Feed for fussy horse

[RHM]

So up to now I’ve not been feeding my ISH (bought start of summer). Now that the grass is dwindling she has dropped a tiny bit of weight and at the end of a ride seems more tired. She is pretty fit, out competing when we can in SJ, schools 4-5 days a week for 1.5 hours, long fast hacks around 2.5-3 hours at weekend and has been for the past 6 months. She is fed ad-lib hay but she is one of those horses that stops eating when she is full, annoyingly! Currently eating around 1.5% of her body weight in hay but has more available which she doesn’t touch.

So, I’ve been trying to feed her and failing miserably. What we have tried to date, grass nuts, agrobs straw chaff, pink mash, all served with linseed and equimins balancer. Which is what my pony gets. She will eat for a day or so then stop, doesn’t seem to prefer it wet or dry she just isn’t interested. So what do you all feed your fussy horses? In an ideal world it would be something that the pony could also have (he has EMS) just to reduced number of bins in feed room.
Thanks guys!

 

[Michen]

The ONLY thing my fussy horse will eat any quantity of and all winter (without going off it or chucking it around his stable) is equerry conditioning mash.

I don't like feeding that sort of thing and prefer straigts but it work for him.

 

[Pippity]

My extremely fussy horse is currently on Dengie Healthy Hooves, which is revoltingly sugary but about all she'll eat with any sort of regularity. It's currently augmented by a dollop of speedibeet (which used to be her main feed, but which she stopped eating about eighteen months ago, and has cautiously come back to in the past month or so), with micronised linseed, Pro Hoof, and a bit of dried mint in the vague hope that will make it all a bit more palatable.

At the moment, she's wolfing it down in preference to her haynet, but I'm pretty sure that will change once I buy my own speedibeet and stop nicking a friend's.

 

[Jeni the dragon]

Ours love Top Spec fibre plus cubes. When our oldie was being fussy about his feed we'd swap them in for a few days as he loved them so much.
They also seem to love the TS high fibre mash.

 

[RHM]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It’s a nightmare when they are like this!

 

[joelb]

OP if you're reasonably happy with your current feeding regime you could try adding fenugreek to feeds, it really encourages eating for some. With my fussy one I find any mashes or speedibeet have to be made with hot water even if fed cold, if I prep them with cold she won't touch them. I'm finding my hay is so good this year they just prefer it to bucket feed.

 

[LegOn]

The ONLY thing my fussy horse will eat any quantity of and all winter (without going off it or chucking it around his stable) is equerry conditioning mash.

I don't like feeding that sort of thing and prefer straigts but it work for him.

I was gonna suggest this aswell! Its very good for fussy eaters!

 

[WelshD]

I sell feed and my go-to in these situations is Spillers Speedy Mash Fibre, it would appear to be very palatable and it smells strongly of apples.

Its what I recommend to anyone who is struggling to get a horse to eat

 

[TGM]

If she has no special needs like ulcers, tying up, fizzy behaviour, then could you put her on whatever the pony is having and mix in some oats or micronised barley to make it more exciting for her?

 

[Surbie]

While mine isn't that fussy, I've found that serving it warm, rather than cold, gets him hugely enthusiastic about the yellow feed bucket appearing.

 

[tda]

What about just a pelleted balancer, it will only be a small amount, but if she's not hungry she's not hungry
The only other thing would be to not feed her ad-lib hay so she would be a *bit* hungry

 

[Chinchilla]

Second the fenugreek, it's a very potent appetite stimulant

 

[Annagain]

Have you tried feeding a completely dry food of just one thing?

Over the last couple of years, Archie has got increasingly fussy. A mixture of less (now no) work and fewer horses on the grass means he's not particularly hungry so he only eats if he really likes what's on offer. I only give him a token amount to get boswelia powder into him and what I've found is he's gone off anything wet, and anything chaffy. He now just has a handful of high fibre cubes with just a trickle of water to make the powder stick to them. Too dry and he picks them out and leaves the powder, too wet and he won't touch any of it. I literally have to add a teaspoon at a time until the powder sticks. With danilon, the weirdo will eat the cubes first and then lick the danilon out of the bucket as long as it's completely dry, even a damp bucket will stop him eating them.

