# What does "ad lib" hay mean to you?



## Allie5 (21 August 2010)

My youngster is on box rest just now with a wound he would not leave alone so it's dressed and he's in. I hate it, he hates it but I can't risk any more damage to his leg. At any one time he has a square bale of hay in three nets around his box. He rarely finishes even one but wanders about picking at each
one. I had a blazing row with my YO this morning after she told me I was overfeeding him! He gets D&H Suregrow, carrots and pink powder for the stress. That's it! To me ad lib hay means just that! He can eat as and when he wants. He is not fat (if anything I'd like the 20 odd kg he stressed off back please!) and obviously has no workload. So what does ad lib mean to u? Is it so they never run out? Or do you feed specific ratios to weight etc?


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## tangoharvey (21 August 2010)

on a friday night, i drink ad lib wine....this means if I want to crack open another bottle, i can as theres more on the rack........the same applies to my horse, ad lib = never runs out!


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## Jake10 (21 August 2010)

^^^ As above a constant supply of hay  same with dogs if ad lib feeding food should always be in their bowl


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## kirstyl (21 August 2010)

Agree with above! Ad lib means as much as my horse wants to eat


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## smossy (21 August 2010)

tangoharvey said:



			on a friday night, i drink ad lib wine....this means if I want to crack open another bottle, i can as theres more on the rack........the same applies to my horse, ad lib = never runs out!
		
Click to expand...

Ditto ..... lol.....  not forgetting choc bars!
must have same mind..

Your horse, your feed, your decision. To keep him busy,I put carrots in a hay net once.  Just a thought.


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## Spit That Out (21 August 2010)

Adlib to me means as much as they need without running out.

If your worried about putting on weight you could try double netting to make eating slower and/or soaking the hay for 12hrs?

If you feel your horse is eating enough from 3 nets then keep going. Your YO is allowed their opinion but at the end of the day you feed what you feel is right for your horse.

When my horse was on box rest i also gave him fruit and veg kebabs which involved drilling a hole in a swede and putting it on to a lead rope along with apples, carrots (need to be large ones!!) parsnips etc it gave him something different to munch on and if you hang it somewhere it can swing ,it makes it harder to munch on and lasts longer?!!?

I also used to hide carrots in his haynet so gave him something to find and try and get out. My friend had a straw bed and as long as you don't mind them digging it about then you can hide veg in his bed to find?


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## MrsMozart (21 August 2010)

As the others have said, there to be eaten as and when he wants. The three nets is a good idea as he can mooch about and eat as and when 

Maybe have one full of haylage, to help get the weight back on? Depending of course on what is wrong with his leg and if there are any weight bearing issues.


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## RSL (21 August 2010)

24/7 Hay, just the way I like it, mine have this all through winter so I know they are not hungry.


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## starsnrunes (21 August 2010)

To me, it's feeding as much as you want.

We don't weight our hay, But each horse has their own net(s) so they effectivally get the same each time, but if we need more it's there to use. I can only once recall my YO making a comment about how much we feed, and thats when I was feeding the underweih IDx i was looking after 2 large nets and a full wheel barrow loose, filling them up when needed, plus emptying other horses old nets in to there instead of chucking it, but it was only a jokey 'eating us out of house and home' comment when we decided to send him back -more due to him being lame and just not coming sound so being un-sellable.

Are the square bales similar size to bales of straw? To me one of them a day is not too much, especially if he's on box rest, and therefor not foraging in the field.


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## Alexart (21 August 2010)

So many people don't get the whole add lib concept it's unreal - to some 2 slices is add lib!!!  Mine always get as much as they want and never run out - if they are fat then they get soaked stuff or really stalky end of season stuff, if they are skinny they get good quality haylage - it's not rocket science but to some it seems to be!!!!


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## sassybebe (21 August 2010)

The only time i would have a problem with that would be if you were throwing away what he leaves. ad lib to me means they get as much as they want but if i found they weren't eating what they had i'd give them less to minimise waste while the horse still gets as much as they can and want to eat


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## NicoleS_007 (21 August 2010)

As everyone else has said, enough so he doesnt run out and can eat at his own accord  My YO would probably kill me if i fed ad lib he winges about the amount i feed now, id say about 1 and a half large squares from a big square bale ... he was even goin to make us weigh each haynet but he aint got round to it!!!


