Aging pony, hay help question

Parksmum3

Parksmum3

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I've had little B since 2012,
Last winter I noticed he had started quidding his hay a bit so had the vet out. Had a rasp and feel around, said he has a couple of very slightly wobbly teeth but nothing major and feels pretty good in his mouth for his age. For reference last year he had a mix of hay (wet but not soaked) and bagged haylage (small net each night). Hard feed was Allen and page fast fibre, mole hi fibre nuts and a vitamin and mineral supplement.

He had his teeth done a couple of months ago, vet happy with his teeth, again said a couple of wobbly ones, none missing and happy with his mouth.

This winter. He has been having wet hay at night (still plenty of grass when out during the day) the hay is in a metal corner hay rack and a pile on the floor. He quids a very small amount. His feed had been A and P fast fibre, but he seemed to go off it a bit so I have changed to moles own quick soak fibre which he LOVES. He also has a vit and min supplement, turmeric and hi fibre pony nuts. Now this is the bit I'm concerned about. I bought them a pallet of bagged haylage which I do every year, they have this at night from the end of December just to give them a mix of something different. This is what I have always done. I thought I'd give them a Christmas treat so Xmas eve I put a net of the bagged haylage in their stables overnight alongside their usual hay

Christmas morning P had scoffed everything, little B has eaten all his hay (small bit quidded) but not even touched his haylage net, very unlike him, he normally goes mad for it. Anyway he went out and grazed like normal during the day.. night time cam and I thought maybe he had struggled with the net. So I put his haylage on the floor next to his hay pile.
Boxing day morning P had scoffed everything again and little B had eaten everything apart from the haylage. Now I could see with it being on the floor he had had a go at it but there was quite a bit of it quidded and I think he just gave up.

My hay is nice soft stuff, the haylage is quite a thicker stemmed. Is this just a aging thing, he is my first 'elderly' pony. He loves his soaked feed so I'm happy to up this over time if he ends up struggling with hay but I am now stressing if I run out of hay and I going to struggle to find him something suitable to eat?

P isn't complaining as he is now getting less hay and more haylage to allow little B to have more hay with now no haylage.

Sorry if this doesn't make much sense I am rambling but I guess what I am saying is is this a normal thing for a aging pony? I'm not to worried at the moment as he is a good weight but I am worried for if I run out of hay, what am I supposed to give him??
 
I'm not sure about haylage as I've never fed it, but I'm having similar trouble with our elderly mare. She will eat the soft, fluffy hay left over from 2024 but won't touch this year's more stalky hay. The other two eat it happily. The vet has checked her teeth and says they're fine. I've got 2 bales of soft hay, and can't source any more so I'm panicking. She's 29.
 
CazD said:
I'm not sure about haylage as I've never fed it, but I'm having similar trouble with our elderly mare. She will eat the soft, fluffy hay left over from 2024 but won't touch this year's more stalky hay. The other two eat it happily. The vet has checked her teeth and says they're fine. I've got 2 bales of soft hay, and can't source any more so I'm panicking. She's 29.
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It's such a worry isn't it, I'm hoping I have enough hay for him this year as he eats it ok but stressing incase I run out
 
It may be worth trying a chaff and see how he gets on.

I have an older pony 23yrs who isn't touching hay at all. She quids too but has had diastemas widened. I think her mouth nay be sore as vet was unable to touch the last diastema at the back of her mouth due to sensitivity so she's going in in Mar to see if we can sort it.

In the meantime she is on 4 trugs of grass nuts, with a small amount of speedibeet and sooth and gain added in.

How old is B?
 
fidleyspromise said:
It may be worth trying a chaff and see how he gets on.

I have an older pony 23yrs who isn't touching hay at all. She quids too but has had diastemas widened. I think her mouth nay be sore as vet was unable to touch the last diastema at the back of her mouth due to sensitivity so she's going in in Mar to see if we can sort it.

