Complete hay replacer

[gerbera]

Hi, I have a 25 year old horse that had a tooth removed yesterday and has 3 other loose teeth. She also damaged her tendon a few weeks back so is now confined to my yard for the rest of the winter (which she likes as she hates mud!) I need to replace her hay with something else, can anyone advise please?

My horse is 16.2hh and now struggles with weight, but I have managed to put weight back on her by feeding Senior Super Mash and linseed, so at the moment she is looking quite well.

So far by doing a bit of research I have found that Hi Fi Senior is an ideal complete hay replacer and I have looked at Simple Systems Haycare as another option. What else do people feed as a hay replacer?

Thank you

 

[Auslander]

A mixture of grass chaff, unmolassed hifi, soaked grassnuts and Fast Fibre - enough to fill up a large trug, so it's roughly haynet sized

 

[Shay]

If you need more calories than fast fibre you could look at sooth & gain? But I use fast fibre as a hay replacer.

 

[gerbera]

I find it all a mine fi

A mixture of grass chaff, unmolassed hifi, soaked grassnuts and Fast Fibre - enough to fill up a large trug, so it's roughly haynet sized

Thank you

 

[gerbera]

If you need more calories than fast fibre you could look at sooth & gain? But I use fast fibre as a hay replacer.

Thank you. I find the supermash has helped loads for her weight, but I need something to get her through the night, the equivalent of hay, something that isn’t eaten in 10 mins 🤔

 

[meleeka]

A mixture of grass chaff, unmolassed hifi, soaked grassnuts and Fast Fibre - enough to fill up a large trug, so it's roughly haynet sized

This. I’d be wary of feeding just chaff for a horse with poor teeth.

 

[AandK]

One of mine can’t have hay at the moment, he’s been having readigrass and senior supermash instead. The mash can be used as a hay replacer.

 

[gerbera]

One of mine can’t have hay at the moment, he’s been having readigrass and senior supermash instead. The mash can be used as a hay replacer.

I rushed out to buy her readigrass the other day but she has refused to eat it, dry or damp. I also feed her a mix of soaked grass and alfalfa pellets, it's perfect for her but now she has also gone off of that and has stopped eating it. The only thing she wants to eat is grass (she escaped my yard the other day and was happily munching on my lawn outside).

Tomorrow I will run out and buy her the Dengie Hi Fi Senior and see if she will eat a trug of that instead of a night net. It does say it can be fed as a hay replacer and for horses with poor dental.

I just want her to have something substantial to eat at night, but it's proving more difficult than I thought it would be. She loves haylage but that's no good for her loose teeth...feeling a bit stressed as I need to find her a permanent replacement!

 

[tda]

For my old ladies with poor teeth, they got soaked grass nuts and unmollassed beet pellets, bucket full
Tried readygrass but not overly keen

 

[gerbera]

This. I’d be wary of feeding just chaff for a horse with poor teeth.

For my old ladies with poor teeth, they got soaked grass nuts and unmollassed beet pellets, bucket full
Tried readygrass but not overly keen

I thought she would love the readigrass, I was so disappointed when the next morning there was a whole bucket of it still sitting there! I've just been back on the yard and given her a supermash feed and mixed some readigrass into it as she's not really eating. To be fair though, she had a horrible tooth infection with lots of green discharge from her nostril that absolutely stank, this literally happened overnight and she would be able to smell that herself. The discharge is still there and the vet said it can take up to 6 days to go so maybe that is putting her off of eating...I know it would me!

 

[tda]

Ah, that's what happened with one of our old ladies, sinus infection it was awful. Huge abcess 😑

 

[milliepops]

mine don't like readigrass but they like emerald green grass chaff. it's quite a bit softer I think. I expect EG would send you a sample.

 

[ester]

Mine cannot eat chaff, he will try but it mostly all comes out again, he actually finds hay easier (don't quite get that). I'd keep to the soaked options for a bit.

 

[gerbera]

I thought she would love the readigrass, I was so disappointed when the next morning there was a whole bucket of it still sitting there! I've just been back on the yard and given her a supermash feed and mixed some readigrass into it as she's not really eating. To be fair though, she had a horrible tooth infection with lots of green discharge from her nostril that absolutely stank, this literally happened overnight and she would be able to smell that herself. The discharge is still there and the vet said it can take up to 6 days to go so maybe that is putting her off of eating...I know it would me!

 

[gerbera]

Ah, that's what happened with one of our old ladies, sinus infection it was awful. Huge abcess 😑

 

[gerbera]

It's such an awful smell isn't it, I have never smelt anything so bad, poor girl

 

[gerbera]

mine don't like readigrass but they like emerald green grass chaff. it's quite a bit softer I think. I expect EG would send you a sample.

Thank you for that, I'll look into it

 

[gerbera]

Mine cannot eat chaff, he will try but it mostly all comes out again, he actually finds hay easier (don't quite get that). I'd keep to the soaked options for a bit.

Yes, I will persevere with the soaked alfalfa and grass pellets

 

[twiggy2]

An old gelding I used to look after could not eat hay or halylage but could cope fairly well with long grass, he was turned out all day and he was always in the field with the most grass, when he came in her had three of the over the door type feed buckets full of a mixture of soaked grass nuts, speedibeet, veteran mix and oil, he did well on that for over 5 yrs.
In the summer he was out at night and had 2 buckets full during the day, he did always used to want hay and would grab it if he could but just such it round his mouth till he spat it back out again.

 

[gerbera]

An old gelding I used to look after could not eat hay or halylage but could cope fairly well with long grass, he was turned out all day and he was always in the field with the most grass, when he came in her had three of the over the door type feed buckets full of a mixture of soaked grass nuts, speedibeet, veteran mix and oil, he did well on that for over 5 yrs.
In the summer he was out at night and had 2 buckets full during the day, he did always used to want hay and would grab it if he could but just such it round his mouth till he spat it back out again.

Thank you, that's very helpful.