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  JMHO
Posts: 1869
   
Location: Oklahoma | Here's the short story for my situation. I have Bermuda hay available in SW OK, but I bought brome hay from Kansas and bought local alfalfa. I had a horse colic the end of Feb and did surgery on her. After she went to the vet I started soaking my brome and alfalfa and noticed quite a bit of sand/clay in the bottom of the alfalfa tub. My colic horse had Sand Clear in April and November 2015. A friend of mine says I should be soaking everything. I should be dropping a bale in the water tub and just leave it. They will eat it as they get a drink. Everyone that is anyone from Kansas and Nebraska does this and they never have colics. Ha, that isn't working out so well for me. They ate the alfalfa until I realized that it has so much sand (I quit feeding it completely), but they want no part of the soaked brome. My question is: Do you soak your hay normally, every day, every horse? This is new to me unless you have special needs. I never thought about it for day to day maintenance. Any input (your experience with soaking hay) would be greatly appreciated. Thank you |
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | I feed cubes (no sand in them), I do not soak them, they're soft enough as is. Depends on the brand of cube fed though, not all are soft enough to be fed without soaking. |
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 Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | BamaCanChaser - 2016-03-28 1:34 PM
I feed cubes (no sand in them), I do not soak them, they're soft enough as is. Depends on the brand of cube fed though, not all are soft enough to be fed without soaking.
The Standlee brand cubes are nice and soft. I've gotten others from the feed store that I could barely break apart with a chisel and hammer! Seriously, I used a chisel and hammer, I'm not exaggerating 
Edited by Gunner11 2016-03-28 1:53 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 915
Location: SE KS | I'm in SE KS, we don't soak anything, we feed prairie hay, we get from my uncle. I don't trust Alfalfa hay, blister bugs are too scary for me!!!! We do feed Alfalfa cubes though & don't soak them either.
Edited by lhighquality 2016-03-28 2:16 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 634
| I don't soak any of my hay.
BUT I do have an OTTB that dunks each mouthful of hay into his water bucket before he eats it, so that counts, right? :D
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JMHO
Posts: 1869
Location: Oklahoma | Thanks for the reply's. I hoped more folks would have an opinion on the poll. |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | My gelding has coliced twice on me this month. So I try to keep his hay soaked to keep him more hydrated. Granted, I don't believe he had an impaction colic.
I put hay in a tub and fill it with water. It's incredible how much dirt and sand comes out of it. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 600
Location: Oklahoma & Texas | My horses have taught each other how to dip..so every day I clean out and rehang a bucket of water near their hay and they dip it themselves.... i know some will say ulcers...no..I've had mine checked none have ulcers...I had a mare teach one by observing her and since then they've all started doing it and now they all do it meticulously... i just make a point to hang a flat back bucket right next to their hay bin and they do the rest..i just have to dump n refresh that bucket once a day...just make sure if they learn how to do this to keep their main water away from their hay or they'll dunk in every water source lol so my dunk bucket is next.to their hay...while their drinking water is outside in their run off their stall... |
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 Veteran
Posts: 158
| I did the poll but thought I should clarify-
I don't wet my hay as my horses hate it and the way my feeders are set up in stalls they just pull wet hay out, it drops to the ground, gets covered in shavings and then they just eat damp hay with shavings stuck it it lol seems counter productive.
I do hose down pellets or cubes usually. Not enough to make them mushy just enough to soften the outside a little and add some moisture. I did this a few times after my gelding choked on pellets and have found that they like them like this, just a little easier to eat but not necessarily "soaked" |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 595
Location: North Dakota | I did the poll. I put that I don't soak unless I have a special needs horse.
I soak my hay if I come accross a dusty bale as I have a mare with heaves. Normally though our hay is very clean and not dusty. She does like her alfalfa pellets soaked for several hours so they are mush and then covered with a few inches of extra water, kinda like soup haha. She won't eat them any other way.. Maybe she is odd but she loves them that way. All the other horses would probably look at me like I'm nuts if I soaked their hay haha. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1131
| We don't soak unless special needs horse. We had a horse that was really bad with dust, so we would give him his hay, then pour a little water on top of it to minimize the dust. He hated wet hay, but his coughing went away and he learned to get used to it.
My mare won't touch hay if it's gotten wet, which is odd since she puts hay in her water bucket - but then doesn't eat it. She also won't drink water that has hay in it.... you see some of the dilemma when she puts hay in her water. haha |
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Do you soak your hay or alfalfa?