In the meantime she is on 4 trugs of grass nuts, with a small amount of speedibeet and sooth and gain added in.

How old is B?
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He is 24 I will look into getting a bag of chaff and see how he gets on with that 😁 I'm sure P won't mind polishing it off if little B doesn't get on with it lol
 
Mine like this - it swells a lot with soaking

Hay Replacer for Horses | HayCare

Quick soaking hay replacer - high fibre Timothy grass for horses with poor teeth.
www.simplesystemhorsefeeds.co.uk www.simplesystemhorsefeeds.co.uk

It might be worth investigating different types of haylage too
At the moment I'm feeding this

High Fibre High Fibre - Baillie Haylage

Our High Fibre haylage is our best seller; high in dry matter and fibre, but lower in sugar and energy compared to our Ryegrass varieties.
www.bailliehaylage.co.uk www.bailliehaylage.co.uk
It does vary a bit between batches but the stuff I'm buying now is very soft and dry and just like very good meadow hay
 
My 30yo prefers soft, short cut hay - but with this years supply I don't have the luxury of being choosy so they are having to eat what I can get hold of. I have just opened a soft bale which he liked, the last stalkier long-cut bale he left a lot of. My vet did tell me that with elderly teeth they find the 'crispier' short-cut hay easier to eat than long-strand, which may be why she is not liking the haylage? Equilage do a short-cut veteran haylage which I tried mine on but he wasn't too fussed. For added stress he has diastemas so can't have chaff, I am feeding soaked grass nuts and Fibre Beet and he is holding his weight well, so assume whatever hay he is eating is enough for now, but I will increase the grass nuts if I need to.
 
I had our oldie's teeth checked a few months back, as she started having trouble eating carrots. He teeth are good for her age, so we think it's more likely to be a TMJ issue and biting down on tougher food is hard for her.

Have you thought about putting the haylage through a chaff cutter to make it more "bite-size"?
 
Our 30 year old Section C hasn't been able to eat hay or haylage for about 4 years. He has 4 feeds a day of a mix of SS Haycare, Purabeet and Lucie Fibre Cubes. Each feed is 1lb dry weight, with just enough water to make a crumbly texture. His first feed at 6am and last at 6pm have 5grams each of the 3 oily herbs. He lives out and has 2 strips of grass in addition. This has to be no more than 4 inches long or otherwise he can't cope with it. He has his teeth done every 6 months, and my vet is very pleased with his condition.
 
As above Haycare is excellent, but after struggling through mud with buckets of slop, I've now discovered she can eat Burleybale hi fibre haylage, it's cut into 4" lengths. My EDT says it's the length of the forage they cannot manage. Anyway, she now gets and eats both, and my back is much happier as a result.
 
Not a popular option for most folk, but I chop up my old chap's haylage with a pair of hand sheep shears. Takes me about ten minutes to chop two full trugs, which fill one net. He has three nets at night, one in the morning, plus tubs of soaked forage. Up to now, he has lost around twelve teeth. He copes pretty well with the short chop, and has learnt to dip his muzzle in his water, shake the chaff out of the gaps, and return to eating. If he makes it to next winter, I don't think I will be feeding anything other than soaked food.
Silvermoor Veteran haylage is a bagged ryegrass haylage chaff, chopped to around 1 inch in length. It was great for my oldie until his digestion could no longer cope with the ryegrass.
 
Little Georgie sometimes quids hay but is fine with soaked. He loves simple systems hay care which is hay pellet mash so that may be worth a try
 
Ive just realised my now 33 yr old can't really eat her haylage anymore, she has quite a few teeth missing. She's fine esting grass do i didnt reslly notice till winter. This year started feeding simple systems haycare, I've used baileys meadow cobs also. Biggest problem I have is trying to keep my other horse away from it! I still give her a haynet as well she does try and eat it but I don't think she gets much out of it it's all quidded on the floor.
 
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