Benefits of feeding haylage

It is dust free
No need to soak
It is convenient to handle
Haylage has a high nutritional value
Its more palatable to horses than hay
Can easily be stored outside as it is packed in water resistant bags.
Unopened bags of haylage keep for up to 18 months without any loss of feeding value.

Haylage is an ideal replacement for hay and excellent for feeding to horses with dust allergies and equine respiratory problems such as COPD, SPAOD and RAOD.

Haylages are made of grass that is cut before it goes to seed. It is semi-wilted grass sealed in a bag but without the dust and spores found in hay.

The benefits of this are that as there are no spores it does not cause or aggravate respiratory problems. Haylage also has a higher nutritional value than hay.

This is acheived by cutting good quality grass – but instead of allowing it to dry completely it is baled when the grass has wilted and the moisture content reduced to about 40 – 45%.

Although haylage will not usually contain dust or mould spores the moisture content will prevent any remaining mould spores becoming airborne – reducing the chance of respiratory problems.

The process of making haylage for horses takes about 24 hours in good drying weather – hay takes 4 – 5 days.

The bales are then compressed to half their original size, packed and heat sealed into plastic bags.

Natural fermentation inside the bag preserves the grass as haylage – which retains 90% of the feed value of fresh grass.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF HAYLAGE

Haylage can come in several forms to suit all types of horses and ponies – ryegrass,high fibre, alfalfa, sainfoin plus special mixes for racehorses and competition horses.

Cost is a factor which may discourage some horse owners from feeding haylage – but you may not need to feed as much haylage to your horse or pony as ordinary hay as haylage has a much higher nutritional value – as a result less hard feed may be needed as well – an additional saving.

Once opened the contents of a bale of haylage should be used as soon as possible as exposure to air gives the chance for mould to develop. A bale will usually keep for 7 days once it has been opened depending on weather conditions.

Sometimes when you open a bale of haylage you will see small white or cream round groups of yeasts on the haylage stems and blades that have a creamy consistency – not fluffy or powdery . These “colonies” are not moulds and do not produce spores – they will not harm the health of your horse or pony. If you make the change from hay to haylage make the change gradual – a horse is very sensitive to any changes in his diet.

HOW MUCH HAYLAGE SHOULD YOU FEED TO A HORSE OR PONY?

If you are used to feeding you’ll need to get used to handling haylage – you don’t want to end up under or overfeeding your horse or pony.

A typical 500 kilo, 16hh middleweight riding horse needs a minimum daily intake of roughage of about 1% of his body weight – this works out to 5 kilos of hay.

As haylage has a higher moisture content, the same riding horse would need a daily ration of 7 to 8.5 kilos of haylage.

Although you need to feed more haylage by weight, you need less by volume – haylage is much denser than hay because of the higher moisture content.

When you start out feeding haylage to your horse it’s best to weigh out the amount every day – until you get accustomed to estimating the volume.

As haylage has about a 10% higher nutritional value than hay less supplementary hard feed will be required to meet a horse or pony’s energy requirements. For further in-depth information about feeding Haylage visit Equi-net, They have some very interesting articles on keeping your horse healthy.

Many livery yards provide haylage for their horses and on Horse Scout we make it easy for you to decide whether a livery yard will suit you with our five star rating. After all the more information a yard provides on Horse Scouts’ listings pages the better informed you are when looking for somewhere to keep your horse at livery or for training, rehabilitation or selling.

Tag Archives: training clinic

Professional Rider

Three fantastic opportunities at Lucinda Fredericks’ Yard, Rosegarth in Wiltshire

March 18, 2015

Horse Scout keeps an eye on its lists and when possible will blog or tweet on behalf of the professionals who have profiles of themselves, their yards, their horses and any horses they have advertised for sale.

For A professional Rider from May 2015

A Fantastic Opportunity for a professional rider to rent 6 – 10 boxes at Lucinda Fredericks’ Yard in Wiltshire from May 2015. Rosegarth offers every facility for the competitive rider including : 30 m x 60m outdoor school, stabling with rubber matting, wash area with state of the art solarium, lunge pen, covered horse walker, rower and rub show jumps, gated access and an alarmed tack room and a full onsite security system. We are located within superb on and off road hacking. Opportunities for tuition from Lucinda Fredericks.

