Find me a feed

I'd try the red bag grass pellets from Simple Systems over any of the standard grass pellets you can get in feed shops.
 
SpottedCat said:
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.
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I think you have misunderstood me, I was suggesting if she's not eating it just give her hay and leave the feed or leave it till she eats it, if she doesn't eat it then don't give it.
 
It's a bit inconvenient but would she eat her feed if you chopped up fresh mint and stirred it through (sorry if that's been mentioned)? When I had my old horse on SS feeds (which he hated), I could only get him to even consider eating it when I'd put fresh mint in. You might need quite a bit but it might tempt her...?
 
Hi,

A bit of an "out there" alternative to try rather than feed is zoopharmacognosy... essentially self selection of herbs/oils. My lad was diagnosed with ulcers last year after scoping, they cleared up in 4 weeks after a course of GG, and now I'm tweaking a maintenence diet for him - currently Hifi unmolassed, speedibeet, micronised linseed, protexin gut balancer & Rite Trak or ProSoothe. I prefer the idea of natural ingredients so looked into zoopharmacognosy after a recommendation.

I've used Lindsay 3 times now and can highly recommend her. I've had various blood tests / vet treatments following each session, and so far his selections have always predicted the "scientific" diagnosis/treatments. I find it fascinating and my chap loves the experience.

Not sure of distance but her website is http://www.lindsaydaep-zoopharmacognosy.co.uk/#/zoopharmacognosy/4550181624

Em
 
Firstly I'd talk to Roger Hatch at Trinity consultants and Johnny at Silver lining herbs- this sort of thing is their speciality.

Secondly, if there is no grass and if they are not eating the hay or don't like the hay, they ( thoroughbreds especially) will turn their nose up at hard feeds. Their whole digestion just dries up and their gastric juices just don't flow, hence no appetite. My two horses looked shocking this winter when they moved to their new yard, because although the hay looked good, they just picked at their hay and were eating about 1/4 the amount of hay they normally eat in winter. They were picky about feeds and I spent a FORTUNE on the best most conditioning feeds.
I've had both those horses for 3 years now and both have always, usually been total fatties on just hay alone and very little hard feed, it was a shock for me this winter how quickly they got so poor!!

So I would try buying in your own haylage- the horsehage that you buy in little sacks, altho rather expensive, is just fabulous for conditioning and the horses *usually* just adore it. I've seen a whole yard of HOYS show ponies fed only that horsehage, ad lib, and virtually nothing else, and they were all in amazing show condition, got so fat that they all had to be restricted in the end :-)

Try
 
She is eating hay/haylage absolutely fine - that's certainly not the issue, and she's eating fibre beet just fine too - it's definitely a fussiness issue not anything more complex.

I tried the soya flakes - took a mouthful and carefully spat every last one onto the floor, but having been a bit suspicious of ReLeve she's now decided it's actually quite nice, so I've got her up to eating:

1kg fibre beet (dry weight)
1.5kg ReLeve
400g Balancer

Obviously split across two feeds. Plus ad lib haylage.

Now if that doesn't put weight on her I will clearly be getting the vet to investigate further, but it's certainly increased her stamina, so I am hopeful it will do the trick!

I've also spent the weekend taking down the closed board between her stable and the horse next door and fixing up trellis so she can see down the row of stables internally, as I don't think she was particularly happy not being able to see other horses except over the door. I wonder if that will help too, as for all that she was totally chilled and laid back, I just had a suspicion she was worrying about that.
 
Something you might find interesting.. A vet that came to our yard was saying that as well as a long winter and no grass last years hay is very low in nutrients because of the wet summer. People have been feeding lots of hay and wondering why horses still dropping off but it's because there is hardly any goodness in the hay/haylage. Thats what he said anyway :).
 
I can just imagine her spitting out the flakes, they're ungrateful little **** sometimes aren't they.

Echo what firewall said about this winter. It's been a tough one with no grass and a poor hay harvest. Mine is lighter that he's been before, but confident he will pick very quickly now grass is coming through.
 
She is a weird one - the Releve has soya flakes in it!

I'm losing track. . . .did you try Omega Rice? As I keep banging on, I find that and the Releve increasingly my "go to" combo. I also use a vit supplement rather than a balancer to keep the amount of feed down but that is personal preference.
 
SpottedCat said:
She is eating hay/haylage absolutely fine - that's certainly not the issue, and she's eating fibre beet just fine too - it's definitely a fussiness issue not anything more complex.

I tried the soya flakes - took a mouthful and carefully spat every last one onto the floor, but having been a bit suspicious of ReLeve she's now decided it's actually quite nice, so I've got her up to eating:

1kg fibre beet (dry weight)
1.5kg ReLeve
400g Balancer

Obviously split across two feeds. Plus ad lib haylage.

Now if that doesn't put weight on her I will clearly be getting the vet to investigate further, but it's certainly increased her stamina, so I am hopeful it will do the trick!

