Colt foal gone off his hard feed?!?!

[AM Gal]

[h=2]

Colt foal gone off his hard feed?!?![/h]

.3Completely confused......Three days ago my colt foal was eating plenty of hard feed and Haylage as he is stabled at night. But the other morning his night feed was still in his feed bowl and hardly any haylage was touched?! I thought at the time it might be because he was under the weather, so put him out as usual with his two companions and watched him a while whilst he was at grass- he was eating grass completely fine??!! more confused!! Since then he has not touched his hard feed or barely touched his haylage at night? and to add to this he is barely drinking a quarter of his water, in the stable?! eeekk.....do you think he could have mouth ulcers or something i have checked his mouth but cannot see much there. I will be calling vet but thursday if he doesnt improve. I do hear that young horses can go off their hard feed is this right? also they can be prone to mouth ulcers? he is wormed regurlary.....last time was 3 weeks ago. Please help!​

 

[dianchi]

Can you offer him something else in the stable? Maybe hay and just a bucket of chaff or carrots?

Im sure you are panicking over nothing and tomorrow he will have eaten the lot!

 

[NeverSayNever]

how old is he and how long have you had him? I would be getting the vet now, just to do a check over. He could be becoming a little colicky. They can go downhill really quickly too so I wouldnt take any chances.

 

[AM Gal]

Hi i hope Dianchi is right that i am just panicking over nothing. He is just over 5 months old. If he id colicky would he eat grass though? when i put him out this morning he ran after my others and starting eating like normal, and if i give my old fella (buddy) some hard food, the colt (marley) will walk into buddy's stable and eat the rest of his hay?? very confusing. He is quite a quiet foal, so i cant really tell if he is feeling down. I will be over to get them in shoertly....so hopefully he will be feeling better. Neversaynever do you think he could be still wormy? that can cause colic,right? he hasnt rolled or seemed destressed though? Fingers crossed all well tonight.

 

[Silverfire]

Can you take his temperature and check its normal? How much grass is he actually eating? What has he been wormed with? Has he had panacur 5 day or equest? Foals can go downhill very very quickly and often the first signs are them going off there food. If he still isn't eating tonight it would be a good idea to speak to your vet about him, if he has a temperature then you need a vet today.

 

[dianchi]

Hi i hope Dianchi is right that i am just panicking over nothing. He is just over 5 months old. If he id colicky would he eat grass though? when i put him out this morning he ran after my others and starting eating like normal, and if i give my old fella (buddy) some hard food, the colt (marley) will walk into buddy's stable and eat the rest of his hay?? very confusing. He is quite a quiet foal, so i cant really tell if he is feeling down. I will be over to get them in shoertly....so hopefully he will be feeling better. Neversaynever do you think he could be still wormy? that can cause colic,right? he hasnt rolled or seemed destressed though? Fingers crossed all well tonight.

Seems he is eating just not what you have given him, haylege but be a bit rich for his tummy, so just try him on hay.

What hard feed are you giving a 5 month?

 

[AM Gal]

Hi, he was wormed with Equi max last. but that was 3 weeks ago. I will check his temp tonight.....37.5-38.5 normal?is that right? Yes the haylage could be a little rich for him this time around, as it looks a totally different bale to what i have had before.....little like meadow grass-looks and smells lovely, will try some hay tonight. so this could be more serious then i thought then.....:-(

 

[Maesfen]

It could be something as simple as contaminated foodstuff, possibly a mouse or dog has messed in it or it could be a bad batch. To be on tha safe side I would empty it all away, wash out the bowls and buckets properly then put a small amount of feed and haylage in, see if that makes any difference.
What are you feeding and how long has he been on it, also how long since he's been weaned as it could all have a bearing on this?

Equimax is quite strong for a foal so young so that could have upset him especially if he did have some worms to shift.

