best chaff for elderly pony

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lucys_stick

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My 32year old New Forest is currently fed fast fibre,speedibeet and fibergy/hifi lite.He has few teeth left and struggles with hay in any quantity so relies on hay replacers.He also has Cushings and has had laminitis in the past but he finds the laminitic approved chaffs too tough with great stalks of sharp alfalfa which he can't manage.He gorges feeds without chaff in spite of having bricks in his trough and has given himself colic...I don't need a chaff with vits and mins as he gets all that from the fast fibre.I was wondering if Graze on gold blend would be safe for him?I have e-mailed the company but the reply didn't mention if it was ok to feed to a laminitic.All i want is old fashioned mollichaff but without the molli!Help!
 
Have you tried Happy Hoof? My old dentally-challenged laminitic couldn't manage HiFi Lite, but coped well with the Happy Hoof as a hay replacer as it is softer and finer.
 
I like the term dentally challenged!On his recent health check under the dental section the vet had written "very few teeth remaining"
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Thanks for the suggestions so far,appreciate your input.
 
Whe we had my elderly (New Forest too!) mare who had Cushings quite badly which made her lose weight, also had bad teeth and had suffered fom Cushings related laminitis (luckily v mild)- I ended up contacting Spillers as I was concerned about her weight, and they told me to try her on their Conditioning Chaff , its really finely chopped too and it was the only one she would eat- and fed it with their Slow Release energy cubes- this really did work for her, and helped her keep some weight on. Wow 32 is a fab age! good luck!

And also as above - the Hapy Hoof is very finely chopped too and has extra vits and mins in it as that is what my foal eats- it is marketed as a low calorie chaff though so may not be quite so conditioning however it is laminitic safe.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Dengie do a SENIOR hi-fi.
Dont know about the sugar content though. x

[/ QUOTE ] I did contact Dengie about this product for my old laminitic and they said the sugar content was a little too high for them to be able to recommend it for laminitics - I think that is because of its dried grass content.
 
mollichaff hoofkind is nice and soft, as is happy hoof, hi-fi senior, or mollichaff veteran.
 
We use Dodson & Horrell Safe and Sound chaff. I would consider it to be a soft, easy eating chaff and it is suitable for lami ponies. It has soft 'nuggets' in which keep them interested and make sure they all the extras they need. i could bag up a bit and send it to you if you can't check out an open bag somewhere and would like to feel it.
 
The ancient (late 20s/early 30s) shetland on our yard gets alfa a as a hay replacer, he leaves the stalky bits and eats the rest, in the mornings we give the stalky stuff to one of the other horses. Most of the alfa a is perfectly edible and it's not that much that gets left. As did the old pony who was 31 when she died. worked for them!
 
Thanks for the offer of sending a sample of Safe and Sound,very kind of you.When i work out how to send a PM i'll send my address!(Computers hadn't been invented when i was at school
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I echo Happy Hoof brilliant for my 40+ shetland with very few teeth, he also has fast fibre, equibeet ( cheeper thasn speedy beet and unmollassed) and soaked high fibre cubes. Looks great
 
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