used to ponies and light breeds, though I do love a good draft horse. I've really ever only heard the 8 oz rule for flax in lighter breeds, not sure for a draft.

If you want her to eat more hay, you'll likely need to change her hay and cut back her hard feeds. I realized you said "once it's all soaked", do you feed her one big meal of all that? If so, you should try breaking it down into two or three meals. If it's just one big meal that's 8.5 pounds of feed at once.
 
#8 ·
She doesn't look bad at all, I just want her filled in a bit more. The picture does make her look a bit plumper than she is. Again, she isn't bad, I don't like to see rib, which you can't see in the picture, but in person you can. I am not wanting her to get too fat either. I have been working her lightly, but slowly increasing the amount of time of exercise.

As to the reason for the wheat bran, that is a request from her owner. I usually use it only as a filler for my one old guy who doesn't drink enough water on the hot days of summer. I make him a "soup" and he doesn't get as dehydrated. He's a whole 'nother issue. However, since her owner asked, I figured that a limited amount add to her feed isn't going to hurt. I weigh all of her other feed, but have not weighed the wheat bran. I use a 12 oz coffee can, so my guess it is actually less than a pound.

Reason for the flax seed. She refuses to eat out of a feeder, so I feed the flax for 2 reasons. One for the additional fat and oil, two for the help it aides in removing sand from the gut. I feed 1/2 pound because of the 8 oz cup rule of thumb for lighter horses. An 8 oz volume cup weighs about 6 oz, so I added a bit more for the larger size of the draft.

The beet pulp, because it will provide additional calories with out the extreme sugar spikes. Plus it is quite a bit cheaper than the Safechoice.

I feed the Safechoice because it is also a good balanced feed with controlled starches and a good vit mineral package in it.

Probiotics, new place and change of feed and water. So a bit of added gut support is welcome.

The hay is beautiful! Quite the surprise this year in our area actually. Very good smell, color, and texture. It is from a different supplier than what she had been being fed, so that may be part of it as well. As of yesterday, I did start with just one flake at a time. So far today, she has only ate one flake.

I have been giving her all the soaked feed at once, but will start breaking that up.

Overall volume of "grain", I didn't feel that I was doing too much, given the feed calculator from Nutrena recommended 13-18 pounds of Safechoice a day. I never go by their guide as it is designed to sell more feed.

I, personally would skip adding the wheatbran, but since the owner wants it....I'll feed a bit. I don't feel that it is worth it, but again I don't think that that small of an amount is going to pose any long term problems.

So, addressing now the individual responses :)

Left, what do you feel is unbalance? I don't mean that in anyway to be be perceived as rude! (sorry, being a bit oversensitive because things may appear different in type than they are meant to be) I am trying to keep her starch levels low, but a decent protein level because of EPSM risks being higher with the drafts. I have never experienced a hard keeper in a draft before this, so maybe floundering a bit.

TessaMay, I feed a little bit of alfalfa to her, but not much. Primarily, because I have a barn full of great oat hay at about $10 a bale and no alfalfa. I am buying a few bales at a time, but at $25 a bale, I can't let good oat hay go to waste and pay that kind of price per bale.

Jaydee, I agree that she isn't in bad shape, but in person, she just needs a bit more to round out her "curves" I'd happily donate some of my curves, but haven't figured out a way. :) I am going to start breaking up the soaked feed, so hopefully that will help. I did talk with the ranch manager today and he said that they just fed about 3 flakes of hay a day, so I may just be expecting her to eat more than she needs because of her size. My 2 old quarter horses eat more than that, but each horse is different.

smrobs, great article! Thank you! EPSM is one of the reasons why I am feeding the beet pulp, flax and safechoice. It is higher fat, controlled starch. I don't feel that it is complicated, 1 on the list is to keep her owner happy, so I will add that and the probiotics will go away once she is settled here. What's funny is that I don't feel it is complicated by comparison to what I have seen other horse owners do. I guess I am more complicated than I think. LOL! She doing light work that is slowly being increased. I didn't want to push too hard to begin with.

squirrelfood, (love your avatar by the way!) Every where I looked regarding how much to feed on the beet pulp recommended about 1% of her body weight, I really thought people were going to tell me that I wasn't feeding enough. So far, I have read the opposite, much to my relief!

Horseychick87, taking your advice and splitting it up. I have never used wheatbran for sand control. I really didn't think of it all as a big meal to her as she is so big, but I think you are right.

I appreciate everyone's opinions and I am glad you all think that she looks okay! I think I maybe overly concerned because, one, she is not mine and two, my two old quarterhorses can eat her under the table. I figured she needs to eat more than they do because she weighs about 800 lbs more than they do, plus I have never experienced a hard keeper in a draft horse before now.

Thank you all for your advice! .
 
#9 ·
I find that my horses will eat hay better if I soak it - especially in the hot weather - I can't do it here in the winter because it would freeze - but it might be worth a try with your horse
While I find draft types to be greedy they can often stay fat on less food than other breeds
 
#10 ·
All of the drafts and draft crosses that I have dealt with are such hogs that you really have to watch what they have access to. This mare's owner had her out with 4 others that were all fat little ticks, but she just wasn't maintaining. One of the reasons I have her. He wanted her to get a little more tlc.

It's funny, I feel confident in all I do for my horses, but when it is someone else's I just lose that feeling of confidence. I probably have researched this to death about how much of what to feed her, ect... Sometimes google is bad! LOL
 
#12 ·
Total low man. I stood and watched as they took turns chasing her away, she would just give up and walk away. Poor thing! She is so sweet and mellow. After getting on bareback and taking her for a ride, I found out she was only broke to drive. She hadn't been ridden. She will do anything you ask of her, but eat more hay. LOL!

