This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Fat or Obese Horse Nutrition »
  Discussion on Feeding fat horse straw?
Author Message
Member:
remmi

Posted on Monday, Oct 19, 2009 - 6:24 pm:

One of the horses in our barn has a very strong food drive. I am not sure if he is an easy keeper or not, but I do know he eats more than the others in the herd. We must keep the horses in a one group, so managing a single fat horse is difficult. They are turned out all day and are fed a good grass hay twice per day outside, and then brought into their stalls at night and get a 3rd feeding. All the horses are in ideal condition except the one fat horse. He eats fast and never stops eating. While the other horses are taking a break, playing, running or napping - he keeps eating as fast as he can. If I put less hay out, the other horses will get too thin.

At night he gets two thin flakes of stemmy hay, and one lb of a vit/min concentrate. He also gets 1/2 cup oil because he has PSSM. He gets no grain.

We just started using a grazing muzzle. We made the hole bigger so he can eat hay through it, but slower. However, he doesn't seem to be drinking enough when he has the muzzle on. His muzzle can fit in the waterer quite easily but he doesn't like drinking with it on. His owner says she can tell when she rides him he is very stiff on the days he wears the muzzle. He is colic prone and lack of drinking is usually the common thread on his colic episodes, so I am very nervous about this. His colic this summer resulted in surgery.

He is exercised 6 times per week for 45 minutes doing dressage, but 1-2 of the sessions are at the walk.

Any suggestions?

One thought I had was to feed him straw in his stall instead of hay. That would give him fiber with fewer calories. He is getting good grass hay during the day so would there be any problem with feeding straw at night?

Any suggestions on getting a horse comfortable with drinking with a grazing muzzle on?

Thanks for your help!
Member:
sodmonst

Posted on Monday, Oct 19, 2009 - 11:42 pm:

https://www.hayslow.com/

Another member posted a great site for slow feeders, and hopefully she will do that again.
Member:
ajudson1

Posted on Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009 - 12:35 am:

Was this it Susie? Videos on slow grazing feeders?

https://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/3/349486.html
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009 - 6:14 am:

Hello Heidi,
I have seen easy keeping PSSM horses do well without fat in the diet so considering the health risks of obesity, I would consider reducing the fat over time to see if this horse can too. Certainly reducing the quality of the forage available is a good idea too.
DrO
Member:
sodmonst

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 - 12:07 am:

Yes! Thank you Angie.
Member:
stek

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 - 11:05 am:

Darnit, I love those high-capacity small mesh haynets, but they don't ship to north america. Does anyone know if you can buy something like that in the US?
Member:
mrose

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 - 12:00 pm:

What I've done to get the same effect is put one hay net inside the other.
Member:
digger89

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 - 2:01 pm:

My piggy horse was not slowed down at all by using 2 hay nets. I have been using a Nibblenet - found at thenibblenet.com - to slow his eating when stalled. Instead of demolishing 2 flakes in less than an hour, he takes at least 2 hours to eat the same amount. He has had no trouble getting the hay, an it is less messy, no waste at all. I didn't want to use the small mesh haynets found at https://www.smithbrothers.com/small-mesh-hay-net/p/X3-27286/cn/103/ since I was worried that temporary barn help would hang them too low for safety. They might work well for you though. Sarah
Member:
stek

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 - 5:18 pm:

Hmmm, I was looking for something larger-capacity that I could put in the pasture. I saw a suggestion of using a soccer ball net over a round bale, but with our wet winters I only feed round bales in the summer.

I might end up having to build something out in the field like one of the things on that swedish site, kind of a giant-scale bird feeder.
Member:
remmi

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 - 6:07 pm:

Hi guys -

So back to my original question.....is it ok to feed straw to an overweight horse as part of his forage intake in an effort to reduce calories? I was thinking of feeding him 2 flakes of straw at night in his stall instead of hay, and then he will have a muzzle on during the day to slow down his eating.

Is straw ok to feed?

Thanks!
Member:
paardex

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 - 8:32 pm:

Heidi, I fed straw to the fatties at night for a long time. Given that you feed him 'better' stuff during the day he will do fine if the straw is of good quality. Also I have been warned not to feed only rye straw wheat or oat is better. [additional risk of colic with Rye don't know if it is true but never took the risk]
Hope this helps
Jos
Member:
kpaint

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009 - 8:47 pm:

I have fed wheat straw to my Haflingers for several years and it has never hurt them. They are fed good quality grass hay as well.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 - 8:05 am:

Heidi,
It is possible to feed straw but you have to be careful about some essential nutrients that will be deficient in straw most importantly protein and vitamins and possibly minerals depending on how the straw has been handled. I see you have a vitamin mineral supplement and the muzzled access to pasture during the day may be good enough to make up for the low protein in the straw but that is hard to judge.
DrO
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC