Urg...horses eating their bedding

[Magnolia_dream]

Is there any way to keep minis from eating the straw you put down for them to lay in??? I would like them to have a nice thick layer of straw in the shed in winter but they eat it! After they finish their hay they go to town on their straw..help!

:

 

[Magnolia_dream]

please?

 

[Manda]

....

 

[chandab]

You might end up with little blimps; but you could always feed them more hay, so they are too full to be interested in the bedding. Make sure they have their salt block and perhaps a trace mineral block. They could just like the bedding and there might be no stopping them.

 

[Minimor]

We just give ours extra straw to make up for what they eat; depending on what kind of straw we are using, they may eat a fair bit of it, or they may just go through it & not actually eat much. Right now we're feeding hay twice a day; mid morning and late at night, so at 5 or 6 pm when we are out doing the shed cleaning & watering we put out oat straw for the horses to go through--one flake each--it's pretty good straw & they've been cleaning most of it up. It fills up their tummies without putting extra weight on them (extra weight ours don't need, they aren't exactly short of hay

: ) and with the better oat straw to eat they leave their bedding (winter wheat straw at the moment) alone.

Edited to add--feeding extra hay to keep them away from their straw doesn't always work; we've had ours leave their hay to go & pick through the straw to find the choicest bits.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I can't see the problem, so long as the straw is clean and preferably NOT wheat straw- horses have an allergy to whole wheat, they cannot digest it and the way they harvest these days a lot of grain goes through into the corn- sometimes.

If this has not happened it is fine.

I use oat straw because that is what my supplier brought- usually I have barley straw which is great, soft and clean and- well, I like snuggling in it!!

If this is going to drive you nuts make up a spray bottle of disinfectant, half and half and spray the straw then let it dry but, as has been said, I cannot see any problem with them eating it.

My horses, the stallions included, all look pregnant at this time of year, they live out, they need the flesh.

They will lose it quickly enough through the winter- they should be allowed to go a little thin towards the end.

Do not mistake that full belly for fat, by the way!!