Feeding help please

L

littlebranshill

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 February 2008
Messages
193
www.littlebranshill.co.uk
I have a 22yr old Dutch Warmblood retired GP dressage horse. When I say retired he is actually hacked out lightly 3 times a week. His incisor teeth have almost completely gone so at the moment he is on 3 to 4, as large as I can feed in one go, meals a day consisting of Pasture Mix, Calm & Conditioner, Yeast Sac, Vits & Mins, Cortaflex, quarter pint Soya oil, Hi-Fi, and lots of sugar beet! He has about half a bale of hay as well as I've just opened a new field with plenty of grass that he can just about crop. He has a big hay belly but seems to be loosing weight over his quarters and sometimes you can see his ribs despite his belly!! Is this to be expected with old age? Suggestions please.
confused.gif
<font color="green"> </font>
 
I would contact a feed company and see what they suggest.

As a thought, does your horse like the hard feed? You could try feeding simple systems, which is all designed to be soaked and can replace a lot of forage.....My mare looked good on SS, but as she has a full compliment of teeth and has no problems eating hay, she got bored of the quantity of SS she was given!!
 
Yes, if it doesn't move he will eat it! I have to be careful though as he can't have Blue Chip or anything high powered as it blows his brains and makes him unmanageable. I will contact a feed supplier but obviously they will only recommend their products - wanted to check with you guys first.
 
How much sugar beet is plenty?

I have had good results with older horses of 1/2 bucket soaked (molassed) beet per feed, and about 1/2kg of full fat soya flakes per day, and a bucketful of alfa-a (i don't bother with alfa-a oil, think there's cheaper ways to get oil into the horse without paying for dengie to spray it on!)

It sounds drastic but it seemed to work, and v low starch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top