Feed Advice for veteran mare

SmartieBean09

SmartieBean09

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Hi, can anyone suggest a suitable veteran feed for my mare?

She is 14hh Arab X and 26 years old. She currently weighs 341kg and although she looks well, she is a lot smaller than her usual 395kg.

In the last 2 years (since I became pregant), my mare was turned away for a 18 months. In July 2009 she suffered a serious case of colic and then in Nov 09 she had a bad case of choke which left her sore and unable to eat hay or long stem chop for 2 months. She is fully vaccinated, up to date with worming and just to be on the safe side her teeth have been checked since the choke and bloods taken.

The blood results were normal and her teeth are fine, although worn due to her age.

Up until she was turned away, she looked and acted like a 5 year old. I always struggled to keep the weight off her too. Now although she looks good, she is slowly losing more weight. Since bringing her back into work, she lacks the sparkle she used to have. Therefore I though perhaps a veteran feed may help?

She is currently fed:
1kg Happy Hoof
200g Alfa A (have tried Alfa Oil but she was unable to chew/digest)
500g Fast Fibre

Supplements:
Soya Oil
Cider Vinegar
Garlic
Pink Powder (helps with her loose droppings)
Premierflex plus

Any advice would be great.

Thanks
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No not really. I took her off any cereal based feeds after her colic. This was then followed by her choke episode and so was advised by my EDT to put her on a hay replacer for a little while until she was able to cope with soft meadow hay. Once she started to eat hay I was left with all the feed I used in her hay replacer so I just continued using that but obviously a lot less of it.

I think she needs something more just not sure what. The last time she was on any hard feed, she was overweight and fizzy. She did really well on Dodson and horrell Leisure mix and have thought about putting her back on this. The only reason I thought perhaps a veteran feed may be better is because I think she is starting to feel her age now what with the loss of weight and energy issues. Do you think this is perhaps due to her current feed and not her age?
 
Why not introduce a nut based feed? You can soak it then prior to feeding to ensure that she doesn't get choke. It may be enough just to feed Fibre Cubes with some Conditioning Cubes.
 
Have you tried her on Allen and Page Old Faithfuls special blend (i think its called)? My veteran was on it for a little while last year and it seemed to put weight on him really nicely, too nicely in fact as he got a little too portly and is now just on fast fibre and chaff. The Old Faithful seems very palatable too and like all of the A&P feeds you soak it for a few mins before feeding.
 
If you are worried about feeding high starch, cereal-based feeds, then you could swap the Happy Hoof and Fast Fibre (which are both quite low cal at 8.8 MJDE/kg and 8 MJDE/kg) for a higher calorie fibre feed. Soaked grass nuts are one option (10-11 MJDE/kg), or a grass chaff (10-11 MJDE/kg), or some unmolassed sugar beet (12.4 MJDE/kg) or a combination of these.
 
Excellent advice. Thanks TGM. She was having a grass based chaff Nov/Dec time in her hayreplacer because she lost condition at that time. I didnt even think to perhaps reintroduce that. Thank you.

I am a worry wart when it comes to starch. Especially now she is showing true signs of aging and having previously had colic. All of this has made me quite paranoid when it comes to feeding.

She always did so well on Fibergy and leisure mix and oil. Part of me thinks perhaps if she doesnt pick up that I should reintroduce this feed again????
 
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