Does your horse randomly go off food?

Michen said:
To be clear he’s rejecting food he’s decided he doesn’t like, not rejecting food- he’s still eating plenty!

....... If I gave him a bucket full of cubes he would certainly get through them.
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In this case I'm not understanding the issue really. I think you may be overthinking it. He won't starve through leaving the odd feed or eating more some days than others. If he is just a bit intermittent in wanting to eat his hard feed, I wouldn't stress about it. I would give him a base ration of some high energy cubes or a balancer and add other bits and bobs for extra palatability/energy if needed, or not, depending on his appetite. The vast array of mixes and feeds on the market is a marketing ploy for owners, not the horses.
 
Yes. The orange one with ppid that I used to have...

He hated fast fibre, speedibeet became boring very quickly, hay cobs were yuck, anything made by thunder brooks was yuck, agrobs mash was yuck unless I mixed it with something else... alphabeet & fibrebeet tasted yummy in their taster packs but yuck in their actual bags.

He liked copra most of the time but only if at exactly the right consistency. He liked alfalfa pellets (but reacted badly to any chaff with it in) but not if they were fully soaked. Linseed was meh in that he’d tolerate it but don’t think he liked it. Emerald green meadow pellets were the only acceptable alternative to alfalfa pellets as far as he was concerned. Agrobs muesli was enjoyable on its own but not tasty enough to mix supplements into apart from when it was.... Frequently wanted to murder him when he picked random reasons not to eat (was also a poor doer)

Current plump highland is at war with me over speedibeet & its edibility. Conceded & added Timothy pellets that yard already had. Have since further conceded & adding hot water to improve soaking time (He won’t eat feeds made the day before or earlier in the day). When I reach bottom of speedibeet bag may try something else if still not feeling it as it’s literally a supplement carrier so aiming to feed smallest amount I can get away with...
 
Leandy said:
In this case I'm not understanding the issue really. I think you may be overthinking it. He won't starve through leaving the odd feed or eating more some days than others. If he is just a bit intermittent in wanting to eat his hard feed, I wouldn't stress about it. I would give him a base ration of some high energy cubes or a balancer and add other bits and bobs for extra palatability/energy if needed, or not, depending on his appetite. The vast array of mixes and feeds on the market is a marketing ploy for owners, not the horses.
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The issue is that what he wants today may not be what he wants tomorrow! And it’s disappointing as the barley rings made a noticeable difference very quickly and seem to work really well for him- better than anything else I’ve tried with him, but he’s just suddenly gone off them.

I don’t think I’m over thinking it, I have a horse with a tendency to run really lean in the winter (though never “thin”) when hunting and he’s about to come into a busy time period, it’s important to keep weight on now and not let him drop off as it’s very hard to then get it back. He’s probably going to be busier this winter than he was last.

Have had some very useful suggestions and am going to try the alternating feeds first off.
 
Boulty said:
Yes. The orange one with ppid that I used to have...

He hated fast fibre, speedibeet became boring very quickly, hay cobs were yuck, anything made by thunder brooks was yuck, agrobs mash was yuck unless I mixed it with something else... alphabeet & fibrebeet tasted yummy in their taster packs but yuck in their actual bags.

He liked copra most of the time but only if at exactly the right consistency. He liked alfalfa pellets (but reacted badly to any chaff with it in) but not if they were fully soaked. Linseed was meh in that he’d tolerate it but don’t think he liked it. Emerald green meadow pellets were the only acceptable alternative to alfalfa pellets as far as he was concerned. Agrobs muesli was enjoyable on its own but not tasty enough to mix supplements into apart from when it was.... Frequently wanted to murder him when he picked random reasons not to eat (was also a poor doer)

Current plump highland is at war with me over speedibeet & its edibility. Conceded & added Timothy pellets that yard already had. Have since adding hot water to improve soaking time (He won’t eat feeds made the day before or earlier in the day). When I reach bottom of speedibeet bag may try something else if still not feeling it as it’s literally a supplement carrier so aiming to feed smallest amount I can get away with...
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Would spillers speedy mash help? Soaked in a minute in warm water, 90 seconds in cold. Very low calorie so you can give them more of it to disguise supplements. It works well for mine as long as they dont realise the tb has something much more fattening!