 

[AM Gal]

i was advised to use equi max by vet!! he is currently on stud mix, alfa a chaff and a little sugar beet about 1.5kg of it a day which i was also advised on by spillers themselves! i do have mice around but they can not get into my feed bens or there is no sign of it. He has been on this feed for about a month now, i had him early as dam was very poor......dealer!!! Anyway i did ask Spillers if he needed milk pellets etc, but that is when they advised on the feed. So even though this is so new to me having a foal... i did try and educate myself and now i have this dilema where he is just not eating it.....worried like you wouldnt believe!!

 

[dianchi]

Ok deep breath!

I know whats its like, my mare didn't do my foal well at all and was really worried about her not being big enough.

Foals are lil fussy posts and very sensitive, as Masefen says, give you buckets a scrub out and offer a little feed, The feed companies will mostly always tell you that their feed is perfect for you horse- they want you to buy their feed after all!

He is eating grass, so its not like he isn't eating, you said he is eating his buddy's hay- is this the same as what you are giving him?

Provided that he is bright and happy and is drinking in the field and eating grass don't panic!

 

[AM Gal]

Yes he is eating buddys hay...it is exactly the same as what i give him, but i do have dogs....they may of pee'd up the bale...b*ggers! so i will empty them out tonight aswell as cleaning the buckets etc. Ill take his temp too. Thank you so much for all your advice!!

 

[Silverfire]

My foals eat haylage from a few days old without problems. Your feed sounds fine. Maybe he is being fussy or maybe hes feeling poorly. I had a six month foal once who stopped eating haylage, feed and her mothers milk but she was eating grass fine. She didnt look sick, even the first vet who saw her said she didn't look sick. She did have a temperature. She was dead a week later despite receiving the best veterinairy care.
Check his temperature. If he doesn't eat properley tonight then speak to a vet.
If i bought a foal with an unknown worming history then i would worm with panacur 5 day. Its okay to use in foals over 3 months old.

 

[Maesfen]

i was advised to use equi max by vet!! he is currently on stud mix, alfa a chaff and a little sugar beet about 1.5kg of it a day which i was also advised on by spillers themselves! i do have mice around but they can not get into my feed bens or there is no sign of it. He has been on this feed for about a month now, i had him early as dam was very poor......dealer!!! Anyway i did ask Spillers if he needed milk pellets etc, but that is when they advised on the feed. So even though this is so new to me having a foal... i did try and educate myself and now i have this dilema where he is just not eating it.....worried like you wouldnt believe!!

Typical vet, some of them have little idea how fragile a foal's stomach can be especially if the mare hasn't been doing it well.

That sounds an awful lot of feed for a baby and why firms recommend a chaff or sugar beet for something under 7 months I'll never know. The teeth aren't sufficiently developed to chew chaff properly, it just gets swallowed so no goodness from it and sometimes it can ball up and cause choke if given too young. There's also the fact that their digestion system isn't fully developed until they're older so they can't digest the sugar in sugar beet or molassed feeds unless it's the unmollassed sort. Alfa A is notoriously stalky for fragile mouths plus it's a very acquirred taste, usually too strong for foals, in fact none of mine, grown ups or foals will eat it at all!
You don't say what type he is or size but personally I would be putting him on a special balancer for young horses, either Suregrow by D & H or a stud balancer. They would be fed at 350gms ber 100kg weight, so a foal that young would be on something like a mug full twice a day and that is all they need other than hay/haylage and grazing. It can be fed totally on its own, no need to add anything at all as it gives them everything they need for a growing body without too many calories. While a bag might deem dear, because it lasts so long it actually works out a lot cheaper than all of the other things you're feeding. I've fed all of mine on Suregrow for the last six years and they have all grown very evenly and looked tremendous. For the first winter it's only Suregrow with hay/haylage and grazing but the next winter I'll add sugar beet and pony nuts to it, after that they go onto a grown diet as they've done the major part of their growing. http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/our-feeds/breeding/thoroughbred/mare-stallion/suregrow.html
http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/studareahome/studproducts/studbalancerstud.htm

