Find me a feed

[Highlands]

Peppermint essence worked for mine, what about that horse quencher stuff for them to drink, if they do carrot flavour might work. Sorry owner of native= hovers , fussiest s not a problem

 

[SpottedCat]

Why? Doesnt she have access to hay? My boy ws murder to keep weight on as well and I was hanging feeds every 4 weeks at one point and giving away minimum half bags of feed until my purse just went NO and it was getting silly. They will eat if hungry is my view now and I leave the feed in the stable.

Aside from the fact that she eats fibre beet, and yes, she has ad lib forage as I've already stated, so this is entirely a moot point, I am entirely uncomfortable with not doing everything I can easily do to make sure she puts weight on - it's pretty ethically wrong IMO, sorry. I can't magic up grass, so I want to find something which will help her put on weight, and there was a chance someone on here had used something I hadn't come across which would help. As it turns out, my search has been pretty exhaustive, but what's the point in putting feed in front of her, and her then tipping it over and refusing to eat it? I might as well cut out the effort of filling the feed bowl!

 

[Moomin1]

Right, I need some ideas of obscure things I may not have tried which could help my horse please! The new mare just won't put on weight. Her regime is out for 5ish hours a day (no more because we aren't allowed to put forage in the field). Ad lib hay/haylage overnight (half and half as she eats more hay than haylage) - about 12-14kg eaten when she's in. Any more she won't eat, gets trampled in her bed. She's fed 1kg (dry weight) fibre beet split into 2 feeds, with balancer morning and night.

She's fussy. Feeds which have been rejected are:

Winergy (all types)
Pure Feeds (all types)
Linseed
Equijewel
Dodson & Horrell (Conditioning feeds, high fibre nuts & equine sensitive)
Spillers (conditioning feeds)
Rowan Barbary mashes
Saracen (luminance & show pencils)
Baileys (condition cubes & topline mix)
Chaff unless heavily mollassed (which is a route I don't want to go down!).

She adores fibre beet, but if you add anything she rejects into it, she will tip the bowl over and stamp her front feet in the feed.

I haven't tried topspec condition flakes yet, and she will grudgingly eat Saracen Releve. I have never had good results with Allan and Page feeds so they are off the list. I haven't tried oil yet.

My current plan of action is to try her on Releve on the basis other people on the yard feed it and I can flog it to them if she goes off it - so far I have spent upwards of £100 on feed she'll eat grudgingly for a week or so then rejects. I will also try oil since it is cheap and I can use it at home if she won't eat it! Topspec are last on my list because I don't know anyone who feeds it so it is potentially very expensive!

I don't mind buying expensive things if she eats them, but there is no way I am shelling out for something like equitop myoplast.

Anything else I should have thought of?

She sounds like one seriously unhappy girl.

What has your vet suggested?

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Aside from the fact that she eats fibre beet, and yes, she has ad lib forage as I've already stated, so this is entirely a moot point, I am entirely uncomfortable with not doing everything I can easily do to make sure she puts weight on - it's pretty ethically wrong IMO, sorry. I can't magic up grass, so I want to find something which will help her put on weight, and there was a chance someone on here had used something I hadn't come across which would help. As it turns out, my search has been pretty exhaustive, but what's the point in putting feed in front of her, and her then tipping it over and refusing to eat it? I might as well cut out the effort of filling the feed bowl!

Well your last few statements have pretty much cancelled out what you said at the beginning of your post. If they dont want to eat the feed then why put it in front of them, If anyone had a magic wand for grass Id sell my soul for it for the TB and my oldie, so agree with you there.

Im not getting to you, Ive been there and done it, fretting, worrying and the worst part for me was my boy cant have cereals, hes intolerant and takes massive reactions, so it dropped my list even more as everything had to be less than 12% starch so think about how that narrowed my search range.

You arent starving her by not giving her a hard feed, shes choosing not to eat it there is a difference, that was my point, you can only lead a horse after all

 

[whizzer]

My super fussy, easily hotted up poor doer TB loves spillers conditioning fibre,he's also been on graze on all winter which goes down well. I've used the top spec cubes for years which he loves & recently have been using the flakes as well which he likes, I was concerned he would lose the plot on them as he's very sensitive but he's just right-perky but not crazy! If I really need to tempt him a bit of Allen & page herbal quiet mix works well- I do usually avoid mixes but it smells so nice that even a small handful on top of a feed gets him tucking in. I've also just started adding a small amount of micronised soya,a local feed place sells it cheap as chips & it's quite bland so he's not noticed me sneaking it in,he has gained weight since I started it but they've also gone onto a fresh field so not 100% sure if its that or the soya.

