Barefoot - Gone off his feed!

milesjess

milesjess

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Please can someone help...

My TB has been barefoot for about 6 months, he's doing well but still a little footy and has a couple of cracks in his feet to grow out.

He's fed...
5-7 hours grazing
1 big net of hay at night

Cup of Allen and Page Fast Fibre
Cup of Micronised Linseed

Couple of carrots

He's gone off his feed! His teeth etc are fine but he just seems to be bored of it and won't eat it.

I've tried adding Simple Systems Tastamint which helps fussy eaters but he still turns his nose up. My friend have him a handful of chaff and he wolfed it down!

So, although I want to keep him on the above diet, I'm thinking of adding a small amount of chaff as it seems to get his appetite back. But chaff and a barefoot horse seems a nightmare!

Can anyone suggest anything? Low sugar of course.
 
They can get bored with fast fibre I gave mine a mix of FF and speedibeet soaked together which they were happy with, some healthy hooves should be fine but you may want to consider cutting out the carrots if he is still footy as they are high in sugar.
 
be positive said:
They can get bored with fast fibre I gave mine a mix of FF and speedibeet soaked together which they were happy with, some healthy hooves should be fine but you may want to consider cutting out the carrots if he is still footy as they are high in sugar.
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Thank you :) he's actually turned his nose up at carrots too, fussy sod, he has definitely got bored on it.

I'll try adding healthy hooves and hopefully it'll get him eating again.
 
I think most horses find speedi beet tastier than fast fibre, so I agree that partially or fully swapping to SB is an option. You could sprinkle some oats on the feed instead of carrots, my super fussy mare loves rolled oats and they've never made her footy although I don't feed them in big quantities.

ETA - does the HH have alfalfa in it? Do watch him if it does as one of mine cannot tolerate (it gives him skin problems) it and others have reported that it makes their horses footy.
 
It does have Alfalfa yeah :( He seems to like chaff based feed, but it's a hard compromise to find one that's good for his feet too.
 
Have you tried Spillers High Fibre cubes? Only 4.5% sugar. I know a lot of people on the Phoenixhorse, barefoot forum, have had success with using them.


Spillers High Fibre cubes

Ingredients:

Oatfeed, wheatfeed, nutritionally improved straw, sunflower ext., rice bran, molasses, calcium carbonate, salt, vegetable oil, vitamin mineral premix.

Nutritional Analysis:

Additives
E672 vitamin A 12,500 IE/IU
E671 vitamin D3 1,875 IE/IU
Iodine 0.2 mg
Copper 20 mg
Manganese 10 mg
Zinc 50 mg
Iron 10 mg
Selenium 0.2 mg

Analytical constituents
Oils 2.75%
Protein 10%
Fibre 20%
Ash 8.5%
Sodium 0.5%
Starch 10%
Sugar 4.5%
Vitamin E 200mg/IU/kg
 
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I use hi-fi molasses free and top spec cool balancer for my barefoot horse. I previously used spillers cool fibre (horse is a bit of a nut hence all the cool feed) but this still has some molasses in it. Healthy hooves molasses free is also good but it is a complete feed so you would just need to feed this on it's own.
 
Hi! Have a look at Thunderbrook Feeds - they do a meadow chaff that's brilliant - all men like it, it's not ryegrass so ok for feet & if you need any feed advice they're fantastic too! :)
 
Alfalfa has been a culprit for my new horse... and my old boy wasn't particularly keen on it. Fine if off it.

You may want to try a detox to help a sluggish liver which may be a cause of the footiness. You can get 10 day detox solutions online which are herbal based, but so are most human ones... OR... just give nothing for three weeks but hay. This does mean that if you want to bucket feed it has to be grass chaff and soaked grass pellets but it's grass so beware any laminitics...


That's what I have done and the difference to feet and soundness has been pronounced... finaly some concavity and no footiness at all. I think I will continue with this and just do mineral lick!

