Feeding Help Needed

[MyLuckyStar]

Hi everyone

My boyfriends mom has a 14.1 15 year old welsh cross gelding who is dropping weight (does quite often). He's not in regular work at the moment so some will be lack of muscle also.

He's fed on fast fibre and hi-fi molasses free chaff, he's previously suffered laminitis so had a nutritionist from Allen and Page come out and thats what she reccommended. He came in last night and will be staying in for a few weeks to see if that helps his weight.

The trouble we have with him now is that he won't touch his hay but will quite happily wolf his feed down. I've started giving him a bucket of fast fibre as well as his feed so if he doesn't touch his hay he still has something.

He has been tested for cushings (came back negative) and has had his teeth done.

This was him on Sunday (funny angle sorry)

This was him in September:

And this was him last winter:

Does anyone have any suggestions of what he could have instead? I suggested readi grass plus adding pink powder senior and red cell to his feeds

 

[claribella]

Id get some linseed. its brilliant. Charwood milling is the place to get it and they deliver to your home. It works out very cheap and you can just mix it into his fast fibre. I use this on my fussy poor doer and she looks great.

 

[be positive]

What he really needs is hay, can you try ways of getting him to eat it, steaming, soaking, changing supply, putting something on it such as mint to encourage him to eat or try haylage, you can get safe ones for laminitics.

I would add some oil to his diet, micronised linseed is a safe feed for lamintics but generally I think he looks ok, better a bit ribby than too fat.

 

[wench]

Looks a bit skinny. His coat also looks poor. Have you had a general blood test done on him? Perhaps try something like Global Herbs Restore, this might help lift his coat and skin condition.

Can he have haylage instead of hay? Perhaps try tempting him with some horsehage or similar (I know there's one of those that is suitable for lamanitics)

 

[TwoStroke]

I'd avoid readigrass with a laminitic - it's flash dried grass; very sugary. And I REALLY wouldn't use red cell - that's an iron supplement. Iron is usually too high in forage anyway, and as it inhibits the absorption of copper (which is vital for hoof health) randomly supplementing it is a really bad idea imo.

For his type and history, though, I wouldn't be unhappy with the weight he is. But if he's losing weight then the solution would seem to be to get him to eat his forage, rather than messing with the hard feed (which is a good choice for a laminitic).

I'd suggest trying different hay or using something like the purple Timothy horsehage, or adding a bit of haylage to his hay to tempt him to eat it.

 

[claribella]

Just to add- fast fibre on its own isnt that great for weight gain as its low in protein but yeah if you just add the linseed then you will notice a difference quickly. Id start with two to three scoops a day and then adjust as you see him gaining. Obviously goes without saying but introduce slowly.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I woul try and get him to eat more hay or hayledge, I find this the best for weight gain, have you tried soaking the hay? Timothy hayledge is best for laminitics, both mine get the same feed as him and they both good but they get plenty of hay, if his not eating enough roughage he will drop weight try and find out why his not eating it.