Saracen Re-leve was my go to but it really needs to be soaked as there have been several cases of choke with it and he won't eat it wet any more.

 

[HorsesRule2009]

I work on a yard (first winter here) and hadist left from previous groom detailing each horse and a few were listed as being fuss eaters and always going of their food (confirmed by 2nd groom who still works with me).
Yet I have had no issues with any of them eating for me or becoming fussy.
I am feeding the all Fibrebeet (British horse feeds) and a basic conditioning cube in varying amounts depending on how they look and quite how much work they've done. Topped with micronised linseed.
Everything looks fantastic and the 2nd groom has also commented about the fact none have become fussy.
BTW these are hunters that were hunting roughly twice a week.

 

[PurBee]

Im amazed that your ISH working at least 8 hrs per week, eating just 1.5% hay in winter, isnt a bag of bones to be honest!

Its amazing she stops hay at 1.5%...mine self regulate at 3+% ?? so they dont get ad lib!

It’s not surprising she’s low energy at end of work if thats all she’s eating.
There’s so many bagged feeds on the market its hard to choose, or suggest, but i wanted to ask if an hour before work would it work to give her a high energy bowl feed To sustain her with fast release calories for the upcoming work session?

The only other thing id suggest for a horse who seems to have a dwindled appetite is probiotics. Ive used protexin, regularly, and that helps repopulate any imbalanced gut flora issues, which may be a cause of disturbed appetite.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I have just started feeding the pure feed easy it's a chaff with grass pellets in so you have to dampen it, my fussy horse is eating it as long as it's not too wet as I struggle to get him to eat mash wet type feed, they do a few other feeds so a different one might suit you if you can get hold of it, a lot of them have an added balancer so is a complete feed I am quite pleased with it.

 

[vhf]

Sounds very like my mare. You can see her saying 'If I eat any more it'll just go on my hips'! She will happily leave half a mouthful of bucket feed (or an entire feed) if she's not feeling like eating it. The only thing she will (usually) clean up is something disgustingly unhealthy and full of sugar. Doesn't like mashes, or alfalfa, or...
I ended up using a Complete Balancer (TopSpec Comprehensive) because it was the only thing I could reliably get enough into her to be sure she was getting all the vits and mins she needed as you only fed a mug's worth at a time, and it's also a bit conditioning. I did eventually (usually) get her to eat sugarbeet and micronised linseed (small amounts!) as well when I needed to up the intake, but she eats so slowly it was incredibly frustrating! One winter she dropped a bit of condition and I actually got her eating Top Spec's conditioning cubes, to my surprise.
She's now semi-retired and on better horse-grazing so I had to drop the balancer as it became too conditioning, but she will (usually) eat a supplement in her sugarbeet so long as I get the consistency and amount JUST right.

 

[Gingerwitch]

I have one that will only eat if she can mix her own dinner.... bit like us going to eat our sunday dinner and finding out that some one has cut up all the meat, mashed up all my greens in my potatoes and no..... put the gravy in the yorkshire pud so it has gone soggy......
She gets her feed in a very large bowl, plated up with her chaff in one section, her barley rings in another and her sugar beat in another and her carrots are used as the "borders" her little nose mixes it in just like a concrete mixer would. If you pre mix, it gets left.....weirdo

 

[Lipglosspukka]

I've just never experienced this. What a strange phenomenon, a horse who doesn't hoover up a bucket feed. I'm sure it's a myth.

 

[ycbm]

I've just never experienced this. What a strange phenomenon, a horse who doesn't hoover up a bucket feed. I'm sure it's a myth.

