Greedy horse eating bed

[jes]

My Welsh D currently lives out during the day and in at night. He is out for about 10 hours a day, however there is very little grass to eat on the field. He is bedded on straw and has one big haynet each night.

The problem I have is that he is quite greedy and once he's finished his hay he starts on his bed. I keep him at livery and can't really ask for more hay, I am also a bit restricted in the amount of straw I can use (yes, I know this is not good, but don't really want to go into that now), so I am struggling a bit to keep his bed nice and clean.

He is only in light work so I was only giving him a token feed of handful of speedibeet and chaff, however I've recently bought some Dengie Good Doer chaff so I can give him loads and hopefully deter him from eating as much of his bed. I've been giving him 1kg at a time (measured using the Dengie bucket), which seems like a huge amount. It does take him a while to eat it, but probably not long enough as he is still eating his bed .

Any suggestions to keep him occupied whilst in his stable and discourage him from eating his bed?

[Louise C]

Jes, can you not put rubber matting down, then it doesn't matter if he does eat some bedding? Then you could put shavings on top so he can't eat over and above the hay.

[jes]

Louise C, I have thought about rubber matting, but can't afford it at the moment, also I'm not sure whether the YO would agree. Suppose I can only suggest it and the worst she can do is say no! lol.

[Louise C]

Have a look on ebay, sometimes you get matting cheap there. Or in Ad trader, do a Yahoo search for your local.

[bhpride]

I remember straying something on mine to stop the bed getting eaten...but I can't remember what it was lol - so a lot of use I am!!

[Deleted]

Hopefully greater minds than mine will have some other suggestions for you, but my reaction is that your horse is only doing what comes naturally to him. It's probably not so much a question of hunger as we would think of it, more that horses are designed to eat for over half of their waking hours. As you say there is little to eat in the field, he is obliged to satify his instinct to graze at night. Unless this instinct is otherwise satisfied, he will have no choice but to look to his bed.

Just out of interest, why is it you feel you cannot ask for more hay? Is there not room for negotiating ad lib hay provided you pay a bit more? After all, it's not like you're asking just to be greedy, it is for the good of your horse.

Something else to bear in mind in all this is the detrimental effects not having access to a constant (or close to) trickle of feed can have on a horse. There is the potential for ulcers if the acids build up in the stomach with nothing to work on, and stable vices such as weaving and cribbing have been associated with this. I'm not saying this to panic you, more as a tool for discussion with the yard owner.

So, a couple of ideas, apart from my preference upping the hay. What about putting his hay on the floor (much better for his teeth, too), in 3 or 4 small piles so he has to work a bit harder to get it? How about a snack ball (sorry, can't think what they're really called), again so he can get the odd bit to eat while having to work for it? Or is there another field they can use during the day with better grazing, which would satisfy his need then and let him rest at night?

[jes]

LizP - I know all the stuff about horses needing to graze/trickle feed and I understand that's why he's eating everything in site when he comes in from the field at night. I don't really know why I feel I can't ask for more hay, other than the fact that I've been at this yard since I was 15 (20 years ago) and still feel like a child when I'm speaking to YO - how stupid is that?Lol! I think I'll make a point of how much of his bed he is eating and maybe he needs more hay to prevent this.

No chance of another field, I'm lucky he is turned out every day as some of the others on the yard are only out twice a week (it's also a riding school and these are the school horses belonging to the YO), however after a period last year when he became unrideable after 1 week of no turn out due to unavoidable circumstances, YO has made sure he always has daily turnout, so I can't complain about that.

Thanks everyone for the advice, lots of things for me to think about here.

[Casper]

I echo everything LizP says. It is for the health of your horse that he needs more hay, not you just trying to rip off your yard owner. I think your signature above says it all "Keep on doing what you always do and you'll always get what you always got"!

I am sure your YO won't want to see your neddie without hay for hours and hours on end through the night. On average a horse should eat between 2 - 2.5% of their bodyweight a day. It is difficult to guestimate how much they take in by way of grass this time of year, so you will have to make a best guess at that. It may well be that with the modest amount of hay your horse is getting, plus 1kg of Good Doer this is woefully below what he needs as a minimum for good hindgut function etc. Could you replace the Good Doer with a straight forage and give him more of that if you feel unable to ask for more hay?

