If I give my horse more hay will he graze less?
My horse has built up quite a large grass belly, if I give him more hay will he eat less grass? He is in a pasture and I don't want to pen him up to get the weight off, so i'm hoping for another alternative.
You see that is the thing we trail ride everyday, and he breaks into a serious sweat everytime. He just will not stop eating. I refuse to stall him I have seen what it does to horses. I guess I guess I will look into the muzzle didn't want to have to do that either, but oh well……
my horse is exactly the same so i restrict what hes eating by letting him graze on a small stip of grass and then bringing him in for the night! i also do alot of lunging which is even better than riding! if u give him more hay he will not eat less grass he will just keep on eating as horses are naturally grazing animals! hope this helped! good luck : )
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December 23rd, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Try exercising him more to take the excess weight off.
I've never known a horse that will turn down fresh grass for hay, I guess some horses might, I've just never known one of those horses.
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17+ years training horses
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Usually the only way to rid a horse of a grass belly is to keep him up, and exercise him regularly. The latter should be done whether he is overweight or not. Giving your horse more hay will probably not discourage his grazing… He'll finish his hay and go straight to eating grass after that.
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December 24th, 2008 at 12:23 am
My horse would. It really depends on the horse. All 3 of mine choice hay over grass any day. It will not help with getting the weight off. You need to exercise him.
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December 24th, 2008 at 12:31 am
No, if you feed him more hay then he just has more food. Horses never stop grazing, their teeth are constantly growing and they have to wear them down to keep them from getting sharp. Feeding your horse more hay will only fatten him up more. Also, if you feed him/her oats or any treats on a regular basis, that also contributes to fat. To slim him down, you need to get him to exercise every morning and night, horses in the wild travel hundreds of miles a day in summer time, in a pen they get NO exercise, and with extra food…. yeah, fat horse.
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December 24th, 2008 at 1:12 am
I know my mare won't give up grass for anything, so giving more hay won't do much in the way of your horse loosing weight. Try a grazing muzzle, it has just a small hole to let a wee bit of grass through, so it cuts down on how much he eats. Also more exercise is key too. Make sure you do something along those lines, or call your vet and ask his/her opinion. If your horse continues to gain weight, he could colic or founder, both of which you want to avoid at all costs.
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9+ years of equine experience
December 24th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Exercise him!!!! He needs to be worked. Lunge him about 20 mins to start. You have to start slow. Or trail ride him for about 1 hour. But, he needs to work a little.
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December 24th, 2008 at 1:55 am
No. He will continue to graze as much as ever if kept on pasture. The best thing would be to keep him up just half the time and turn him out the other half to graze. It's really about the ONLY way to cut back on that grass. It would help and he would still get his pasture turn-out and the exercise he needs.
Hope you get his grass belly down soon. Best wishes.
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43 years of raising, breaking, riding, training, showing and winning.
December 24th, 2008 at 2:12 am
my horse is exactly the same so i restrict what hes eating by letting him graze on a small stip of grass and then bringing him in for the night! i also do alot of lunging which is even better than riding! if u give him more hay he will not eat less grass he will just keep on eating as horses are naturally grazing animals! hope this helped! good luck : )
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December 24th, 2008 at 2:22 am
Well, instinctively, horses graze all day long. So what your horse is doing is natural. I had a pony that could, and would, eat forever if she could. We just added a little more work each day to keep her fit, and continued her regular food amount. Maybe if you backed off a little on the hay and he worked more and grazed most of the day, it will get better. Hope it helps!
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