Feeding elderly mare

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Crugeran Celt

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Just put this in veterinary but thought I would ask here as well. I have an elderly mare that has teeth issues and is now struggling to eat hay. Is there an alternative I can feed her as she is on four feeds a day of veteran vitality and grass nuts but if I give her more feeds she doesn't really eat them but loves her hay. Have already made the decision to let her go this summer as she has struggled to keep weight on for the last coup,e of winters and this year she looks horrendous.
 
Crugeran Celt said:
Just put this in veterinary but thought I would ask here as well. I have an elderly mare that has teeth issues and is now struggling to eat hay. Is there an alternative I can feed her as she is on four feeds a day of veteran vitality and grass nuts but if I give her more feeds she doesn't really eat them but loves her hay. Have already made the decision to let her go this summer as she has struggled to keep weight on for the last coup,e of winters and this year she looks horrendous.
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Would she eat graze on? Even dampened?
 
Have you tried fast fibre, speedibeet or fibrebeet? They're all high fibre mash feeds. Adding something like linseed or oils will also help add more calories and fats. Dried mint might also tempt her to eat a bit more.
My elderly mare won't eat big feeds, so I tend to do several small ones throughout the day. She still is able to eat hay thankfully.

Have you ever had her tested for cushings before?
 
My old mare gets 2 feeds a day of spillers super senior mash and readymash and gets a big bucket of soaked grass nuts and speedibeet to graze on over night. I give her a bucket of readigrass to chew on as she can still manage a bit of grass I think so want to have something overnight for her to chew on even though she quibs a lot of it. She’s held her weight really well this year.

something to watch out for if your feeding supplements already, feeds like fast fibre has things added to it so you could be overdosing on vitamins etc.
 
I used Simple Systems Haycare for my oldie (27yr) but I mixed it with Spillers Fibre nuts and a bit of mint and fenugreek as he wasn’t keen on it on its own. He absolutely loved Pure Feeds Meadow Mash and would eat that with nothing added but as he ate it a bit too fast it wouldn’t last the night so I used to give one trug of Meadow Mash and one of the Haycare / nuts mix as ate it slower.

Equijewel is second to none imo for putting weight on and I used to feed that. He looked amazing and was full of beans until the day he died from sadly fracturing his pastern.
 
My elderly mini Shetland struggles to eat hay and quids he can’t have very much grass due to Cushings I started feeding spillers veteran super mash 4 times a day 6 months ago he looks fantastic! And maybe a bit too well!
 
surprised she wont eat what she is already on its good tasty food for horses, whilst she has tooth problems has the dentist vet been out she could have food impaction between teeth which hurts when eating, her remaining teeth could be sharp, unless these are addressed she wont eat cos it hurts unless you give her a bute orally but that defeats the purpose.

its so hard with oldies i am in same situation as you but mine are eating the quick soak mash, chaff, vits mins and crushed soaked barley, looking very well, but can i keep this up year in year out at current cost of living. i dont know.

sadly i might also have to call time in summer, its a hard one, thoughts with you
 
Getbackboys said:
surprised she wont eat what she is already on its good tasty food for horses, whilst she has tooth problems has the dentist vet been out she could have food impaction between teeth which hurts when eating, her remaining teeth could be sharp, unless these are addressed she wont eat cos it hurts unless you give her a bute orally but that defeats the purpose.

its so hard with oldies i am in same situation as you but mine are eating the quick soak mash, chaff, vits mins and crushed soaked barley, looking very well, but can i keep this up year in year out at current cost of living. i dont know.

sadly i might also have to call time in summer, its a hard one, thoughts with you
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It is so hard isn't it. I have made the decision that she will be PTS in the spring or if she picks up and is happy in the autumn. I will not put her through another winter. She will be 30 in July and I bred her myself so not going to be easy but definitely the best decision for her.
 
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Thank you all, she is on her mash feeds but likes hay but is struggling so was looking for a hay type product that may be easier for her to chew.
 
JBM said:
Have you looked at dengie products? May be expensive if feeding to completely substitute hay
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Thank you, I have looked today and found a few that may be worth trying. As I know it will be short term I don't mind the cost. As soon as grass comes through I can revert back to just mash feeds until the time comes to PTS.
 
Getbackboys said:
surprised she wont eat what she is already on its good tasty food for horses, whilst she has tooth problems has the dentist vet been out she could have food impaction between teeth which hurts when eating, her remaining teeth could be sharp, unless these are addressed she wont eat cos it hurts unless you give her a bute orally but that defeats the purpose.

She does eat the mash food but loves her hay, unfortunately because she has a few lose teeth this is becoming more difficult for her. She sees an equine dentist regularly and has seen him recently which is why I know she has a few lose teeth. She lives out and once the grass comes through she will graze. Decision already made not to put her through another winter just want her happy until time to PTS and that means finding a gay like product that she cant eat.
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My old lady loves the Dengie chaff. She eats the hi fi light one best, which may seem counter intuitive for a horse needing to gain weight, but she just eats it better than the senior one. She receives 6 meals a day, all wet, mix of spillers high fi, beet pulp, grass cubes and muesli. I find that having numerous smaller meals suits her very well. Good luck!
 
I used to give my old mare Dengie Alfa beet and this put lots of condition on her and she looked fab! She also had chaff and conditioning cubes but her teeth were good. You can soak conditioning cubes though if her teeth aren’t good, also adding some oil to her feet (linseed oil would be good) as a good way to help her gain condition. Start with a little and increase gradually. I used to feed my boy a high ratio of oil when he was in his prime hunting as he was barley intolerant and I prefer to feed fibre and oil rather than cereals.
 
When you say alternative to hay, have you tried any bagged haylage. I feed a combination of tested hay and bagged haylage to my lot and the elderly mare whose teeth are fine ( but she is fussy) eats more of the bagged haylage, it is much softer due to it being damp than the hay I have which is quite stalky, perhaps that might be an option. Good luck, it is a very costly thing trying to keep the aged horse in winter!
 
Please don’t take this the wrong way but if you plan to say goodbye in summer and things are difficult now why not bring that forward? You may just find it a huge relief not having the stress of trying to get her to eat enough and look better.
Sorry, hope that’s not insensitive but that’s what I’d be doing I think I’m your situation.
It’s always difficult
Xx
 
poiuytrewq said:
Please don’t take this the wrong way but if you plan to say goodbye in summer and things are difficult now why not bring that forward? You may just find it a huge relief not having the stress of trying to get her to eat enough and look better.
Sorry, hope that’s not insensitive but that’s what I’d be doing I think I’m your situation.
It’s always difficult
Xx
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Not insensitive at all, things you just have to face with older animals. Purely down to the logistics of getting machinery on the land to bury her, fields are too wet.
 
Crugeran Celt said:
Not insensitive at all, things you just have to face with older animals. Purely down to the logistics of getting machinery on the land to bury her, fields are too wet.
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I get that. I wanted one done last year, he was ok but it was coming time and similar logistic issues were purely the reason we held off.
Hope you find something that helps
 
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