I have 2 horses.  One is an old QH around 25-27 yrs old and the other is a 17 yr-old TB.  They are both the most picky hay eaters and I throw out the majority of the hay.  I always give them the best looking, nicest hay I can find.  I have given them grassy soft TOB, nice straight alfalfa, O&A, etc.  It doesn't matter what it is, they pick through it and pee on the rest of it.  They get turnout (limited in summer time) on grass, but it's not like a lush hay field.  We have pastures of nice green Bermuda that is maintained regularly.  A couple people have told me to give them hay cubes and/or alfalfa pellets.  I believe I'd have to soak the cubes, etc.  That would be a real pain and add more time to my already busy routine.  I know their teeth are fine since they were done just 2 -3 months ago.  I really would like for them to have hay since it's a natural part of their diet.  Any advice??

If their teeth truly are fine and the hay is good, then sounds to me like they're getting more than enough grain and/or grass and are just not that hungry.  Are they offered hay free choice or do you dole it out during the day?  Does the older horse still have all his teeth and is able to eat the hay?  I have a 25ish yr old who is missing a few and he really has a hard time, so he kind of picks at it and quids a lot.  When you say "throw out", how long is it available to them before you pick it up?  Because mine will graze on their hay off and on, but my morning it's usually all gone, except for the small patch they used as their "splash guard".

Yes, they are offerred free choice hay (I always have it in front of them)  The older one does still have his teeth.  At least the dentist didn't say anything to the contrary.  He does quid sometimes tho. 

I can leave a couple flakes of hay (alfalfa) in their stall for them over night and it's not gone by morning.  They've picked through it and tossed it in the corner or peed or pooped on it.

HH5131:

The older one does still have his teeth.  At least the dentist didn't say anything to the contrary.  He does quid sometimes tho.

just some advice:  don't rely on your vet/equine dentist to point out missing teeth or potential problems without you asking them to!  and if your guy is quidding hay, he probably is missing a few or having trouble completely chewing and eating his hay for some reason, horses usually don't quid for no reason.  not trying to tell you your business, just sharing from my experiences.  also, horses who are offered free choice hay tend to be pretty wasteful with it, they're not always grazing on it because they're hungry, but more out of habit or simply something to do, and if it's there when they have to pee or poop, it's gonna get peed or pooped on, and of course you know after that it will not get eaten.  free choice hay is great and convenient, mine get it in the winter; but don't expect them to actually eat most of it!  i've read where the best way to tell if your horse is getting enough is if there's hay left over.

have you tried giving them just plain grass hay? My horse won't eat anything else- if there's alfalfa mixed in, he'll eat all around the alfalfa. It's so exasperating!

sauerhorse08:

if there's alfalfa mixed in, he'll eat all around the alfalfa. It's so exasperating!

So your horse won't eat his/her vegetables huh? (alfalfa = legume)

That's interesting.  Our horses will dig through the grass hay to get to the alfalfa.

I wonder, if another horse were to dive in and lustfully devour the hay. Would the one who first denied it think the better of the hay?  Of course, I never bought it when my Mom pretended she loved brussel sprouts.  Now Popeye and spinach ... that was different!

Sauerhorse08, Yes, come to think of it.  One of our local feed stores had some nice looking TOB not too long ago and they really ate that up nice, however it got moldy quickly with all the severely humid weather we were having, so a lot of it was thrown out.  I'm going to try a nice hay I found that's from Canada and it's really soft and grassy.

I don't feed mine T&A, only orchard grass if possible.  My Arabian mare will eat anything you put in front of her!  My QH gelding is a little pickier but the both really like the grassy hay and I think it is better for them. 

I am surprised about the mold.  I live in South Florida where it is a haven for mold growth!   I store my hay on pallets in my tack room with the window open and don't have a problem with mold.

I also mist the hay sometimes in their stalls at night so it isn't dusty.  They get a few flakes in the pasture each day, even in the rain, and then a flake or 2 at night in their stalls.

Wow!  I don't remember ever hearing of a horse who picked thru alfalfa to get grass hay.....with my two it is just the opposite.  My 22 yr old QG gelding quids a bit now, but not as much as just before his teeth were floated last month.  They have to be done at least every 6 months now, and sometimes older horses need floating even more often.  If they have had their teeth done and still waste a lot of hay, maybe you could try just feeding them at times, instead of free choice, if you are doing that.  If they are holding their weight, and look and feel good, it might just be that they are getting more hay than they need.  If they have specific feeding times, they might finish it better.  Hope you find an answer.  Hay is too expensive to be wasteful these days, and it sounds like they get the best there is, lucky guys!

I also have two horses, one a 10 yr old QH and the other a 25 yr old TB. I moved them from a boarding barn with great orchard grass hay to my home and all I could get was a grass mix.  They hated the grass mix.  They would pick through it and much would be wasted.  They are on 1/2 good pasture, 1/2 stall and are easy keepers.  Their favorite hay is orchard grass and they are coming into favor of a nice grass hay that I have found this year.  If your horses are keeping weight and are balanced nutritionally, I wouldn't worry too much.  In Summer mine only get one flake at a time.  Sometimes that's all they want.  If you're afraid they will get bored when finished with thier hay, provide them with a horse toy for entertainment.  Good luck, Goshen, KY.