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Michen PM me your address and I'll send you a couple of fistfuls of fenugreek to try if you haven't already. All mine are eating well at and I have half a bucket going stale, but who knew, horses really like curry 😆

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An alternative to racehorse cubes is D & H Microfeed, we found this good for a fussy mare who wouldn't eat the volume of cubes needed.
 
Never thank god! I think he’d eat the whole bin in one sitting. My last horse was incredibly stressful though so can sympathise. Alternating between wet and dry was the only thing that helped !
 
Yes, Rog can be like that! He's got a slight excuse as he's cushings but he needs lots of different things to chop and change with. Last winter he ate the Top Spec Conditioning flakes til February and then decided he didn't like them. He eats their Conditioning cubes and he loves the fibre plus cubes so tend to keep them to sprinkle a few on the top.
He also can't have a big bucket, as soon as he's finished one bit he gets some more.
It's a real nightmare! The other two will literally eat anything you put in front of them.
 
What about a competition mix? I know corse mixes get a bad rep on here but he sounds like he would be using the energy and wouldn't make him hotter.

I guess if he doesn't eat up all his feed you need to feed something that's high fat but small volume - what about Equi Jewel or Omega Rice Bran?
 
I have absolutely nothing helpful to add but just know that you are not alone. My pony is a horror to feed, one day it’s delicious and the next it’s poison. He literally has me pulling my hair out! Doesn’t help matters but he also has EMS so can’t have any sugar, he got considerably worse with his feed since starting metformin. One thing I have varying success with is sugar free squash, a splash on top sometimes helps, sometimes doesn’t 🙈 good luck retaining your sanity, mine is hanging by a thread!
 
Mine can be quite fussy and would rather eat his hay. However, he is currently on metformin powder for EMS so I am adding powdered cinnamon with his metformin to a little speedibeet and D&H hoofkind. Admittedly we are still trying to take weight off rather than put it on and he is in slow work but he will eat feed before hay now.
 
One if my Connemaras is like this. He’s a bit stressy and people kept talking about ulcers (but like yours, he didn’t show any other signs) so I tried to feed him all the good quality low starch type feeds - top spec cool condition, tried A&P range etc etc. He’d tuck in fir a few wks then completely go off it. Linseed, grass nuts, speedibeet, yuck. Feed room full of rejected bags.

Then he shared a field with a friend’s horse and we started feeding them in the field. Mine had his v expensive top spec dinner, friend’s horse had own brand bog standard cond nuts and molassed chaff. They both ended up eating that out of the same bowl and both left the top spec!

So I ended up giving him the same. And now he eats all his food up every day. But he likes old-school stuff like pasture mix, or conditioning mix. Has it made any difference to his behaviour? Not a jot. He’s still him, just with a bit more condition on!
 
The post above has just given me an idea, could you try putting a mirror up so he thinks he may get the feed stolen? I suspect he has neighbours behind the bars so it may make no difference but may be worth a try.
 
indie1282 said:
What about a competition mix? I know corse mixes get a bad rep on here but he sounds like he would be using the energy and wouldn't make him hotter.

I guess if he doesn't eat up all his feed you need to feed something that's high fat but small volume - what about Equi Jewel or Omega Rice Bran?
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This is exactly what I do now with mine. He loves the sticky mixes, which I know get such bad press these days, so don’t all jump on me!! So I give him half a scoop of either pasture mix or comp mix depending on work with a balancer and a cup of outshine, so he’s not getting too much of the sticky mix, but he’s getting quite a high calorie meal.

He also gets ad lib very high quality forage of course. And Michen, hes hunting too. Might be worth going a bit old school with your Irish hunting pony and trying a tasty mix!
 
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