Banging my head gently against the wall...

Shilasdair said:
Have you tried just giving her the supplements mixed with water in an oral syringe? Give her a couple of treats afterwards, then feed as normal?

And mine hate Speedibeet but like Kwikbeet. No clue what's different there.
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I havent... I think I'd have all out mutany on my hands if I did though. ? If she goes on complete hunger strike it'll be worth a try but she's not overly keen on being wormed and I'm not overly skillful at administration... reckon I'd be supplementing the floor more than anything! ?
 
PapaverFollis said:
I havent... I think I'd have all out mutany on my hands if I did though. ? If she goes on complete hunger strike it'll be worth a try but she's not overly keen on being wormed and I'm not overly skillful at administration... reckon I'd be supplementing the floor more than anything! ?
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One of mine voluntarily takes an oral syringe of her drugs mixed with water every night - she comes to the fence with her mouth open after I shout 'drugs' and wave the syringe at her. She's a bit weird though. :D I forget other horses may be less helpful.

ETA: I never worm her as she can't get worms, so she probably doesn't have bad associations with oral syringes.
 
Shilasdair said:
One of mine voluntarily takes an oral syringe of her drugs mixed with water every night - she comes to the fence with her mouth open after I shout 'drugs' and wave the syringe at her. She's a bit weird though. :D I forget other horses may be less helpful.
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Put it this way... I probably don't have worms. ? to be honest I should invest some training effort into it.
 
PapaverFollis said:
Put it this way... I probably don't have worms. ? to be honest I should invest some training effort into it.
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I do find it stress-free for both horse and me - she willingly takes them without me catching her or touching her at all. I also wait patiently if she's not quite ready (chewing hay or distracted by looking at something) so she takes them on her terms and retains control of the situation in her mind. She's never once refused them, and anyone can give her them. I feed her immediately afterwards.
If she didn't take her drugs, she'd die, so it's just as well. Costs me a fortune - but hey, at least I save on wormer!

My other horse needed oral antibiotics for about 10 days and towards the end of it, she was very close to volunteering too - I think it is trainable.
 
Shilasdair said:
One of mine voluntarily takes an oral syringe of her drugs mixed with water every night - she comes to the fence with her mouth open after I shout 'drugs' and wave the syringe at her. She's a bit weird though. :D I forget other horses may be less helpful.

ETA: I never worm her as she can't get worms, so she probably doesn't have bad associations with oral syringes.
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Has she an allergy to wormers?
 
mule said:
Has she an allergy to wormers?
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No, it's more complicated than that.
I suppose I should explain. I bred her, she's never had a worm or a worm egg even as a foal. Vets think it's because her immune system is faulty so over-reactive to things, in particular to rye grass. She has had immune system related problems - IFEE surgery, erythema multiforme, severe lesions in her internal organs/systems.
I have learned how to manage her, and she has survived long past the 12 to 18 months expected on first diagnosis (in fact she has survived nearly a decade).
 
mule said:
I'm nosy/ curious, will you enlighten me :p
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I edited to explain - see above.
Otherwise I'm sure there are some idiots on this thread who would think my poor horse is a worm ridden wreck... :p

And edited again to add that I periodically worm test her - and it has never come back with even 1 solitary egg...
 
Shilasdair said:
I edited to explain - see above.
Otherwise I'm sure there are some idiots on this thread who would think my poor horse is a worm ridden wreck... :p

And edited again to add that I periodically worm test her - and it has never come back with even 1 solitary egg...
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I think you were right about it being a good idea to explain :D
It's impressive she's doing well despite those health problems.
 
mule said:
I think you were right about it being a good idea to explain :D
It's impressive she's doing well despite those health problems.
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She is a very, very strong equine personality! She lives a happy life in the field, with her friend. And oddly, she loves the vet who was the intern when she was operated on for IFEE. You'd think she'd hate her...
Anyway, didn't mean to hijack this thread.
 
Shilasdair said:
She is a very, very strong equine personality! She lives a happy life in the field, with her friend. And oddly, she loves the vet who was the intern when she was operated on for IFEE. You'd think she'd hate her...
Anyway, didn't mean to hijack this thread.
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The strong personality often seems to make the difference in these things. I've found the same goes for humans too.
 
Don't worry re thread hijack. I have my plan and have expressed my frustration... I'm good. ?

I think it's sweet she comes over for her meds. ?
 
Frank's fussy.
He will eat anything in agrobs weisencobs, thank goodeness! No additive ever made a difference to him.
But he ate it well enough it was worth us getting it delivered (though we do now have a local supplier!)

some minerals do taste worse than others, can you split?
 
