Feeding a Fussy Stallion

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Worried1

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This is long so bear with me
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Blitz is a 17hh 6-y-o Stallion who does not cover and appears to be a homosexual as he has no interst in mares
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When we bought Blitz as a 3-y-o he was on simple feed systems which he basically refused to eat. His feet were crap and he was would I would call a little light.

We got him home and tried to continue with the SFS diet but he refused to touch it and we caved in and switched him over to Bailey's topline nuts with Alfalfa and a hoof supplement.

He quickly gained weight and his hoof quality improved so much we were able to stop feeding the hoof supplement and about a year ago we began feeding him Outshine - which he initally seemed to like.

He goes out everyday for about 3 hours on excellent grass.

For the last three years we have succesfully juggled his weight and energy levels, adding in a lunchtime feed during the lean winter months and during the summer when the grass has burnt off. When the grass has come through we have normally replaced his lunchtime feed with chaff so as not to upset his routine.

He has never had a massive appetite for hay but usually manages around 4-5 sections a day except when the grass is really lush and he gets full up on the grass.

Since his arrival we have followed the worming programme with Bell Equine our local vets. A month ago we ran a worm count just to make sure everything was OK - He has never looked wormy but we just wanted to make sure we were using the correct worming programme and make any adjustments if necessary.

I was horrified to discover he was carrying the biggest burden on the yard of 40+ (Diva was 0 and has been on the same programme!)

He was wormed under instruction from the vets and a new worm count carried out which showed his levels were insignificant.

But and here is the worrying thing. Since he was re-wormed he had dropped weight and seems to have lost his appetitie.

He used to be stabled next to Hils but since he was PTS the stable has been empty excpet for the YO's Section A who has been stabled on and off due to the worry of Laminitis. He does not seem to be attached to the pony in anyway and largely ignores it.

He was wasting so much hay we have had to use a haynet in his haybar and he is now only eating around 3 sections a day. He is now refusing to eat the Outshine, I even tried the spearmint and he won't touch it.

I then swapped the Alfalfa for HiFi and it made no difference. I tried giving him some sugarbeet but he wouldn't touch it either.

He has clearly has gone off Outshine so we have stopped feeding it and instead upped his Topline nuts which he eats grudingly.

I have bought some Mollichaff with oil and cherry flavouring and introduced it today and he ate his lunch and licked the bowl clean.

He clearly has a sweet tooth and I worry that the sugar might cause a problem in his ridden work but he can't continue to drop weight and I would rather he was eating something than nothing.

He is an oddball as he lasts a maximum of 4 hours in the field before he loses the plot and begs to come in. Our head girl has said that she has watched him jogging round the field on several occasions - not going mental but she said it was like watching a kid skip round the garden.

He is a very happy chap and is really well in himself, his coat is amazing, his eyes are bright and his hoof quality is excellent. His ridden work is fab and his energy levels are perfect.

Teeth were done last month.

Any ideas or am I being paranoid?

for gettin this far you can have a free covering if Blitz ever discovers what his bits are for
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I'll take that free covering lease, Moon is very, very attractive to mares, geldings and stallions alike!!

Moon's a fusspot with her feed too and wont much eat hay/haylage at all. I feed her whatever she will eat at the time. She goes through phases of favouring nuts or mix. Generally she likes the blandest, most boring feeds which look horrid.
Recently she has taken to pasture mix and alfalfa-oil and with that she'll accept a bit of high oil rice based supplement (Badminton Horse Feeds Triple Top Up)

At her fussiest she would eat topline conditioning cubes, micronized barley and a small amount of alfalfa quite well. She loves apple chaff but like you, I dont trust it.
 
Have you thought about giving him Blue chip? My broody was a fussy old tart and would only eat her food if it had nice stuff in it. She used to have Baileys stud cubes, hifi, blue chip dynamic, oil, benivit and garlic. She also had mares milk powder when she dropped a load of weight one time as it was left over from foaling.
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I'll take that free covering lease, Moon is very, very attractive to mares, geldings and stallions alike!!

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I worry about him sometimes he is the most unstallion like stallion I have ever come across!... but next time you are down bring her over and we will see what he is made of!
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It was either the mollichaff or molases in the feed and the bag claimed it was low sugar
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the only thing in its favour was the high oil content.

He point blank refused to eat food if we add oil!

Mark reckons he might be having a growth spurt which is why he is off his food - either that or he has put himself in training for Burghley!
 
Blue Chip or Top Spec is next on the list but he seems not to like small pellets as he sifts through his feed and leaves aything small.

I need something that will increase the calories without too much bulk.
 
i'd try a bag of Baileys no 4 conditioning cubes, they seem to be very palatable. Mr Johnson's herbal treats go down really well with my lot too, fwiw.
umm, another thing i've done in the past with very fussy feeders is give them everything in separate buckets, or in separate heaps in the bucket, not mix feeds together at all, so they can pick and choose... works sometimes.
what about one of the sugary mixes, like Pasture Mix or something? i can see what you mean about his sweet tooth, and agree that it's better that he eats something, even if it is sugary!
i don't think i've ever heard of an anorexic horse before... have you thought about B12 injections, or would that upset him even more?
 
How about a course of Pink Powder to make sure that he is getting the best out of what he is eating?