BF is a learning curve but eventually, as someone once said to me, you end up with the same conclusion... horses really don't need an awful lot! :D
 
Mine had gone on hunger strike too, so I have added some dried mint and with speedi beet a handful of grass nuts, now he is licking his bowl clean
 
Mine is a good feeder but won't touch either speedy beet or fast fibre. Recently gone on to Spillers high fibre cubes which I soak to a mash and for first time in ages she's not picking and gets all her supplements.

Another vote for thunderbrook's if you go chaff route - divine stuff and without chemical residue.
 
All of mine get lucern (since when did become alfalfa in the UK?), about 500 grams a day, and do just fine on it. Also whole oats - in order to grow good quality hooves, you need good quality protein. I know that not all horses can eat lucern, but don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
 
HI My barefooter does well on Top Chop Lite chaff with added micronised linseed from charnwood and benevit multivit. He gets some fast fibre added in Winter when he needs a little more substance. He gets a small scoop of spiller high fibre nuts in his football. He has been on this feed for the last 10yrs and has always done well. Shoes came off 2yrs ago and although he has had some odd footy moments like last Winter when it was unbelievably wet he has coped amazingly. Just to add it appears he is allergic to lucerne which can be quite acidic on the gut and when I swapped to a small organic feed company he came out in hives, back on to his old feed and he is back to normal and keeping his weight on well, I think small quantities of lucerne are fine, the top chop lite mixes alfalfa with good quality chopped oat straw and mint, it is a really nice chaff and low calorie, no molasses at all.
 
Ours has just started to go off her FF. She normally goes off it coming into spring. She eats about half and then leaves it, so going to try adding some chaff or mix to it. Lets be honest it does look and smell a bit bland!
 
be positive said:
They can get bored with fast fibre I gave mine a mix of FF and speedibeet soaked together which they were happy with, some healthy hooves should be fine but you may want to consider cutting out the carrots if he is still footy as they are high in sugar.
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2 carrots will not affect his feet!

What sort of chaff did your friend feed him?

If he is seriously fussy and losing condition you may have to go back to feeding a different type of feed. All my TB's at my riding school were barefoot and received standard oats, meadow chaff, Lucerne hay and were grazed on rye grass.

To have healthy feet the horse has to be getting nutrition that provides him with all the nutrients he needs - don't be scared to add a handful of whole oats to perk up his meal after all you'd get fed up of eating Weetabix every day.
 
I use Dodson & Horrall 'just grass' for my barefoot boy which he loves. Its a chopped dried grass so chaff like. Your boy may like something like this if he likes to have something to chew on.
 
Why don't you try not giving anything for a couple of weeks. The selfish brat will soon learn to appreciate what he's given!
 
Mine just get fast fibre, linseed and minerals but I try to add something interesting about once a week in winter (and probably about once a fortnight the rest of the year) as I do think it must get boring eating the same thing every day and fast fibre does look like horse ryvita. It doesn't need to be high sugar stuff like carrots and apples to add interest. I often feed brassica's of some kind (cauliflower, brussel sprouts, brocolli) but also odd things (like a banana skin, handful of nuts, curry powder etc) or stuff from the hedges (e.g. cow parsley when it is around). Its just stuff we have about anyway, doesn't take much time or money.

I've never found mine to be particularly fond of mint (except a polo - but I expect that is more the sugar content), you could try something with a stronger flavour like fenugreek or rosemary.
 
My cob is barefoot and at the moment is getting grass nuts and graze on with pro balance and linseed. Being grass it is relatively high in sugar, but also good protein levels and unprocessed- and he's looking fab on it. I've also used dodson and horrell safe and sound with no problems - a handful to mix in with beet or soaked grass nuts, or just damped with the pro balance in the summer.

Love the safe and sound and almost no alfalfa, no soy - he can't have either - and has little nuggets in so he thinks he's getting g nuts :)
 
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