Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Mel,

If they are on 100% grass, and then you pull them off and they're on a dry hay diet at the ride, you're setting them up for a possible problem due to the change in diet...going from a high-moisture food to a dry one.  That could possibly lead to a bit of an impaction, as their gut would not be adjusted to dealing with the sudden change.  I'd recommend getting them to eat some hay for a few days prior to a ride.  Perhaps stall them at night with hay for a few nights prior to the ride, out on pasture during the day?  Our guys are on pasture 24/7, but it's not great pasture, and they continue to eat at least *some* hay year around.

 

Dawn Carrie, Texas

 

On 4/30/08, Mellifluous <brio_gal@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Many of you have mentioned feeding plenty of hay before a ride to make sure the horse's hindgut is full and processing.  This made me wonder if I should change how I do things.
 
My horses are on bermuda pasture 24/7.  Once warm weather comes, the grass is plentiful and my guys will not eat hay if it is offered to them, they would rather have the nice green grass.  The only way I would be able to get hay into them would be to stall them before the ride and make hay the only choice.  I do carry hay to the rides and feed it free choice, it is the bermuda hay that I feed in the winter. 
 
So, would it be better to stall them and feed them hay before the ride, or leave them in the pasture and let them graze the grass?  I am wondering if many of you have to feed hay year round by virtue of living in a more arid climate where lush pasture is not as plentiful?
 
Is there something more beneficial in feeding them hay before the ride?
 
Thanks!
 
Mel

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