Feeding veterans with few/no teeth???

Hels_Bells

Hels_Bells

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The dentist came to do my two yesterday and said that my old boy's teeth are starting to wobble and that it might not be long before he started to lose them. :(

He's not got much in the front anyway and the dentist said he might start to lose his back ones later in the summer and so I will probably have to be feeding him differently before long as he will start to stuggle with hay and haylage etc. Have to say I was feeling a bit teary about it all last night.

When the time comes I'd like to be prepared and know what to feed him so am looking for diet suggestions.

From a hard feed perspective he is currently on Bran, 16+ and speedibeet (plus cod liver oil and bute) which he manages very well, but not sure if he will struggle with the 16+ when his teeth go? He also gets haylage and readigrass alongside his hard feed overnight and lots of grass when turned out during the day.
 
I was a bit teary when my old boy started shedding teeth but...
he is now 35 and looking better than ever (he has one chewing tooth left!).
He has soaked high fibre nuts, sugar beet, oil and a fine soft chaff (mollichaff herbal). This makes up his entire ration (amounts to 5kg a day dry weight) although he will still pick at the grass/hay and haylage he will ball it up and spit it out. He also has a huge lump of rock salt in the field to lick at.

Don't despair, they manage very well. In fact mine looked at his worst when he actually had some teeth left and I was on a learning curve.

I monitor his weight every month so that I can adjust things very quickly.

I ring the feed companies (D&H is very good) and they will help you (make sure you know his current weight and the dry weight of everything he has right now).

Give him a big hug - he's going to be OK!
 
For a 35yr old horse with some teeth left we feed:-

one big tub trug of readi grass
one small tub trug of molichaff (3-5 scoops)

one bucket of fast fibre (3-4 scoops)
one bucket with 2 scoops hi fi senior, 1 scoop of 16+ mix, 1 scoop of alfa beet

this was her winter feed, as the grass comes through we'll gradually reduce it, the main feed that has helped though has been the fast fibre, it's amazing and she loves it xx
 
Rebelrebel - thanks so much for your sweet message you have almost set me off again! :)

Rebelrebel and Supertrooper - thanks so much for the excellent advice and the encouragement, it's so great to get advice from other people with super-oldies doing well. The way the dentist was talking yesterday it was like he really didn't give him long but he is such a resilient old boy it's good to be reminded of that plus hearing your lovely words has really given me hope again! I will look into all your suggestions some of which I would never have known about! Thanks very very much. xxx
 
I know what a worry they are hels bels, if you saw our oldie you wouldn't believe she's the age she is. Stopping her hay and putting her on hay replacers is the best thing we ever did and only wish we'd done it sooner to be honest. It does cost alot of money but that doesn't matter as we'd do anything to keep her happy and content. She's given so much pleasure as I'm sure your boy has and it's nice that you're looking after him in his dotage, makes me cross when people get rid of their oldies.
 
There are loads of different feeds you can use as total or partial hay replacers, so don't worry too much. It might work out a bit more expensive but you should be able to keep your oldie well fed and conditioned.

You can use short chop feeds such as Happy Hoof (for laminitics), Readigrass (more calories for poor keepers) etc., or mash type feeds such as Fast Fibre, soaked high fibre cubes, soaked grass nuts etc.
 
Thanks so much for your helpful suggestions and advice Triskar and TGM, this is all so great and can really help me to inform my decisions about how to feed him going forward. The advice from this post has been such a huge help! So thanks very much.

Supertrooper - I know exactly what you mean. My old boy worked so hard for me when he was younger and was such a wonderful horse, he deserves the best and comfortable-est retirement he can have. He's such a character he makes me smile or laugh every day at least 5 times!!! I know too how people are so quick to dispose of their older horses - I bumped into someone the other day and asked after one of their horses I had ridden a few years ago. They said "oh she had to be put down. well.. she was nearly 20". 20!!! That's no age these days!!! She was a lovely horse and would have been a great hack for someone well past 20.
 
Just one more point - when you do get to the point of feeding hay replacers, you do need to be careful how much alfalfa you feed, as fed to excess you can encounter problems with excessive urination etc. You can feed it as part of the hay replacement ration mixed with other feedstuffs, but best not used totally on its own to replace hay. If you wish to use it as part of the ration then check with the manufacturer what the maximum amount they advise is.

Feeds like Happy Hoof, Readigrass, grass nuts, Fast Fibre etc., are fine to be fed as total hay replacers - if in any doubt about what products are suitable then check with the manufacturers.
 
God hels bells 20 is no age!! This pony was doing a mini XC at age 30, we decided that she would be walked between each fence, some hope!! The poor girl riding her didn't have a change as Z thought she was at Badminton!! Bless her, it was so lovely to see her enjoying her party xx
 
Hi hels bels,

If you contact Dengie, they will send you out a hay replacer leaflet which explains what to feed and how much. My oldie stopped eating hay back in November (although for some reason is now eating it again). She looked brilliant on her hay replacer which was made up if:

3 scoops Hi Fi
2 scoops Alfa A lite
3 scoops (dry) Fast Fibre
140ml of Soya Oil.

They recommend feeding between 1.5-2.5% of the horses overall body weight. As there was no grass in my pony's field, I was giving her the full 2.5% as to ensure she was receiving enough.

As she shared a field this meant I was only able to turn her out for a few hours as her hay replacer needed to be split into seperate feeds to keep her entertained and fibre continuously going through her system.

I also contacted an independant nutritionist just to make sure I was doing everything right. This was mainly because other liveries on my yard made comments and funny looks when I dragged out the huge tub trug to my pony. Once I knew I was doing everything right, I could give the funny looks back!! lol!
 
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