 

[SpottedCat]

Moomin - she's not in any way unhappy. Her coat is good, she's angelic to ride, she's just not putting weight on.

Vet says it's almost certainly the shock of a change in lifestyle (she only started work last Nov) coupled with the lack of grass and the hard winter and advised we do nothing until the grass comes through then if that doesn't help we should investigate further. No idea why you would think she's unhappy or that I wouldn't have involved the vet.

 

[SpottedCat]

Black beastie my point is there is no sense giving her food she doesn't want to eat. She will eat fibre beet and balancer. I'm not about to give her what I think she should eat and watch her trample it into the floor, that's idiotic.

The point of this thread was to see if there was some obscure feed company someone else had had success with. That's all.

 

[Moomin1]

Moomin - she's not in any way unhappy. Her coat is good, she's angelic to ride, she's just not putting weight on.

Vet says it's almost certainly the shock of a change in lifestyle (she only started work last Nov) coupled with the lack of grass and the hard winter and advised we do nothing until the grass comes through then if that doesn't help we should investigate further. No idea why you would think she's unhappy or that I wouldn't have involved the vet.

I didn't imply that you hadn't involved the vet? I asked you what the vet had suggested.

I think she sounds like an unhappy mare because of her weight issue and her reluctance to eat pretty much anything offered. I don't think that is right and I would be very worried if that was my mare.

I did not, and do not, imply that you yourself are doing anything wrong.

 

[windand rain]

Have you tried barbary mash feeds. They may even send you a sample to try if you ask them. To be honest I would give her more of what she likes and maybe syringe in a suspension of brewers yeast or get the vet to give a vitamin b injection to improve her appetite

 

[Befney3]

My TB has always been a pain to feed & really hard to keep weight on. He was changed onto Havens Slobbermash about 5months ago & loves it! He has Slobbermash & Balieys No4 & is looking better than he's looked in the 5years I've had him. Everyone who sees him comments on how well he's looking & my trainer couldn't believe the amount of weight he's got on him coming out of winter.

 

[PapaFrita]

Oats and alfalfa? I've never met a horse that won't eat those, even PF, although to be fair she's not keen on the pellets. Apparently they're made from the nasty bits of the alfalfa.

 

[TPO]

Copra- I've had lots of success with Coolstance but they also do Powerstance. It's the only healthy and safe saturated fat feed for horses. It was too high in protein for mine though.

IIRC Speedibeet has higher calorie content than FB. I'd previously always thought that FB was the conditioning version.

Equine Answers 365 is supposed to help with conditioning too. I feed it as a GP supp/balancer.

 

[wench]

Have you thought about the shop own brand mix and nuts?

How about trying protexin quick fix? I had a rabbit who point black refused to eat... I was at my wits end with it. Gave it the rabbit version and it started eating again. Few tubes shouldn't cost too much!

 

[TwoStroke]

I'd also go for oats. You could always buy a little bag of porridge oats from the supermarket to see if she'll eat them before shelling out on a big bag.

Can you leave a big tub trug full of unmolassed beet in her stable for her to pick at, or even out in the field? It's fibre, so you don't have to worry about meal size. I'd be tempted to tie the bucket to something so it couldn't be up-ended.

Failing that, apparently crushed up cheapo ginger biscuits are the ultimate appetiser!

 

[SpottedCat]

Let's be honest, no-one on here ever asks 'what does your vet think' meaning anything other than 'you really need to get a vet', do they?!

She eats fibre beet and balancer perfectly happily, it's literally only the things she doesn't like which result in her tipping the feed up.

Should have said - she had a month of protexin, and whilst she liked it, there was no discernible difference in her weight.

Copra is basically the same as equijewel so I'm not convinced she'll go for that.

She's been tried with the Rowan Barbary feeds - nothing doing!

I wouldn't say there's any reason to give her an injection to stimulate her appetite - she eats perfectly well as long as its fibre beet and hay/haylage! But since those aren't doing the trick and we have no grass yet I was wondering if there was something out there I've missed. Obviously I am worried but I'm also prepared to take the view that this could all improve once the grass comes through, hence not rushing into a million an one tests beyond scoping her. The vet says she looks perfectly healthy aside from being underweight, and 3 different vets have seen her for various reasons (jabs, scoping, teeth etc)

 

[TarrSteps]

Just to the general point, Copra is similar to Equijewel as far as it's use, but it is coconut oil derived, whereas EJ is rice bran based. Via is also ideally fed soaked, I believe.

I agree Copra is a good conditioning feed but it does have a distinctive smell and I've had quite a few horses refuse to eat it.

 

[TarrSteps]

Copra not via. Doh.