 

[AM Gal]

wow...!Maesfen i will take all you have said on board. Ive just come back from yard (second visit tonight) earlier checked his temp and it was 38 dead on, he was eating grass in paddock t time, bless him....until i turned up and stabbed him in the bottom!!! About 20 min ago i re did it and it had fallen to 37.8 so whether he actually was under the weather, he's temp is coming down, he straight away went to his haylage and tucked right in!! Nan cut up slices of carrots and apples to mix in with just his mix so i have left him with that so hopefully panick over?! Maesfen he is tbx sports he stands about 12.2hh or a little over, he is 5 months 1 week. So if i was just to give him Stud/youngster mix that would be enough? I have got so confused over what to feed for the best- every feed merchant/specialist i have emailed or spoken to say different things!!

 

[Buddy'sMum]

Another vote for D&H Suregrow. That and good quality hay/haylage should be all he needs.

 

[NeverSayNever]

wow...!Maesfen i will take all you have said on board. Ive just come back from yard (second visit tonight) earlier checked his temp and it was 38 dead on, he was eating grass in paddock t time, bless him....until i turned up and stabbed him in the bottom!!! About 20 min ago i re did it and it had fallen to 37.8 so whether he actually was under the weather, he's temp is coming down, he straight away went to his haylage and tucked right in!! Nan cut up slices of carrots and apples to mix in with just his mix so i have left him with that so hopefully panick over?! Maesfen he is tbx sports he stands about 12.2hh or a little over, he is 5 months 1 week. So if i was just to give him Stud/youngster mix that would be enough? I have got so confused over what to feed for the best- every feed merchant/specialist i have emailed or spoken to say different things!!

that sounds positive! He is really young, when was he weaned?

Just keep a really close eye, I recently lost a foal I bought at 6 months old. She colicked really badly but was wanting to graze even when lying down in the field and really poorly, she was still trying to pull at grass. Id hate the same thing to happen to anyone else and my vets have said they just dont take chances with foals that are ‘a bit off’, always worth getting a check by a proper, experienced equine vet, better to be safe than sorry.

 

[AM Gal]

Good news this morning.....he ate all his dinner last night and his breakie!!!! trotted all the way to the field..dear of him! I didnt realise having a foal would be so stressful and constantly worrying about them! its worse then having a baby!! Thank you so much for your advice! can someone please advise me on what wormer to worm him with previously it was Equi max? Vet coming to do jabs tomorrow so gonna have a full MOT too. Sorry to hear some of you lost your lovely foals, i will be keeping a very close eye on him from now on!

 

[Maesfen]

That is good news; like children, you don't realise how down they feel until they're better!

Until their first spring, I usually stick with either Strongid P or Panacur for the foals then in spring I'll start them with Equest along with the older ones. I'm about to do their autumn 5 day Panacur course for them all then an Equitape which should take us to the spring dose of Equest. I'd ask your vet but would have thought as Equimax is quite harsh that something like a Strongid P after Christmas would be enough until a spring dose of Equest but stand to be corrected on that.

 

[Silverfire]

Thats good news, glad he is eating again.
Worming wise as you don't know his worming history or how worm free the land in his previous home was then i would worm him with panacur 5 day soon. Young foals can and do get encysted redworm even when they have been well wormed if they haven't actually been treated for encysted.
Im just worming one of mine with panacur 5 day now, he has been wormed monthly with pyrantal up to now, he is just over 4.5 months old.

 

[Hurricanelady]

Typical vet, some of them have little idea how fragile a foal's stomach can be especially if the mare hasn't been doing it well.