Another thing to try would be whole black sunflower seeds. My fussy TB loves them and they do help with weight gain.
 
saracen equi jewel has been absolutely brilliant for my tb. When he first came to me I could barely get him to eat two sections of hay a night and even though he looked in what would be peak condition there were little things that didn't seem quite right to me(he had his les clipped for a tendon scan and six months later we could still see where this had happened). I put him on this just before xmas and together with a conditioning cube, chaff and 24hr turnout(obviously not suitable for every ned) he has put on loads of weight and is really chilled out about everything. His coat had improved both in rate of growth and condition and I think it is helping his typical crappy tb feet. I have only had to feed 1/2 a scoop a day to notice this difference and at about £28 is cheaper than outshine. Hope this helps
 
I think stallions can be fussy with their feed , one of ours certainly is.
In the morning he knows he will go out after his feed so unless it's something very appealing he just leaves it.
I've had him on Baileys, D and H, local ag merchant's mixes etc and have now found a feed he loves.
It's called prep 14 made by Saracen, and keeps him looking super. I also feed alfa A, speedi beet and a good gloop of ordinary oil, plus his joint supplement Multiplex HA. He is offered two haynest of haylage overnight as he flatly refuses to eat any during the day when he spends hours fence walking or charging round his paddock.
A while back I wandered round all the feed stands at an equine fair and saracen's definitely looks moister and more palatable than the rest.
All of ours eat their food when offered, but the ones resting get normal cheapo mix!
It isn't cheap at over £11 a bag, but once he starts eating you cut down the amount.
I feed equijewel which is ricebran too, I used to give topspec balancer but he has never looked as good as on this feed regime.
Give saracen's rep a ring or an email, and they will send you a free sample to try.
 
Have a look at D&H veteran mix, it has carrots and all sorts of things to tempt fussy oldies.

Just because it says veteran doesn't mean that younget horses won't benefit!
 
Our Thoroughbred mare came to us as a hatrack and wouldn't eat more than a few mouthfuls of anything. What worked like a dream and I have never come across a horse that doesn't like it, is Badminton (Triple Crown) Base Feed. The trick is that one scoop twice a day is plenty. We fed it with a bit of chaff. But it will work in small quantities. We used it as loading nuts and the pellets are medium sized. Also as a no feed value tempter Tasty Treats are amazingly good value and my horses tell me they are delicious.
 
I complain about my fatty who hoovers everything in sight, but I think I would prefer that to a fussy horse!

Sorry, not helpful but I do hope you find something that he will eat.

The high worm burden sounds odd though, especially as he is on the same pasture and routine as all the others. What did the vets say about that?
 
Alfa Oil is less palatable then Alfa A because it is more bitter (the molasses is replaced with oil). Grace will not even lower her nose into a bucket of Alfa Oil
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Last year I had the same problem with Grace. She seems very fussy and also has a sweet tooth
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I struggled to keep the weight on her when she was in full work and out competing, but I spoke to Baileys and they advised Endurance Mix for her because it was slow release energy, and very palatable. When she started having this added to her feed it was the first time she actually finished a feed (no matter how big or small, she would leave some before).

When she went on box rest, I obviously cut her feed down and took the Endurance Mix straight out of the equation. The old problems started to reoccur and she just wouldn't touch her feed which I needed her to eat for the supplements.

Someone recommended Alfa Beet being added to her diet to encourage her to eat (she would also not touch sugar beet) so she is currently on:
Alfa A
TopSpec Balancer
Alfa Beet
Outshine
 
Forgot to add... Alfa A is naturally a bitter product so some horses will not eat it no matter what is added. How about trying some of the Dengie Healthy Hooves? I know it might not help with the weigh issue on its own, but it could help get other feeds into him like the Outshine because it smells divine and Grace loved it when she was on box rest
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If you have had success with Baileys so far I would suggest that you give one of their reps a call. (or call head office). They come out free of charge.

They will be able to advise you on things like whether or not you have enough energy, how to add weight without making them fizzy etc. Something like the endurance mix might suit you.

I have found alfa beet to be good for fussy eaters.

How many feeds do you do a day? I have an 18hh who is very fussy. He is currently on 3 feeds a day and eats 80% opf his food. I find that if I hay him before his hard feed he just eats the hay. If I give him 4 feeds a day he know he is getting them and tends to eat less.

Is there anyway you can get him a companion for the field? My stallion will go out very happily with the shetland. My 18hh fussy eater is also not good in the field but if I put the shetland in with him he will stay out longer and settle more.

Are you currently competing him at the moment? An old fashioned way of putting on weight is to add Guinness to the feed. However this is not competition legal.

Lastly - do you ever plan to use him as a stallion? If not then what is the point of keeping him entire?
 
Thanks everyone

I am going to give Saracen a call as they are really local to us.

TayloredEquestrian he is currently on 3 feeds a day, he tends to finish his breakfast when he comes back in as he goes out first thing. He then has a lunch after he has been worked and a supper.
Blitz will eventually cover - providing he has proven himself as a competition horse, something which he looks set to do.
How did you go about introducing a companion? He is not an aggresive horse and enjoys interaction with other horses on the yard - we have considered turning him out with others but are just not quite sure how to go about it!
 
We had travelled them together and he had always been stabled next to other horses and been fine. So we just chucked them out in the field together and watched them. I wouldn't be keen to put him in with anything bigger than the Shetland as when the stallion plays with him (and we do sometimes see our stallion cantering along with his front legs in the shetlands back!!) he does retaliate.

Can you stable them next to each other? Give them any sort of contact with the safety of a door between them? Maybe graze them in a field next to each other for a few days first. Make sure the companion has no shoes on and just monitor the situation.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
 
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