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## Allie5 (21 August 2010)

He isn't fat, nor is he particularly skinny. He is a little leaner than he was through stress and being a bit tucked up. He has no weight bearing issues with his leg, it's just dressed to stop him biting at it! If I was getting hay from YO as part of my livery I could see why she might complain, but I don't! I pay for it myself! I normally take everything that's left out of the nets shake it about and put it back in mixed with new stuff so there is minimal wasteage. I just couldn't sleep at night thinking he might be hungry. One other livery leaves her horse from about 10-4 during the day with nothing. YO has said nothing to her! 
I love the idea of veggie string kebab things but not sure it would work for him. Carrots were objects of deep suspicion until about ten days ago! He would even suck the feed off them and spit them back out! Turnips etc on a string would probably blow his mind completely!!


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## Archiesmummy (21 August 2010)

Ad lib is, as I see it,  as others have said, an endless supply for your horse to eat as and when.  

I term Archies feed of hay as ad-lib during the winter although to save wastage, so it doesn't spoil on the ground or in the rain, I limit it, usually, to a bale a day.  That with a feed and he is more than happy and there is usually a little surplus.


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## Sparkles (21 August 2010)

Yep just hay in there all the time,24/7 and never empty


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## Rache (21 August 2010)

the horse never runs out,


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## LadyRascasse (21 August 2010)

well to put it this way my boy has a whole bale of one type of haylage in his bar and 3 big sections of a different type in a haynet! he has been eating half the bale and the 3 sections (yet the bugger still refuses to put on weight!)

i would only say you were overfeeding if the horse is overweight as horses are foragers so spend 16+ hours a day grazing at there food. they are trickle feeders so putting up 3 haynets for a horse stabled 24/7 is hardly overfeeding.


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## Echo Bravo (21 August 2010)

agree with the above horses are trickle feeders and 3 haynets during day doesn't seem over the top if it keeps him happy.


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## natalia (21 August 2010)

Horses are designed to graze all day. The advantages I find of feeding hay ad lib are that it mimics the natural diet, esp for a stabled horse. Mine ALWAYS have a constant supply of hay, and because they aren't just hayed at one or two points in the day they actually don't scoff it and eat less than the other stabled horses on the yard who are only hayed up at 8am and 3pm. Surprise, surprise my horses look very well, shiney coats and never seem to stress in their stables, I also have NEVER had a bad case of colic or any gut problems (and this frequently seems to happen to the rest of the yard)


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## Pearlsasinger (21 August 2010)

We feed ad lib forage in winter.  We fill our haybars with enough to keep them busy from 7.30 pm to 7.30 am. Because we have 2 extremely good-doers, we mix hay with good quality oat straw so that they are not left with nothing to pick at but don't end up overweight.


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## JenHunt (21 August 2010)

to me ad lib means that there's always some there! 
it sounds to me like you're doing the right thing, 3 haynets spread around the stable help to keep him moving a little bit and to stop him getting bored (can you hide carrots or swede or something in them to keep him rooting about for them?) and if he's not eating all of them and isn't over weight I wouldn't change much at all!

in the winter Ron will eat hale a square bale of hay overnight and just be polishing the hay trough as I go in with breakfast. He also has speedibeet ad lib in the winter and will eat 95% of a full tubtrug bucket overnight (the rest gets put into his dinner the following evening).


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## BuckedOff (21 August 2010)

Ad-lib = never running out. 

With my horse - I stuff full his haybar and in the winter, when he is in for longer I leave some on the floor too.

In two years, he has never, ever eaten all his hay that I've left - so to me, that is ad-lib.


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## Shilasdair (21 August 2010)

Ad lib means as much as the horse wants...however, in my experience horses will eat a fairly consistent weight of hay each day and it's daft to be overfeeding by much.
I'd probably want my horse to have just a little left each morning/night, and in fact if hay is constantly available they can become a little overfaced and lose their appetite.
I've found it's better to try to let them run out a little, before the next feed/hay.
I also think it's a better idea to feed different forages - so mix as many different types of hay as possible, so maybe a slice of meadow hay, a slice of seed hay, some blue Horsehage, some meadow horsehage, some chaff etc, to break up their day.
My ill girl loved her feed ball.
S


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## CBFan (21 August 2010)

What does "ad lib" hay mean to you? 

Bankruptcy!!! He's a greedy devil and is currently costing me £100 a month in hay!!
but no, seriously, it means constant supply. I believe in keeping them busy fo as long as feasibly possible.


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