Hay Belly...

[Ferrah]

I have two Miniature Horses and was told by their owner to only feed them one flake of hay per feeding plus their grain. One is a year and a half old the other five months. The five month old has a pretty big belly. I just dewormed them two weeks ago.

I was wondering if the hay belly is really related to feeding too much hay, or is it from lack of exercise? I would like to start feeding them more hay, more to give them something to do than anything. The hay is a timothy grass hay mix. They get two cups alfalfa pellets and two cups phase 3 horse feed that has 11% protein, plus a generous handful of BOSS. They also get a salt lick and a mineral lick. Is there anything else I should be feeding to help get rid of the hay belly? Or should I just exercise him more by giving him more walks? Should I keep the amount of hay the same or can I increase it without doing any harm?

 

[Jean_B]

On first blush, this might sound illogical-- but the more you feed your youngsters --- GRAIN, that is -- the less hay belly they will have.

I feed my weaners and yearlings a LOT of grain. I don't use any feeds with a high concentration of corn. I use either Purina Equine Junior, or now in my new place I'm using Nutrena Youth. A LOT of the youth feed. And I give them free-choice hay....with no hay bellies. Of course a good worming regimen is critical as well.

 

[~Fender~]

Definately go with what Jean_B says. I had the same problem with my youngsters, big belly, and was told to feed lots more grain... so I tried it and lo and behold, goodbye bellies and hello slick and healthy babies!

 

[Marty]

Jean is always right.

You better listen to her.

I do.

 

[Jill]

I'm still trying to get all this into my head and that's after about 10 years of owning horses.

What I think is that they hay belly is not from too much to eat, or really even too much hay, but too much coarse hay and I don't think it takes much to be too coarse for young horses.

I agree with Jean on the grain. Note that Purina Equine Junior (which I use on my colt, and Equine Adult on my others) is a COMPLETE FEED. You don't need to feed any hay with it if you choose not to. It is very easy for horses to digest and doesn't cause any "hay belly".

Be careful that when upping the grain, you are using a grain that has the hay / fiber source already in it. Read the label to see how it suggests to feed but Purina is readily available to most horse owners, and I don't think you can go wrong with it -- they've been feeding horses way longer than any of us. Just don't feed a ton of sweet feed that doesn't have much fiber.

Another thing I didn't always know to do is to deworm young horses monthly, vs. every other month like you would mature horses.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

First of all, define "worming"

If you have not properly and thoroughly dewormed, then your horse can be "wormy" irrespective of how many times you have dewormed.

My foals (who are the only ones I can persuade to touch any hay at the moment) are on free choice grass hay- I make no discernment between coarse and soft hay- they are also on free access grazing and have two acres to run around in. They rarely come up to their stable except at feed times.

They are fed, each, 1 cup Beet Pulp, 1 cup Alfalfa pellets, 1 cup Barley, 1 cup soya meal, 1 cup Black Oil Sunflower Seeds. This is all soaked. They then get 5 cups chopped Alfalfa + 10 cups freeze dried chopped grass.

Their buckets weigh 4 kgs each by the time they have been soaked in hot water and mixed- I do not use any more water than I have to as they are drinking well, so it is not sloppy.

They are well padded but they do not have a "Hay Belly" in fact (and I KNOW you are all bored of hearing this ) I have NEVER had a "Hay Belly", I know what a worm gut looks like, and I am presuming a "Hay Belly" looks similar!!

What you put into a youngster you get back for the rest of it's life- my foals have made 85% of their adult height by the time they hit one year old.

 

[lyn_j]

[SIZE=14pt]My young weanlings and yearlings get lots of concentrates. 4-5 cups twice a day... that is like 2pounds twice a day. They will eat less hay if they have adequate concentrates. I do believe that large bellies are a result of a couple , three things, worms, undernourishment, and eating too much hay because their bodies are hungry, causing gut fill and not lots of nutrition. babies playing together is all the exercise any of mine even the show horse get till about age 3. Mini owners are notorious for actually underfeeding and then they misconstrue the bellies resulting for being fat. If there are not fat rolls over the withers and neck and butt it isnt afat horse it is an undernourished horse.... Notice I didnt say underfed necessarily, but undernourshed.[/SIZE]

Lyn

 

[kaykay]

imo a large belly on a young horse is almost always protein deprivation. growing foals need A TON of feed. we feed equine jr like jill. ever since we started feeding foals this we have no big bellies!

 

[nicole]

I agree JILL I would say its the course hay. I have tried different kinds of hay and the only one that works is grass hay or hay cubes. I don't have hay bellies on my guys.

I have a five month old colt he gets hay cubes, grain and grass hay.

I can't stress the course hay enough I would say its that!!!!

 

[HGFarm]

I am concerned about the amount of hay- how big of a flake of hay??!! A horse sized flake?? Then this is way too much. Also, you may want to contact a local authority like your vet or someone on a feeding program in your area and how much grain can be fed safely per how much hay also.... Do they have a big turn out area?

A lady I know here has foundered all her Minis but one by overfeeding....

 

[Ferrah]

I feed a horse sized flake of hay...I must say I am a bit confused as to what to do because some say to feed lots of hay and a lot of grain, and others say a little hay and lots of grain and some say no to very little hay and a lot of grain.

They live in a small paddock, that will be expanded to quite a bit larger once the ground thaws.

I give them walks every other day and lunge for five minutes once a week.

Our hay is pretty coarse...I will get finer grass hay next time we have to buy. I do not know what kind of worming schedule their last owner had them on but I plan to work them monthly or at least every two months.

So I am pretty confused about what I should do in my situation because everyone seems to do things a bit differently...my parents have no horse knowledge at all so they are no help, and there is only one horse vet in town who is not very helpful at all.

 

[Ferrah]

I think I will take some pictures of them tonight to see if that might help...

EDITED to add:.....well obviously it won't help their problem, but it might help you guys out to help me figur eout if they are overweight, underweight or just right.

 

[kaykay]

i think feeding is the most asked question in regards to miniatures! its so confusing as everyone feeds so differently.

Keep feeding as simple as possible. Feed the best quality hay you can find. For foals a great foal feed is imperative. I just feel sure your guy has a big belly because hes not getting enough protein. If he was mine here is what i would feed him depending on size (can you tell us his size or a pic?)

5 month old foal

hay am and pm. 2 horse size flakes is not too much in my opinion

equine jr in the morning and at night i cant say how much as i dont know how big he is??

For the older horse. How big is he? Is he an idle horse or working horse?

It would really simplify things for you to just feed the weanling equine jr and hay. the equine jr alone will give him all the nutrition he needs and you dont need to add anything.

also for foals under a year it is really important to de worm every month not every 2 months.

Its really not as complicated as it seems! i swear its not!