We will ensure your horses are completely cared for on a daily basis including mucking out, feeding (using Pure feed and hay), turning in/out, grooming, tack cleaning and exercising.

Facilities:

24hr onsite supervision

Designated lorry parking

Excellent off-road hacking

Horse walker

Hot water washdown

Individual turn out

Lunge Pen/ Separate school

Mirrors around school

Non-individual paddock turn out

Onsite communal tea & coffee facility

Onsite shower & changing rooms

Outdoor school 20m x 60m or over

Solarium

Stabling

Undercover horse walker

Current Onsite Professionals: Lucinda Fredericks (Aus) Oliver Smith (GB) Emily Young-Jamieson (GB) Thomas Heffernan Ho (HK) Nicole Pearson (HK)

Horse Scout Blogger also notices that Rosegarth are also advertising for staff on their website as follows:

2.A Temporary Full Time Groom

We are currently seeking a temporary groom, full time over 6 days to start immediately. This is a great opportunity for someone wanting to gain experience working on an International Eventing yard as part of a fantastic and friendly team. Excellent on site accommodation is available.

3.And a Working Pupil Position

We have a new opportunity for a working pupil to join us with or without their horse asap. Closing date: extended to 31 March 2015

This is a great opportunity for someone wanting to experience life on an International Eventing yard as part of a fantastic and friendly team, whilst developing your own, and your horses career.

Case Study: Zoe joined us in August 2014 as a Working Pupil, she has shown herself to be a hardworking member of the team who is quick to learn and is a joy to be around. Due to her commitment and enthusiasm we have worked with her to transfer her onto an apprenticeship scheme and she is now working towards a level 3 qualification with us.

Zoe commented “Lucinda is someone I aspire to be like and what more could you want than being at her yard itself. In five years time I see myself and my own horse competing regularly in different disciplines, surrounded by and being part of a determined, hard working team. My ambition is to run my own yard for breaking, schooling and competitive livery”.

Dressage

Horse Scout International Listings – Professional livery and training facilities even in Egypt

March 1, 2015

Horse Scout International Listings – Professional livery and training facilities even in Egypt

Are you thinking of visiting Egypt and want to do some riding while you are there, The Stallion Centre sounds wonderful. Below is a piece taken from their website describing their facilities and where they are situated.

“Stallion Equestrian Center” is a specialised private center for teaching horse back riding at any stage for children & adults. it offers a high standard of training, it aims to develop highly qualified new riders and fulfill all riding disciplines and interests including Beginners Lessons, Dressage Lessons & Jumping Lessons.

The perfect choice for those who love nature, by providing them with the opportunity to observe the great beauty of Sakkara desert, and Wadi el Rayan’s beautiful lakes and desert ,our overnight trips to the old roman village and gold British mine situated between the mountains of Hurghada and other trips to explore the magnificent nature among the mountains of Sharm El Sheikh.

We have started our own horseback-riding dream by building our first private Equestrian Center in Ahmed Orabi. Over the past few years, the owner and trainer, Mr. Mohamed Khalifa, managed to develop a strong foundation with beautiful well trained horses, cozy, comfortable atmosphere, and well equipped stables with modern facilities.

Stallion Equestrian” Center started by establishing it’s first facility located in Ahmed Orabi, Cairo- Ismailia Desert Road with only 8 stables, 1 paddock, a lunging area, and 5 riders. It was known since then to be a very welcoming, safe, and dedicated place for teaching young children the art of horsemanship.

The owner, Mohamed Khalifa comes from a family of horsemen deeply involved in the horse world. He started riding at the age of five in Feroseiah club. Then, by the age of fifteen he joined the Armed Forces show jumping team.

