Boosting appetite -how?

[trundle]

I feel like i shouldn't really be moaning about this! My mare is out all day, in a good-sized paddock that has LOADS of grass still. She has arthritis and needs joint supplement morning and evening, and half a Danilon in the morning.

In the summer, I was giving her two small feeds of Hi-Fi with the supps in it, and she scarfed it all down and licked the bowl clean. However, at that time she was out 24/7 in a field with fairly sparse grazing, so I guess she was peckish.

She is in at night now, and gets a good-sized net of haylage, plus her bucket of feed (with lots of chopped-up carrots in it to tempt her to eat). However, most mornings, she hasn't finished the bucket feed from the night before, and often doesn't eat much of her breakfast. She obviously isn't particularly hungry, which is good, but i do need to get the joint supp and the Danilon into her, especially as the weather is getting colder.

What can i put in her feed to make it a bit more appetising for her? I was thinking perhaps apple juice, or a bit of dried mint, but I really don't know what would be best. Any advice?

 

[Montyforever]

Apple juice worked for me

 

[picolenicole]

Nupafeed do a supplement that increases appetie, cann't remember what it's called tho.

We use golden syrup but horse got bord of it so used Nupafeed, I know strange horse but thats what he was like!

 

[mahorse]

Is she eating all her haylege? Have you had her teeth check recently? I'm sure you have but just an idea....
PS. Mine loves garlic and speedy beet in her feed!

 

[BigRed]

My horse is the same, she often does not eat her breakfast because she knows she is going out in the field. She is currently bored of the hi-fi, so in the winter I often add a handful of crushed oats, mixed well into the hi-fi. Unlike pony nuts which will fall away from the chaff, the oats seems to stick in there.

 

[noblesteed]

When my horse was poorly and needed meds, he wouldn't eat his usual tea. I tried a few things and found he couldn't resist Applechaff. so that's what he got. It's supposed to be low-sugar too, it's made by the people who make mollichaff.
You could try disguising the danilon in something if that's what's putting her off. My old mare had danilon hidden in a banana! It was the only way she would eat it!

 

[Lanky Loll]

We've got one that's a finicky eater - makes it very difficult to keep weight on him when he's in training. We've found that putting fenugreek in his feed works wonders and he wolfs his grub back.