I also have some picky hay eaters in the age ranges you mention.  In fact your horses sound like they are my horses!  I live in a state where hay is so dear that I had to do something.  I put everyone's hay either up in a bag or in a feeder.  I use bags instead of nets because there is way less danger of the horse's legs becoming tangled in the web. And I put the bags at shoulder height.  I even use the bags when the horses are outside.  I use old water tanks for feeders.  If you buy certain brands of the plastic ones you can drill holes in the bottom for drainage during rain.  They also have a couple of holes in the rim that you can use to tie them to a fence.  This keeps the horse from dumping the hay out.  I have almost completely eliminated the hay waste with this method.

My horses are all on a forage based diet.  They all live in at night unless the weather is great.  And they all eat seperately, not in a herd.  I have found that the more choices that I give my horses, the pickier they are.  I don't like alfalfa but the horses do.  I find if I let them have the biggest share of the alfalfa in the AM  and a smaller amount with some grass hay inthe evening, they do better with clean up because they have all night to finish the grass hay.

In order to insure that my horses receive enough roughage I also feed beetpulp.  Beetpulp is high in digestable  fiber.  It is a little more work intensive but has several benefits for older horses.  It helps to keep weight on TBs and older horses. It is easy to chew, also helpful for older horses. Older horses' teeth can loosen even though you have taken care of them.  This makes it harder to chew and makes them require a longer fodder time. And soaked beetpulp insures that the horse receives a certain amount of water, which is especially helpful in the cold months.  Horses slow down water intake in the cold and it's not unusual to see impaction colic.  I can say that in the years that I have used beetpulp we have not had colic of any sort in our herd of 10 horses.

I use beetpulp pellets because shreds are often filthy. I set the pellets up with water before I go to bed so it is ready for morning.  Then I set it up again for dinner after morning feed. I soak for shorter times in hot weather.

If you choose to introduce beet pulp do it a little at a time and with some kind of tastey addition.. We add flax seed and rice bran.  Even my pickiest TBs like the beet pullp.

I hope that you will find someting useful with the ideas I have offered.  Best of luck to you. Take comfort knowing that someone shares the same problem with you!

Barbara Fox  riding@ushorsemanship.com

Lizbethboz:

I use old water tanks for feeders.  If you buy certain brands of the plastic ones you can drill holes in the bottom for drainage during rain.  They also have a couple of holes in the rim that you can use to tie them to a fence.  This keeps the horse from dumping the hay out.

That makes me laugh now, although a few years ago it wasn't quite so funny;  we had put up a hay rack in one of the stalls so they could have dry hay in the rain, and well, I guess we didn't get it up quite high enough, because every morning as soon as I would get it good and full for the day and turn around to go, my horse would reach up and grab a flake at a time and fling them down on the ground, as if to say "I don't know why you waste my time and effort doing this, I really wish you would just put it on the ground where I want it"!  And so of course much of it was wasted and walked through and drug around.  So my husband actually fashioned a cover for the hay rack, out of plywood with little hinges, triangular in shape so it fits right over it (because the way the run in was built it was easier than moving the rack higher on the wall) and with a little tie down so he couldn't flip it open and pull the hay out.  Of course he felt slighted because he didn't get his way, as he usually does, but sometimes you just gotta put your foot down!  Anyways, it still works great.

We feed the full-care horses at our stable where we least stalls and there is no pasture (in the city) so the horses get hay and feed each day and are turned out in the arenas nearby.  However, I do notice that the older horses will spread their hay out and hardly eat it when there is feed available (which the older horses receive senior feed).  They love the feed and it seems to digest very well for them and they keep their weight on. 

Our two are turned out 24/7 on dirt. Their hay is fed in the loafing shed. I don't have a problem with our two picking, because they'll eat anything. Sometimes there's hay left in the morning and sometimes there's just scraps. I guess it depends on what they were doing overnight. However, before we put stall mats in the loafing shed, they would toss the hay around, get dirt in it and then pee in it. Now they don't want to pee on bare mats because they don't like their legs splashed with pee. Our hay spoilage went way down to almost nil. I don't know if this will help, but maybe mats would help.

I now have a nice soft green T&A from Canada that the horses seem to eat much better.  Who knows how long that will last.  I'm also only giving them hay on a schedule instead of whenever I was out and decided to throw them more hay.  I was trying to get weight on my teenaged TB, so I wanted him to gobble up that alfalfa.  But now that he has nice weight on him, he's getting the T&A now.  I'll be looking for a nice grassy Orchard next.  it's hard to find nice Orchard down here.  The last time I got straight Orchard, it was very coarse and straw like and they just threw it aside and I can understand why.  Didn't look appetizing to me.  It must have been first cut.

Also, Scout's Mom, I do have mats down in their stall.  My TB doesn't care where he pees, doesn't care if he splatters on his legs, he's a pig.  The QH would rather go out in his run to pee and poop, unless it's raining and muddy in his run.

Thanks for all the great tips!  I'm glad I'm not alone here.