Swapping tricky horse to haylage

[HeadFairy]

Hi, first time owner here of 15.2 11 year old TB. He has ulcers which have been managed well in the past. He's on hay and plenty of turnout. We are moving yards in a few weeks to a yard which only has haylage. There's no option for hay. Horse has had the runs on haylage before, but new yard is so perfect I want to see if I can switch him over. I've been advised to go for low acidity haylage like Timothy grass, he has limestone flour supplement in his bucket feeds which we've increased a little bit. Plenty of grass turnout and we're introducing the haylage very slowly to help his gut get used to it. Any other tips for making the switch?

Could you really not buy your own bales?

If you're buying a particular haylage, then can't you buy hay instead? They all come in the same size bales so storage isn't an issue?

Sadly, the new yard has a very asthmatic horse so they won't allow hay in the yard at all. Not sure they would allow me to keep my own bales on the yard. Even if I soaked it, as I think even having a bale stored there is enough to trigger an attack in their horse.

My pony was switched to haylege a couple of weeks ago as hay was really dusty etc. Been pleasantly surprised, it is made from Timothy grass and have had no upset stomach (poos are still the same) and no silly behaviour. By all accounts all the horses on the yard have been ok on it. Pony absolutely loves it too.

Try Ron Fields liver tonic. Worked wonders for my pony who has very delicate stomach.

Thanks, will look into that. I'm so nervous of changing anything in his diet, he's got such a temperamental digestion and at the moment he's doing well.