How much hay & stabling overnight

[teng]

Can i ask all you experienced ladies/gents, if you stable your mini overnight, how much hay would you feed, say from 7pm till 7am

 

[WashingtonCowgirl]

Mine gets a flake of Orchard grass at about 6pm or so, turnout is at 9am

 

[maggiemae]

Do you worry about them getting ulcers from an empty stomach? I do.

 

[WashingtonCowgirl]

Do you worry about them getting ulcers from an empty stomach? I do.

He is a slow eater. There is nearly always a bit of hay left when I go to check on him in the morning (around 7 or 8 am) He also grazes all day when not being worked

 

[wingnut]

My girls get X amount of hay a day (except for the hard keeper, she gets to be on the pasture all day). They generally get their last portion of hay around 7pm. I generally get back out in the morning between 7 and 8am. They're cranky but no ulcers thus far. My girls gain weight by breathing air so I have had to constrain myself from giving them more. Once it gets cold though, I just shy of free feed them hay.

 

[Matt73]

Mine come in at 4pm. They are given about 1lb hay and their ration balancer. I do night-check/pick out stalls/check water at 9pm and give them about another lb. of hay for overnight. (in a 24 hour period they get about 4lbs. of hay each...more in the winter).

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Mine are in at 8pm out at 8am until winter. Then they are in a bit earlier because its dark by 4pm

In spring/summer/fall they get hay nets with between 2 and 3 lbs of hay (depending on the size of the horse etc) and then out on grass in the morning for an hour or maybe 2 if I am delayed. Then they get an afternoon snack of about 1/4 to 1/2 lb (its as much as I can hold in one fist) around 4 pm then their haynets at 8. In winter they get the hay nets at 4pm and I check to see if they've finished up around 8 or 9 and if they have they get the handful then.

 

[targetsmom]

Ours get hay 4 times a day- 1/3 at breakfast and dinner and half that at lunch and bedtime (10PM or so). Also at bedtime, all except the insulin resistant mare get a spoonful or two (literally - we use a big wooden spoon) of soaked alfalfa cubes. We figure that adds Calcium for ulcer prevention, and extra water, plus they all love it!

 

[teng]

thankyou for your replies, all very interesting, i think it's hard getting the amount of hay 'right' without starving or over feeding them, i'm thinking of doing 24hr turnout !!!

 

[wingnut]

None of my horses are stalled on a regular basis. They go in and out of 4 stalls as they see fit. Also, our hay is alfalfa/grass mix so we're hedging our bets that the alfalfa is helping us avoid ulcers.

 

[Jill]

What is your purpose in stalling? Is it to keep off grass, or protection, or..... ?

We have stalls here, but in many years, I have only ever closed the doors for foaling and the night before a show (when they have been bathed and are in PJ's!).

Is it possible a small, dry lot would serve your purpose?

What we do is feed our horses 2x a day. We use complete pellets and grass hay. IF I were to stall, I would reserve the hay, or part of it, for over night. We only feed about 1/2 a flake at a time and are very careful that the hay we get is solf / leafy.

Good luck!

 

[Minimor]

Ours are now outside 24/7 and get fed 2x a day--morning and night. If they were stalled--and in the past we have had times where some were in the barn overnight--they would simply get their full evening ration in their stalls.

Amount we feed varies--we like to give them enought that they gave something to munch on all night, but not so much that they have leftovers. Many get hay only; some are getting grain as well. Some have round bales out so have something to eat any time they want it.

We have ponies and mostly B size minis and they probably get 10-14 lbs of hay each per day. We feed grass and grass/alfalfa mix hay.

