# My horse is always hungry.



## Saranda (Apr 14, 2011)

It IS a long time, not only seems such! Horses are trickle feeders, meaning they absolutely HAVE TO eat little, but often. With feeding him in set meal times and leaving him without food for so long, you are trying to override his natural instincts to graze almost all the time and are harming him physically - that's a straight way to ulcers. For his physical and psychological health, please, provide him with a slow feeder so that he can feed whenever he wishes during the night. I suspect that will solve your problem.


----------



## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

My cobs are like that - they have no concept of being full and I think would eat until they burst so I have to really control their intake and they hate me for it I'm sure. 
Food is the most exciting part of their day, even if they've been out at grass for most of it that feed bucket will still send them into an 'I'm starving here' hysteria attack
I wouldn't worry about it - honestly a greedy horse that looks well is far less stress than one that's picky and thin!!!


----------



## squirrelfood (Mar 29, 2014)

A horse is a grazing animal, with a gut that is designed to have food moving through it 24/7. Leaving the horse on empty for hours at a time is just begging for vet bills. Not to mention downright cruel. How does YOUR stomach feel when it's empty?


----------



## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Left without feed for more than two hours can result in ulcers. You are using a hay net but it is the small mesh type that reduces the amount of hay they can pull from it. These nets make the hay last twice as long and digestion is improved.


----------



## SullysRider (Feb 11, 2012)

Horses are meant to be grazing at least 22 hours of the day. And unlike us and dogs, they produce stomach acid 24/7. The average horse's stomach takes two hours to empty. And then ulcers start forming, after 7 hrs it is impossible for ulcers not to form. That is why there is slow feeder nets, one of the benefits is allowing them to "graze" naturally preventing ulcers from forming. A few others include alleviating boredom, and helping to keep weight stable on hard keepers and easy keepers.


----------



## Shropshirerosie (Jan 24, 2012)

Yes, I am with the others. Buy a couple of slow feeder nets - not the regular small-hole nets, but the special slow-feeder ones. They are smaller holed, softer, and force the horse to pull the hay out wisp by wisp.

If he were my horse I would cut out the soaked pellets altogether and put him on constant hay when in his stable. If after a couple of weeks to a month of constant hay in slow feeder nets I saw that he was putting on weight, then I would consider cutting back a bit, but I would much rather my horses have constant fibre going through them.


----------



## Shropshirerosie (Jan 24, 2012)

Ps No! You should not be worried about his big appetite! All horses want to eat eat eat because that is the way they live. If he is used to big gaps of no-food then he is going to be getting pretty anxious about how to find food, and so is calling out for it.

It is up to us clever humans to work out a way of satisfying their desire to graze all day, without turning them all into bloated blimps suffering from laminitis and obesity.


----------



## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

This is what I use to restrict intake - a nibble net.
They are really tough, much easier to fill and hang than a standard small hole net, a lot safer to keep hung which reduces risks of the horse getting tangled in one when no ones around
They are wonderful for greedy horses that will munch through a bale of hay in a few hours and still want more!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNHx_e7MitM
That is not me in the video btw - or my horses I just took it off Youtube


----------



## Luvs Horses (Jan 9, 2014)

I got that one for my goats. Luv it! They don't t waste as much hay with it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

A friend, a vet, jokingly says "All horses are liars." 

I like nibble nets.


----------



## Tarpan (May 6, 2012)

Are you able to give him more hay to nibble on throughout the night?


----------



## aharlov (Apr 2, 2013)

Okay.. wow, yes thank you for the advice. I would LOVE to have a slow feeder hay net in his stall 24/7, but the barn owner on our property will not allow hay nets overnight. 

Doesn't matter anyway - even with the SMALLEST hole hay net that I give him, he goes through 3-4 flakes in two hours tops.


----------



## aharlov (Apr 2, 2013)

Saranda said:


> It IS a long time, not only seems such! Horses are trickle feeders, meaning they absolutely HAVE TO eat little, but often. With feeding him in set meal times and leaving him without food for so long, you are trying to override his natural instincts to graze almost all the time and are harming him physically - that's a straight way to ulcers. For his physical and psychological health, please, provide him with a slow feeder so that he can feed whenever he wishes during the night. I suspect that will solve your problem.


Just saw where you are from, my husband is from Riga, Latvia! Really interesting  His family moved to MA in 1989.


----------



## aharlov (Apr 2, 2013)

So to explain some more - I am kind of in a hard place because the barn owner thinks hay nets in the stalls at night is unsafe. I do not own the barn, and it is VERY hard in my area to find someone who does free choice hay OR 24 hour turn out. I know of maybe 2 places that do free choice hay, but they cost over $1000/month. 

I give him the soaked hay pellets so I can give him his multivitamin mixed in (since he is on forage only and NO grain..). 

I feel like some of you (well really one of you) are questioning my horse ownership, without even knowing me or my situation. I would love for him to have 24/7 turn out and access to hay/grass. In Massachusetts, that is very hard to find, at least in my area. I work a full time job and do mostly rough boarding so I can still monitor his every need, from bumps and cuts to fly spray to making sure he gets the right hay and that he pees the same amount every night and that his water bucket is clean and always full. 

I am NOT a passive horse owner.


----------



## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Maybe you could show her the nibble nets because they are very different from a standard hay net and it would be really hard for a horse to get tangled up in one - I'm a serious worrywart and see accidents in everything so I'm someone who wouldn't leave a normal haynet with my horses but the Nibble net I'm happy with
You could maybe buy a corner hay rack that's got small holes - safe enough and easy to fill, always damp or soak the hay well to reduce dust getting into their faces when they aren't eating off the floor. That would slow him down
Horses don't always eat a lot in the night - it depends on how greedy they are and how much they've eaten all day. I don't think Looby ate any more than one section last night because they're on some new grass at present and when I did the 10pm barn check she hadn't even started the hay that I gave her at 7pm and Jazzy who's 16.2 hadn't eaten much of hers - they just pick at it - whereas the 2 cobs............!!


----------