It is horrible when you feel awkward asking for things, but when all is said and done you are paying for a service - and are a very loyal livery client too! Hope you get things sorted out okay.

[KoLaTo]

jes - to stop my natives from getting bored at night when they do come in, I have a huge tubtrug in their stable full of plain oat straw chaff. They don't come in all that much but when the grazing is dire I like to know they are getting enough. They have their dinner in one tubtrug then their plain chaff in another and their hay seperate again from the trugs, plus they both have salt and mineral licks. The little boy loves his plain salt lick but my girly has a pasture lick as she won't touch the plain salt ones! They came in at the weekend just for a couple of nights and still both had hay left in the morning. Had nibbled on their chaff and their licks but hadn't stuffed all their hay. If he is hungry then the plain oat straw chaff will be nicer for him to nibble than his bed and is a lot cheaper than extra hay or bedding, it's only about £4 for a huge plastic wrapped bale of it and I only use two bales in about 5 months for both of mine.

[kas]

Jes, my cob Joe is huge, but I always let him have ad-lib hay to eat when he was in. A vet told me once that wouldn't make him fat, but would keep his gut working efficiently. You could use small holed nets and mix with oat straw if you wanted to slow him down.
I know straw is cheaper, but he wouldn't eat shavings... I'm not keen on true deep litter beds, but I used to use shavings, "deep litter" 6 days of the week and do a full muck out at the weekend. That was the most economical shavings bed I ever had, and kept nice and clean. It's quick too, you can do the job with a skip bucket and a pair of gloves for most of the week.
If you speak to your YO like an adult you'll probably be surprised to find them treating you like an equal if you see what I mean. Of course if you're at livery you should be able to get whatever your horse needs.

[lizzieb]

Sorry to say and many may disagree with me but have you tried spraying diluted Jays Fluid on his bed? Its not a nice task but it may put him off eating it. I have never experience any adverse effects though I would say proceed with caution. It is a method I have used before to stop youngsters ripping rugs etc and have used in on a few race horses beds to stop them eating shaving etc. If all alternatives fall it may be worth concidering!

[gem]

I have a devil of a job with Holly as she is the same she eats everything in sight and last year I fed her add lib hayledge and she came out of winter looking obese and try as I might I couldn't get the weight off her this summer. Now she is being fed a net of hay double netted with hayledge nets and a net of hayledge also soaked for 12 hrs + touch wood she has had some left since I started her on this and has stopped eating her bed.

Ideally Id like to put her on shavings but Its bloody expensive when a bale of straw is £1 on the yard so I keep her on straw

[Deleted]

You're right, lizzieb, I'm afraid I do disagree. Not only would I be very hesitant at putting a chemical like Jeyes Fluid on something a horse may eat, but this method of addressing the problem only deals with the symptoms and not the cause. If a horse has a need to eat and there is nothing at all, not even his bed, it is not unlikely that he will turn to whatever else may be to hand, for example his stable door, at which point you may end up with a cribber. I really believe that you can only truly solve a problem like this by addressing the underlying basic instinct. Instinct will out, regardless of how inventive the ways are we find to try and suppress it.

[donna]

Hi, I bet I see you before you read this, but if you want to try some of my chaff it's none molassed(just chopped hay) I give em a bucket of it when she stays in-although she hasn't been in for a while! She never used to eat it all but at least it was there if she wanted it. Also, does he like turnips, or would he gobble them up? See you tomorrow!

[jes]

Hi Donna, thank you, can I try him with a bit of your chaff tomorrow? He eats the Good Doer stuff like it's a huge feed! Bet he can't believe his eyes at how much food he's been given, lol. Yes he does like turnips but yes he just gobbles them up, they last about a minute!

I'll prob see you tonight, if you're working.

Oh, by the way, I'm not skiving at the moment, I'm on a break!!