That sounds an awful lot of feed for a baby and why firms recommend a chaff or sugar beet for something under 7 months I'll never know. The teeth aren't sufficiently developed to chew chaff properly, it just gets swallowed so no goodness from it and sometimes it can ball up and cause choke if given too young. There's also the fact that their digestion system isn't fully developed until they're older so they can't digest the sugar in sugar beet or molassed feeds unless it's the unmollassed sort. Alfa A is notoriously stalky for fragile mouths plus it's a very acquirred taste, usually too strong for foals, in fact none of mine, grown ups or foals will eat it at all!
You don't say what type he is or size but personally I would be putting him on a special balancer for young horses, either Suregrow by D & H or a stud balancer. They would be fed at 350gms ber 100kg weight, so a foal that young would be on something like a mug full twice a day and that is all they need other than hay/haylage and grazing. It can be fed totally on its own, no need to add anything at all as it gives them everything they need for a growing body without too many calories. While a bag might deem dear, because it lasts so long it actually works out a lot cheaper than all of the other things you're feeding. I've fed all of mine on Suregrow for the last six years and they have all grown very evenly and looked tremendous. For the first winter it's only Suregrow with hay/haylage and grazing but the next winter I'll add sugar beet and pony nuts to it, after that they go onto a grown diet as they've done the major part of their growing. http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/our-feeds/breeding/thoroughbred/mare-stallion/suregrow.html
http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/studareahome/studproducts/studbalancerstud.htm

Excellent feeding advice.

I also personally use Intelligent Worming and find their service suits me to provide an individual programme for all 5 of my horses, who range in ages from 18 months to 20 years old and the babies have been on the IW programmes since they were foals. You can do it cheaper by using someone like Westgate labs for worm counts and buying your own wormers but personally I haven't got time and prefer IW to deal with it all for me and just send everything I need through the post, changing the programme as necessary per horse depending on the results of the worm counts (tapeworm is always wormed for as it doesn't show up in counts).

Good luck he sounds lovely

 

[AM Gal]

Thanks All!
I will be buying my wormers this weekend and do all three on the same one, probably panacur 5 day-Expensive!! Just hope the little man doesnt go off his food again so he finishes the course!

 

[Lucky Lady]

Let us know what the vet says, its a funny time of year, they do strange things!

 

[AM Gal]

Hi,
Had Vet this morning. He was very happy with him, checked him all over and and done the jabs. Still cant book in yet for his man bit to come off, as no sign as of yet! hopefully they will before it gets too close to spring! Anyway he did find two Grass cuts on his lips so that may of been the cause of not eating.....But he couldnt find anything to be worried about. This Vet had advised to do Panacur over Dec, because of a high amount of Redworm about?! Anyway Thanks All Again for your help!

 

[Lucky Lady]

Great news!!

 

[Patterdale]

If he's 5 months old then you must have got him when he was 4 months?

No offence OP but when Tessybears foal got weaned at 4.5 months everyone was in uproar, yet this personhas had loads of helpful advice?

This forum is nuts.

 

[AM Gal]

Thats right i did have him at 4 months. I wasnt too happy at having him off his mum too early, but the fact the mare wasnt in the best condition herself, (whether she was wormy or lack of the right feed stuff) It would be silly to keep a Foal on a mare that could not provide enough or the right nutrients the foal required. So i am glad i got him early, However with the immediate 'Horse Specialists' i have around me in my area of my yard, I struggled to think i did the right thing. I did my homework on absolutley everything and i am still learning as All of us will be doing so - Hence the Forum. Many online breeders and Local breeders i have spoken to did not seem too concerned about him being 4 months and weaned from the Dam, as long as he is already eating Hardfeed and Hay. 'The Horse Specialists' (around my yard) then critized me on not feeding him milk pellets......But they are only suitable upto 3 months olds, as advised by two different online specialist feed companies that sell them themselves, and by a Feed store owner that has 35 years experience......which is more than my short 26 years. This however is my first foal....So my lack of knowledge has been improved by using the Net. I am sorry to hear Tessybear got a hard time about having a 4.5 month old, I assume the foal in question has turned out ok and all well and good?