It's a mix from Equivita. Just the basic one. She has been eating it fine. But she also has vitamin E, alcar, micosorb and salt. I could split it out and see if it's anything in that lot in particular. But she's been eating the vitamin E and alcar and salt for a long time and the equivita and micosorb for a good 2 weeks. And she has form for just going off food she's previoisly been eating without a problem. I might give them an empty of supplements feed in the morning and see if she turns her nose up at that or not.
 
I did increase her vitamin E slightly in the last week as I realised my 5ml scoop was actually 4ml! It's a powder one which is also slightly new but not terribly new. I wonder if it's just tipped over some tolerance point for her though.... hmmm.

I think it's most likely she heard me talking about ordering another bag of meadow magic and decided to f&ck with me though. ?
 
prior to the agrobs I did used to steal a fellow liveries pure feed when I really needed him to eat (obv also not got eat anything cob memo ;) )

Once F got a massive bucket of that when someone gave them the wrong breakfasts :o poor doer TB next door definitely felt short changed.
 
Bought agrobs for the old boy was the biggest disaster ever he lost loads of weight in spite of being on double the recommended amounts but it may have been coincidence as he really didnt pick up again afterwards He did like it but he was a good eater anyway
 
My mum's fussy old Cushing's horse will eat his supplements in D&H Winter Mash (he gets the tiniest handful, soaked)
He used to had Rowan Barbary Winter Mash but went off that too. I think its the fenugreek/mint in the Wintermash (I have to buy up all the supplies when they stop making it in summer so she doesn't run out!!)
 
My old cushings horse loved Equarry - I know it meant for conditioning but it didnt do him any harm with the amount he was getting just to get his meds into him! Worked a treat!! Most of them love it!
 
My cob used to eat anything apart from honey chop lite and healthy or chopped straw. Has all changed since PSSM diagnosis :rolleyes: as he has to have low sugar/starch and lots of supplements he has decided to turn his nose up at most things. Currently having success with alfalfa pellets made into a sloppy mash with a little healthy hooves molasses free. I think mine is objecting to the amount of vitamin e powder, so when I've used up my current supply I'm going to try the equimins oil instead... in the vague hope that I can reduce his feeds and get back to just the healthy hooves chaff. I've also been looking at Re-Leve but it is higher sugar/starch than I would like...

I've also been down the squash, grated carrot, mint, spearmint etc. with no luck! So frustrating
 
PapaverFollis said:
She's nibbled all the tiny shoots of grass in the pen, had a drink of her water and is now dozing next to her last little bit of feed looking very pleased with herself.

I've been trying to avoid Re-leve because it's high energy and she's such a good doer... plus it is still slightly too high in sugar and starch... but on balance it's more important to get the supplements down and she gets such tiny feeds anyway I'm probably going to have to give in and go there!
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Archie has his danilon (when he needs it) in literally a handful of re-leve and nothing else. There's almost as much danilon as there is re-leve and he still licks the feed bucket clean. It has a really strong smell and I'm sure that's half the battle.

ETA - he has it dry, no water at all - as soon as it's wet he won't eat it.
 
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I'm reading this in horror realsiing we are getting to the time of year when mine starts this. I was driven demented last summer by her antics! We too found emerald green acceptable when mixed with pink mash and oats. I've phased the oats out as shes not working, but if she gets up to her old tricks again they will go back in. They are seemingly irresistible! Re-leve was eaten with great gusto at first, then rapidly ignored!
 
Marmite is an interesting one! She luuuuuurrrrrrves salt too so that might be worth a try.

My old girl loved winter mash when she had these moments. So that's another one on the list.

It's the sugar and starch that's so frustrating because I do need to keep that as low as possible. BUT I do think the vitamin E is possibly more important. Especially as she's ok on grass which must be higher than 10% sugar some of (most of?) the time.

Just about to go out and try a feed with no powders...
 
PapaverFollis said:
Marmite is an interesting one! She luuuuuurrrrrrves salt too so that might be worth a try.

My old girl loved winter mash when she had these moments. So that's another one on the list.

It's the sugar and starch that's so frustrating because I do need to keep that as low as possible. BUT I do think the vitamin E is possibly more important. Especially as she's ok on grass which must be higher than 10% sugar some of (most of?) the time.

Just about to go out and try a feed with no powders...
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That's my current reasoning, the vitamin e and mag ox has got to be more important than a small amount of sugar in a carrier feed...
 
Hmmmm. She ate the feed without powders happily enough. Not exactly licking the bowl clean though. Going to try Agrobs muesli if I can get it anyway.. the Meadow Magic was an utter pain to get as MrFeedman couldn't get that and the local feed merchant was very slooooooow. Dont think it was their fault... think there was about a 6 stage supply chain to wrestle with! But still a pain in the bum.
 
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