Hay stretcher

[Tara]

Does anyone know anything about hay stretcher? My new mini was on hay stretcher when I got him and the owner asked me to keep him on it so I have but wonder what exactly it does. Does it addd weight or just fiber? Any info is appreciated.

 

[Becky]

I can't really answer your questions directly, but the hay stretchers I'm familiar with in this part of the country (Oklahoma) are designed for cattle. I would want to make sure there isn't anything in it that's harmful to horses.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

If you have good pasture, or if you are happy with the standard of your hay there is nothing to be gained by feeding this at all.

 

[Jill]

Could she have meant complete pellets? Those allow you to feed less hay. We use complete pellets because I know they are nutritious. It's more expensive to use those to replace hay. Our horses get the pellets (Blue Seal Vintage Senior) in the morning and at night they get some hay and some Purina Equine Senior (another complete pellet food). I'm happy with how they look except that we've been feeding them too much and they are all kind of fat (all over fat, not hay belly fat). We're making adjustments

 

[capall beag]

I hjave been told by 3 different stores that hay stretcher pellet is the same make up as hay and can be feed with hay, when hay is in short supply it stretches out your ration. If you feed the pellet you can feed less hay but they do need to still receive some hay.

I had used this for some time and was perfectly happy with it BUT then read that "you don't know the quality of the hay that is going into the pellet", this made sense to me and I thought it was better to feed just good quality hay but it is suitable for horses, or so I was told by the Blue Seal food company.

 

[Fred]

I have used hay stretcher for our older riding horse. It did help put the weight on that he needed last winter. However the pellets are large and if a larger horse can choke on it [he did last week] a smaller horse [mini] certainly will. My horse is fine but we will be watching him closely if we use this again. I will not use it on my minis. Linda B