He was one of the pioneers who understood the importance of private centers to the sport. Until the 1990’s all sports were only available in big clubs, where memberships are usually very expensive and hard to get. Then people started to be interested in private centers specialized in specific sports like tennis, bowling, golf, and horseback riding.

Being the pioneers in establishing the first private Equestrian Center specialized only in the equestrian field in Egypt gave us the confidence over the past few years, to develop a strong foundation withbeautiful well trained horses, cozy comfortable atmosphere, and well equipped stables with modern facilities. “Stallion Equestrian Center” is not only for beginner children! Adults as well are offered training at all levels.

Improvements in the center were done by Phases. Phase one we increased the number of stables to 34 second phase we added the Royal Stables , which consists of 13 box, tack room, washing area, separate food storage, trainer residence, grooming box, one lunge and a lightened riding arena. Third phase we added the Arabian Stud, which consist of two stables one for breeding (9 boxes) and the second for raising(8 boxes) including boarding for grooms & storage.

“Stallion Equestrian Center” has become a second home for all its riders. The families love to go there enjoy the sport and the homey environment. They all grew to be a big family celebrating most of their occasions there, with parties and barbecues!

Equestrian Centre

New to our lists – Berry’s Farm Livery

February 21, 2015

Horse Scout is growing!. Every day it has new professionals adding their profiles to our lists. If you are looking for livery near Norwich then here is Berry’s Farm Livery.

Berries Farm Liveries is situated on the outskirts of the small village of Hevingham in Norfolk – seven miles from Norwich and just four miles from Aylsham. Run by Richard and Ruby Pointer and Lisa Morris Berries Farm, is a friendly family run livery business with over 40 years’ experience working with horses – our full time team of highly experienced, caring staff have the welfare and safety of all the horses and ponies in their charge as their main priority.

We are able offer a wide range of livery options to suit every horse and owner, from DIY to Part, Assisted, Full, Competition and Holiday livery.

The livery business is situated at the centre of a working farm, which means we can provide many miles of wonderful idyllic off road riding, whilst the quite lanes and roads that surround the farm allow for peaceful hacking.

Our facilities include:-

• 20m x 40m floodlit all-weather surfaced ménage

• Full set of show jumps

• Horse walker

• Lunge Pen

• Clipping room

• Covered Hot horse shower/ wash down area

• Miles of tranquil off-road rides

• Lorry/trailer Park

• Excellent managed grazing

They say;

Here at Berries Farm we not only provide a first class livery service, we also specialise in affiliated show jumping, with our Yard Manager, Ruby Pointer producing some of the very best Sport Horses in Norfolk.

Ruby’s father – Richard Pointer is a familiar face on the show jumping circuit supporting not only Ruby but he’s also on hand to provide invaluable advice to up and coming riders. Richard is also the Vice Chairman of the Norfolk Show Jumping Club being one of the founder members of this popular club over thirty years ago.

Richard started his riding career (a very long time ago!) as a four year old boy, by the time he was ten he was competing in affiliated jumping competitions regularly. He then moved onto the Senior County circuit before taking a break.

Ruby started riding at eight years old at a local riding school, she quickly progressed and within two years was jumping affiliated competitions throughout the country on a successful string of ponies that had her standing at the head of the line up on many occasions.

Richard and his wife Sally are still to be found supporting Ruby who has moved up to senior show jumping competitions.

Another key element here at Berries Farm is our Livery Yard Manager, Lisa Morris who has been a long standing influence in Ruby’s life having been with our family since 1996, her dedication and hard work with the horses makes for a superb team.

They provide:

• Professional Care For Your Horse

• On Site Supervision and Late Night Check

• Clipping Service

• Nutritional Advice

• Supply of Home Grown Hay and Haylage

• Shavings Available

Horse Advice

Haylage – Hey! Do you know benefits of feeding Haylage?

February 15, 2015

Benefits of feeding haylage

It is dust free
No need to soak
It is convenient to handle
Haylage has a high nutritional value
Its more palatable to horses than hay
Can easily be stored outside as it is packed in water resistant bags.
Unopened bags of haylage keep for up to 18 months without any loss of feeding value.