I split up her dinner tonight and she did eat better. Started her on her hay, gave her a while then gave her part of her Safechoice.
 
#14 ·
On the surface, the diet looks deficient because the major components, BP, oat hay and bran, lack a nice complement of vitamins and minerals. Your protein is probably low and her lack of muscle mass drives that point. Ca:P is probably close to 1:1 as the bran and BP zero each other out and the oat hay is 1:1. Vitamin A is almost non existent in those 3 products and with heavy feathers that's one thing I would never skimp on. 4# of SC is a drop in the bucket to get all these levels up.

Because she's not your horse, there is only so much you can do and change. I would run some #s and see if you can save yourself some money and make a case for change based on $$. If you are paying $12/40# bag of BP that works out to $600/ton. If you are just comparing calories, BP and alfalfa have about the same 1Mcal/#. What are you paying for alfalfa? It has a better nutrition profile as well.
 
#15 ·
I weighed the wheat bran last night and she is getting less than 1/2 a pound, so even less than I thought, it is just so fluffy.

The Safechoice is pretty close to a 2:1 cal/phos ratio and she gets the most of that in her grain mix up, though maybe I should bump it up and back off the beet pulp.

I do give her about a half flake of alfalfa, (I maybe a bit neurotic, but I weigh that too) 4# a day. Owner said not to do too much alfalfa, but they fed about 3# of pellets daily. I forgot to mention that in my original list.

Alfalfa is running about $25 for an approximate 110# bale. I am paying $11 for a 50# on beet pulp. Works out pretty close, but a little cheaper on the bp

Do you think I should add a vit/mineral supplement? Bump up SC and lower amount of BP? I don't want to add too much more alfalfa because I am already exceeding the amount they feed. What are additional ways for me to get her vit A level up? How many carrots do I have to juice for a horse? LOL I started juicing carrots when I went through some hormonal changes and had a bad flare up of acne. Don't do it any more, but it helped!

I am looking into getting an analysis run on the hay to see what it is coming in at. It has a lot of vetch, which will help protein levels, but beyond that I can't find anything on any sort of average analysis on vetch.
 
#16 ·
Just because YOU think the Hay's great - doesn't mean she does. I keep three types of hay on hand - fescue/timothy, Bermuda and alfalfa. They eat the fescue/timothy just fine - but the Bermuda & alfalfa are like potato chips. They just gorge themselves silly on it!

So during competition - when full guts are essential - they get their 'potato chips' as much as they'll gorge...
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#17 ·
I agree, that though I think the hay is great, she may not. ;) Horses are such picky eaters!! The rest of the herd loves it, but it could be just from the change of addresses that put her off.

I did back off the amount of beet pulp pellets to 2 pounds, wheat bran is just under 1/2 a pound. I am working up the Safechoice to 6 pounds to help balance at least a bit better the c/p ratio. Plus will have the hay analysed to see what it is at. Plus as I mention earlier, in my first list I had forgotten that I am feeding her 4# of Alfalfa hay which she will eat up! I think I am just a bit overly concerned because she isn't mine.
 
#18 ·
Yup, I try to keep meals under four pounds no matter how big the horse is. Sounds like you're coming along well with the diet. BP won't hurt in larger amounts, but if weight is the main concern, see if the owners might be willing to add something like Cool Calories or Rice bran. If not, then you'll have to find a way to get the weight on her. This could be done by separating her from the herd to let her eat some hay on her own, or adding some kind of oil along with the flax during her meals. :)
 
#19 ·
BP is a wonderful fiber. When transporting a decent distance to a ride I'll give the horses a dry quart of it - swells to almost 5 gallons after soaking - right before loading up. Then another quart when we arrive. I also keep full hay nets in trailer.

Really helps to get an 'A' in gut sounds during pre-race vet-in.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#20 ·
I thought I'd give everyone an update on the big girl.

I have changed things a wee bit. Hard feed she is now getting:

6# Safe Choice Original
3# Beet pulp pellets
3# Alfalfa pellets
1/2# Flax seed
4 cups of vegetable oil

Plus I think she eats about 1 pound of carrots a day :) I can't give an exact amount, other than I go through a 25# bag of juicing carrots a week for 4 horses.

She gets fed 4 times a day now instead of 2. Even with the increase in Safe Choice and the addition of oil, she wasn't maintaining while I was increasing her exercise. I felt it was either exercise and she wouldn't keep at her present weight, or minimal exercise and she would maintain on the thinner side. I had tried adding more than the allotted half flake of alfalfa hay in as well. She wasn't eating that any better than the oat hay. I tried adding more alfalfa pellets, but the more I would try to add to her soaked hard feed, the less she would eat of it. I was getting more and more frustrated and feeling very desperate.

While loading hay I was griping to my mom that considering how great the hay is, the shire should eat it better. My mom joked that I should try some of my dad's hay that he grew this past year since it was so bad. (On 20 acres, he only got 4 ton.) She hadn't started feeding any of it yet, but planned on just feeding it to the goats because it just didn't look good. No weeds or mold, just looked and had the consistency of straw. Well, I gave it a whirl. 5 days later, the whole 125# bale was devoured! Plus, it seemed that the increase of hay consumption, increased her overall appetite. She let me increase the alfalfa pellets to 3# and she will eat another flake of the other hay, though not any more alfalfa.

Its only been 2 weeks and she is rounding out more, as one would expect with the amount she is consuming at about 45-50# a day. She is calling to get fed if I am even 10 minutes late. I haven't increased the exercise much because I have been so busy, but I feel like we are finally on the right track.

By the way, the other horses, while they will eat it, they don't like my dad's hay as well. The bad part, because of the money my dad put into seed, fertilizer, fuel, wire, ect, I am paying him $25 a bale and he is losing about $5 a bale. But it well worth it to get her headed on the right track.
 
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