 

[shalakominiatureshowhorses]

Mine are stalled since we live in the middle of nowhere so we stall for protection against dogs and weather ect. i only lock them up to feed at 6:30am (i know its early but i have morning track practice at 7am) and 5:30-45ish PM and leave them in there for the night. I work every horse after 7 so they all get a little excersise before bed. After a workout and/or putting them up, I feed them a handfull of hay in summer just to give them a snack and 2 or 3 handfulls in the winter because mine dont grow a whole lot of winter fluff. I never thought of ulcers? Is it better to mix alfalfa with the hay? (i get the bales of coastal hay)

 

[AnnaC]

The main thing to remember is that horses are 'trickle' feeders and that this is the way their digestive systems work best. An old fashioned way of judging the amount a horse needs in a 24 hour period is to double the height of the horse. So if your horse measures 32" - 8 hands - it will need 16 lbs of food per day, give or take depending upon work/rest/metabolism/good grazing available. Let's say you have a dry lot and you are not 'working' the horse, so you maybe thinking of maybe a couple of lbs of 'hard' feed plus free choice minerals and vitamins, therefore you would also be offering some 14 lbs of hay per day, broken down into morning, lunchtime and the majority given at teatime/evening - say 3lbs morning and lunchtime and 8lbs overnight.

I know this may seem too much to a lot of people, but I seriously believe that a lot of the problems that occur with minis are due to the lack of available 'fibre' or 'munching time' in their daily diets, plus (and I know this is difficult for many folks) enough space to run/play/chase about in.

Of course every horse is an individual as is every owner and you will have to decide what suits you and your animals. Dont be frightened to experiment or to change things if you think it is necessary for the health and mental well being of your personal chips.

 

[wingnut]

AnnaC: That's interesting and something I've not heard before. My horses would be ENORMOUS if I fed any of them that much hay per day. I spread their hay out in 4 feedings, because I work from home and can do so. They get hay at 8am, noon, 3-4pm and between 6 and 8, depending on my schedule that day (my late afternoons/early evenings are often filled appointments and activities). Right now, they're getting roughly 1% of their combined body weight (8lbs). Every couple of days, one of the 2 three yr olds gets to spend time in the pasture with a muzzle along with our hard keeper. Our 4 year started rapidly gaining weight over the early part of the smmer (too much pasture time, even with a muzzle and then still too much hay) and her neck was getting thick and cresty. My poor friend (the farrier's wife) was beside herself with concern. As someone with a lot of experience with minis, I trusted her opinion that I had to change how I managed this particular horse. My changes have already produced results, thankfully.

We are lucky in that we don't have to worry about roaming dogs or wild animals that pose a danger in our area. They are kept in the barn/dry lot area overnight,

 

[teng]

My horses are turned out on good grass from 7am until 7pm ish (nights drawing in now so will be earlier soon) no hard feed at the moment, they are all good doers !

They have 2lbs of hay overnight and i know its all gone way before turnout time but if i feed any more they would be way overweight -

 

[Matt73]

Jill, I stall my guys for a couple of reasons: they don't have shelter outside. And I like to be able to feed them their ration balancer in the am and dinner time separately. Also, they actually like coming in at night. My barn is several degrees warmer in the winter and stays a bit cooler on really hot, humid days (so on those hot, humid days they will only go out in the morning and come in in the afternoon). I find they like the comfort of their stalls at night and in severe weather

 

[maggiemae]

If I leave mine out on pasture during the day and feed hay at night they get very obese pretty quick. If I keep them on a dry lot and feed hay free choice they get over weight. If I put them on a dry lot and only feed them hay that maintains their weight at a good level - they get very difficult to deal with - they are way too hungry and then they start showing ulcer symptoms. So, I'm darned if I do and darned if I don't. I've tried every small mesh hay net on the market - if the holes are small enough to keep hay in front of them 24/7 at a decent enough amount to maintain weight they eventually tear holes in it or they can't get hay out of it.

 

[Minimor]

The key to feeding free choice and keeping weight off is to have the horses in a larger area. If your dry lot is small (less than an acre I'd say) then the horses aren't likely to move around enough and they do get fat. We have two pastures that are a couple acres each; they are grazed right down and on our soil we don't get lush pasture. So the horses have their hay but they also go out scavenging for what little grass they can find, and the moving around keeps them at a nice weight.

 

[disneyhorse]

Many horses in my area are stalled 24/7 except to be worked in some fashion. The horses at my barn are rOtated for turnout to a sandy arena for maybe an hour a day.

They're fed at 6am and 6pm their hay rations and get whatever grain/pellets the owner gives when the owner comes to give it. No apparent ulcers for the most part, although if you're in a situation to feed more often it'd be for the best.

But horses can be successfully stalled that long overnight without huge concern if the horses are comfortable and used to it.