Feeding the elderly pony

[Topstripe]

Evening all forumers!

I wondered if anyone had any tips regarding feeding the elderly pony. I have a 11.2hh welsh who is knocking on 30 and has lost so much weight over the winter.

I have had her teeth floated (she has missing teeth) and changed her diet to 'Spillers Senior Conditioning Mix, Baileys No 1 conditioning meal and speedi-beet' and she has two feeds a day. Also she has hay ad-lib (which she has difficulty in eating).
My dentist recommended Dengie Senior Hi-Fi instead of hay and replace her Mix with a conditioning cube so she doesnt have to chew. She currently has 2 rugs on to try and stop her using all her energy on keeping warm, lives in at night and out through the day.

Is there anything else anyone recommends to try and regain some of her lost weight?

 

[daydreambeliever]

Some of the oldies with missing teeth at our yard have Fast fibre which is soaked and Alfa A nuts also soaked, both in hot water and allowed to cool. They love tucking into their feeds and have come thrugh winter looking well.

 

[Queenbee87]

Someone on my old yard had an oldie (in his 30's) with missing teeth. He had trouble with haylage although he still got a few small nets because he enjoyed trying to eat it (although most ended up on the floor)

He was fed: Blue chip pro (expensive but worked), outshine and speedibeet or blue chip pro, happy hoof, ready mash and speedibeet with BLK, digest plus and milk thistle. (she liked suppliments) He was given three feeds a day with apples, pears and carrots chopped up small with the odd polo thrown in too.

To make up for him being unable to haylage properly he had two big buckets a day of readygrass mixed with alfalfa or grass cubes (soaked). These were mixed together to make a bit of a mush. He enjoyed it but being the git he was you had to put it in and run or you would be covered with green stuff because he liked to rub his nose on you after a few mouthfulls!

(sorry about any spelling mistakes and that my paragraphs aren't as well organised as I'd like but I've had night nurse and need to go to bed! )

 

[Puppy]

I use the spillers senior for my old girl too (she's lost part of a tooth) and if you add enough water it goes to pulp, so I don't think that changing to cubes would be any better, tbh.

I also use Topspec senior for my girl, and I believe it's a huge factor with keeping condition on her. It may seem pricey for a bag, but for a small pony, it should last you quite some time. The probiotics in it will help her get more out of what she eats.

Perhaps change the hay to haylage, as the modest amount she eats she will get more out of.

I've also used the dengie senior for a veteran who wouldn't eat enough hay. It certainly worked with her, and it smells yummy Good luck, these oldies sure keep us busy worrying!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

We were worried about our elderly mare in November. She had been living out and although she had access to hay as the grass stopped growing she lost weight and suddenly looked quite poor. She came in just before Bonfire Night and we supplemented the hay with Alfa-a Oil, which I believe is higher calorie than Senior. I certainly wouldn't feed hi-fi as this is relatively low calorie for weight control. She now has about 1/2 and 1/2 alfalfa and Graze-on dried grass. She now eats very little hay, although her teeth are up to date. She actually tucks enthusiastically into the oat straw which we put out every morning so that the good doers don't burst. She has soaked grassnuts twice each day. She has put weight on over the winter even though she only wears a rug in the very worst weather because she dislikes them and we live in a very exposed area with little shelter. We are now changing our minds about this possibly being her last summer. We now think that we can probably get her successfully through another winter.