Feed to carry balancer

[Horses_Rule]

So my 2 year old from Ireland has arrived and have got her some forage plus young horse balancer , it’s a powder so I got her some fast fibre to carry it but not at all interested! Possibly the consistency as the first few days I noticed some oat hulls in her droppings so she’s eaten feed at some point! So what shall I try next? Was thinking some grass nuts maybe ? Then I can soak them and use it to carry? She’s eating plenty of forage and grass so even though she could do with some condition that should do the trick. I don’t want to go too mad in terms of calories as she’s ID x cob so could become a fatty in the blink of an eye ! Any suggestions?

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

I mix forageplus in with a handful of Dengie Alfa A and water. Just enough of the Dengie when wet to carry the powder.

 

[be positive]

I would give her a few more days to settle in and just give a few bits of carrot or apple so she gets used to eating something out of a bowl, then try again with a small amount of the ff just soaked so it is not sloppy, grate or chop the carrots in and see if she is more interested, it makes sense to at least try again rather than ending up buying half the feed store and still finding she is not keen.

Once you get her eating, whatever you end up with give her a few days before gradually introducing the powder, mine are on a pellet supplement and are eating it in a token amount of linseed which they love and I have a bag to use up.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Forage plus is quite a strong tase so many horses don’t like it. If it were me if have something like spillers daily balancer that you can add to fast fibre and feed. They tend to find that more palatable.

My two year old is having equimins tip top powder with a cup of D&H youngstock pellets soaked and a handful of readigrass as he bolts his food and chokes to it makes him chew. He’s thriving on this once a day and decent grazing.

 

[Horses_Rule]

She hasn’t had the balancer yet am waiting for when she finds something she’d like to eat first to then try and add gradually. Will perhaps try grating some carrot into bowl and see how that goes as the concept of conventional carrot eating confuses her too!

 

[be positive]

She hasn’t had the balancer yet am waiting for when she finds something she’d like to eat first to then try and add gradually. Will perhaps try grating some carrot into bowl and see how that goes as the concept of conventional carrot eating confuses her too!

I have had a few that didn't get feed, or carrots, one horse would only eat them neatly sliced, apples were spat out as were polos, always politely, he took a while to really eat and is still a bit fussy but nothing like he was when he arrived, yours may have just been given a few oats to help load/ handle and only really had grass and hay to eat previously, once they get started it is usually a case of not being able to stop them.

 

[Griffin]

I agree with be positive, my mare didn't really understand the concept of feed bowls or hay nets when I got her. I used to stand with her for ages while she sniffed at apples and carrots until she realised they were nice to eat. I used to give her time and praise her when she tried things. As bp says, once they get started, its hard to stop them!

She is still quite fussy about certain things though, she dislikes powdered supplements unless they are really well mixed in, certain things she just won't eat and won't take treats from people she doesn't know (which is actually a really good thing).

I would possibly try something like Thunderbrooks chaff or another grass chaff because they seem to be very palatable with most horses I have given them to. Honeychop Lite and Healthy also gets a thumbs up from my fussy mare, so that might be worth a go too.

 

[Horses_Rule]

Thanks for your advice guys! Just an update, someone at the yard had half a bag of nuts going so last night I gave her a couple of handfuls of them and some chopped carrots and she ate those! This morning she had the same with some water on the nuts and that was gone! So tonight she’s had the same with a handful of linseed and more water so the nuts are going mushy and she’s tucked right into it! So hope to go with the nuts until she eats them as a mushy consistency and then try and add some FF to that and slowly convert. I want to keep her on the linseed as her coat is awful and it’s done wonders for my other horses . I think I’ll add the forage plus once she is happily eating no bother little by little! And tonight she ate a carrot by hand so the penny is finally dropping! What have I let myself in for!