Think yourself lucky, owning one is an absolute pain!

 

[SmartieBean09]

Ive never known a horse to refuse Baileys Fibre Nuggets! I soak if particularly fussy or needing medication.
Ive also had great realists with anything TopSpec!

 

[ycbm]

I once had a mare who would not eat when she was not coming in season. We gave her hormones every 2 weeks in winter and she was fine.
.

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

Have you tried it without Equimins balancer? I’ve tried introducing it very slowly as my usual pro-balance was out of stock and my horses don’t like it. One won’t even eat his Pink Mash with half a teaspoon in it.

 

[RHM]

Im amazed that your ISH working at least 8 hrs per week, eating just 1.5% hay in winter, isnt a bag of bones to be honest!

Its amazing she stops hay at 1.5%...mine self regulate at 3+% ?? so they dont get ad lib!

It’s not surprising she’s low energy at end of work if thats all she’s eating.
There’s so many bagged feeds on the market its hard to choose, or suggest, but i wanted to ask if an hour before work would it work to give her a high energy bowl feed To sustain her with fast release calories for the upcoming work session?

The only other thing id suggest for a horse who seems to have a dwindled appetite is probiotics. Ive used protexin, regularly, and that helps repopulate any imbalanced gut flora issues, which may be a cause of disturbed appetite.

Luckily there is still some grass! She is a old fashioned type too, only 1/5th TB, she clearly has some strong good doer draught genes in there!
Might be a good idea re feeding time, and the probiotics, I can give both of these a go!

 

[RHM]

Have you tried it without Equimins balancer? I’ve tried introducing it very slowly as my usual pro-balance was out of stock and my horses don’t like it. One won’t even eat his Pink Mash with half a teaspoon in it.

Yeah, I completely cut it out and she was still equally uninterested. ?

 

[RHM]

I once had a mare who would not eat when she was not coming in season. We gave her hormones every 2 weeks in winter and she was fine.
.

That’s very interesting, what hormones did you give her out of interest? She isn’t very very marish but it won’t hurt to try!

 

[RHM]

I've just never experienced this. What a strange phenomenon, a horse who doesn't hoover up a bucket feed. I'm sure it's a myth.

Haha I wish it was the case, highly frustrating is an understatement!

 

[RHM]

I have one that will only eat if she can mix her own dinner.... bit like us going to eat our sunday dinner and finding out that some one has cut up all the meat, mashed up all my greens in my potatoes and no..... put the gravy in the yorkshire pud so it has gone soggy......
She gets her feed in a very large bowl, plated up with her chaff in one section, her barley rings in another and her sugar beat in another and her carrots are used as the "borders" her little nose mixes it in just like a concrete mixer would. If you pre mix, it gets left.....weirdo

I am not going to lie this did make me laugh ? prepared to give the feed in whichever way she wants at this point!

 

[ycbm]

That’s very interesting, what hormones did you give her out of interest? She isn’t very very marish but it won’t hurt to try!

Oestradiol 2 ml into her chest. She wasn't a marish mare either. The second winter i was tearing my hair out with a ribby horse again when I realised what it was. My vet laughed at me but gave me oestradiol. I put it in her chest and went for a hack and she went into her stable and wolfed her food down that was in the bucket from hours earlier. It began to wear off at 16 days out so, so I just injected her every 14 days until she came in season in spring.
.

 

[PurBee]

I have one that will only eat if she can mix her own dinner.... bit like us going to eat our sunday dinner and finding out that some one has cut up all the meat, mashed up all my greens in my potatoes and no..... put the gravy in the yorkshire pud so it has gone soggy......
She gets her feed in a very large bowl, plated up with her chaff in one section, her barley rings in another and her sugar beat in another and her carrots are used as the "borders" her little nose mixes it in just like a concrete mixer would. If you pre mix, it gets left.....weirdo

thats hilarious! A horse that prefers a buffet! ?? so sweet!