 

[SpottedCat]

I will try and get hold of some copra to try then - I had it in my head it was rice bran, probably because I've looked at so many feed websites recently! It was disappointing to discover triple top up doesn't exist any more as that was really good, but it seems all the useful things in the Badminton range have been discontinued now they've been taken over

 

[Feisty Mare]

My fussy boy Hoovers up releve, alfa a and omega rice - similar to equijewel so might not work for you (rice bran and linseed combined). Falcon feeds make it they are v helpful sure they'd send a sample

 

[Ellibelli]

Hi My old man who went through 2 lots of colic surgery and would literally go on hunger strike if he didn't like his feed and came through many winters looking like a hatrack has finally settled on pure feeds and copra. I started by adding copra in the tiniest amount possible and now he loves it so much I can pretty much add anything to his feed as the copra hides it so well and he now looks pretty good. Good luck x

 

[vic07]

A couple of different feed companies- they might be worth a call as they have different options!

http://www.reverdy.uk.com/
http://www.falconequinefeeds.co.uk/

Also we changed our Haylage supplier a couple of years ago. My new Haylage has a much reduced nutritional content- hence slimmer horses! Not a bad thing in my case! Just found it quite interesting.

 

[Leg_end]

Copra would be my suggestion but also brewers yeast..

 

[JillA]

Slightly off topic I know but I have two horses who came here for turn out because they got stressed and lost weight when they had to be stabled more than they were comfortable with. Stress can alter the appetite and metabolism - isn't there anywhere she can stay out with as much good quality forage as she can eat? Forage really is the basis if you need to get more than 2.5% dry matter of her bodyweight into her, which is what you need for weight gain, everything else is tinkering around the edges IMO. The fibre beet is good but is probably at least half water, (I feed it to my veteran who has total hay replacer diet) so will fill her up with minimal dry matter.

 

[Archiepoo]

hi my horse isnt very keen on his bucket or his haylage so i feed 2 dry stubbs scoops soaked in a large tubtrug everynight ,
he does very well on that and then he has a net to pick at and in his bucket he just has a scoop of mix by its self to pick through.
he hates chaff and isnt keen on beet by itself . this works very well for me hes put loads of weight on and isnt fizzy to ride

 

[Jesstickle]

If she'll eat it and you think she needs grass I would just feed huge amounts of readigrass/graze on.

I'm struggling to keep weight on this year too (vet has also checked mine and said the same as yours) and when it was really cold and horrible I was feeding two trugs a day to mine. I've never known anything that won't eat readigrass and although I've never looked into actual energy values (not very scientific for a scientist am I? ) it's worked for me.

 

[SpottedCat]

JillA - no, not without moving yards. Whilst I know the ideal solution is turnout with lots of grass, it's not a practical option. I'm already at the only yard in the area which kept turnout going over the winter through the wet. Ideally yes she'd have forage in the field, but we aren't allowed to put hay/haylage out, hence she is coming in to eat. She's not in the least bit stressy, and in fact she's on a decent amount of land, it's just been wet then freezing so there is no grass. The yard makes its own hay/haylage which is included in the price. The only way I could have her in the ideal setup is to send her somewhere too far away to ride, which defeats the object of having a horse somewhat, and doesn't solve the issue for when she comes back. As it stands she's been getting between 2.6 and 3% of her body weight in hay in a 24hr period, so it's clearly not doing the trick. It's nice hay too.

I will check out the reverdy website, thankyou, not one I'd heard of which is exactly what I was hoping this thread would throw up!

 

[SpottedCat]

The trouble with things like readigrass/graze on is that the protein is much higher but the DE is about the same as fibre beet, so I don't really see how it will help with weight gain? In the most basic sense doesn't the principle that calories in need to increase in order to put on weight, so what will I gain by feeding it which I can't get by upping the amount of fibre beet? I know the fibre beet is fed wet, but I do weigh it dry, and she is getting 1kg a day of it.

 

[whizzer]

Has triple top up been recently discontinued? I bought some beginning of this winter. Mine did eat it but the 1 place I could get it from kept telling me it would be in soon & then took weeks to get it so I gave up on it! Have you tried adding stuff a really,really,really tiny amount at a time? Mine will point blank refuse to eat new stuff sometimes & I add it in teeny amounts. Can sometimes take weeks to get something to a reasonable amount!

 

[SpottedCat]

Sadly it has whizzer - Baileys took over Badminton and discontinued it. I've tried the adding a tiny bit at a time with the linseed, not a chance. I could perhaps retrain her as a drug/bomb detection horse??!

 

[LCH611]

Haven't had a chance to read all the replies, but what about Thunderbrook feeds - think they will do a small taster bag of their balancer and hopefully she would eat sprouted oats??