I've also spent the weekend taking down the closed board between her stable and the horse next door and fixing up trellis so she can see down the row of stables internally, as I don't think she was particularly happy not being able to see other horses except over the door. I wonder if that will help too, as for all that she was totally chilled and laid back, I just had a suspicion she was worrying about that.
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Just skim read so sorry if this has been tried/suggested, could you give her another one or two feeds of what she will eat, maybe a lunch and late night feed? May not be possible I appreciate :)
 
Great news about the releve!
Te other. Thought I had was Baileys cooked cereal meal- very bland, Moon used to eat it
 
TarrSteps said:
She is a weird one - the Releve has soya flakes in it!

I'm losing track. . . .did you try Omega Rice? As I keep banging on, I find that and the Releve increasingly my "go to" combo. I also use a vit supplement rather than a balancer to keep the amount of feed down but that is personal preference.
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I know - which is why I was hopeful she'd like it! I haven't tried Omega Rice yet because she hated the EquiJewel so much, but I have requested a sample. I'm using balancer rather than vit supplement because when I go away it is easier to have feed in bins for people to dole out I think - personal preference as you say! The balancer is less than half a mug so not huge quantities.

criso said:
I can just imagine her spitting out the flakes, they're ungrateful little **** sometimes aren't they.

Echo what firewall said about this winter. It's been a tough one with no grass and a poor hay harvest. Mine is lighter that he's been before, but confident he will pick very quickly now grass is coming through.
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She has clear ideas on what is, and is not, acceptable to her! I agree re the grass etc - but until we get some growth in the fields I have to try with feeds!

WellyBaggins said:
Just skim read so sorry if this has been tried/suggested, could you give her another one or two feeds of what she will eat, maybe a lunch and late night feed? May not be possible I appreciate :)
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Not possible. Two feeds a day is all we can do, for various logistical reasons. The obvious answer is a big field full of grass and/or several feeds a day, but neither of those are available to me.

TheMule said:
Great news about the releve!
Te other. Thought I had was Baileys cooked cereal meal- very bland, Moon used to eat it
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I will add that to the list if she doesn't pick up on this!
 
If she's eating up her haylage well then it's definitely worth trying the marksway horsehage that they sell in little sacks at scats. That's amazing for weight gain.

Def think johnny and roger would be worth a call - such a poor appetite is not normal and usually a sign of toxic digestion or liver or kidneys - that's nothing that vets know about or would be able to diagnose- but it's something that johnny/ roger are brilliant with & just needs a course of herbs or special supplement to sort out ( tho you'd have to get them to tell you how to get it into her!)
 
seabsicuit2 said:
If she's eating up her haylage well then it's definitely worth trying the marksway horsehage that they sell in little sacks at scats. That's amazing for weight gain.

Def think johnny and roger would be worth a call - such a poor appetite is not normal and usually a sign of toxic digestion or liver or kidneys - that's nothing that vets know about or would be able to diagnose- but it's something that johnny/ roger are brilliant with & just needs a course of herbs or special supplement to sort out ( tho you'd have to get them to tell you how to get it into her!)
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It's not really poor appetite is it? Just very specific views on what she will and won't eat! She'll eat as much fibre beet, balancer and now releve as I put in front of her. She'll also eat anything mollassed, but I'd prefer to avoid heavily mollassed feeds. She's also eating 10-14kg of hay/haylage a night.

Don't get me wrong, I think Jonny is brilliant, I used him for B after the ulcers when they vets couldn't fix the diarrhea, but I'm not certain this is anything specifically wrong, she's just a bit fussy!

I could get different haylage - but it all starts getting very expensive then because forage is included in my livery.
 
SpottedCat said:
She has clear ideas on what is, and is not, acceptable to her! I agree re the grass etc - but until we get some growth in the fields I have to try with feed!
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Mine isn't very fussy but if he takes against a feed it is absolutely non negotiable. I could just visualise it. He likes Rosehips as a hand fed treat but will eat around them if they are added to feed and leave then in the bowl.

And tbs seem to drop so quickly. I've got mine on far more Copra and Linseed than I would be expecting to feed a field ornament in April.


With the grass and hay I just meant that I wouldn't be panicking about sinister underlying causes when there are lots of environmental factors this year that mean alot of horses are doing so well.
 
criso said:
With the grass and hay I just meant that I wouldn't be panicking about sinister underlying causes when there are lots of environmental factors this year that mean alot of horses are doing so well.
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Yep, that's the exact conversation I had with the vets - there's no point in panicking or doing loads of investigations until the weather improves and the grass is through because it's probably just a combination of lifestyle shock and the horrible weather/grass etc situation.
 
I'd try the red bag grass pellets (from spring grass, so should be higher in DE).
Can you try getting her to eat yea sacc/brewers yeast? That should mean she gets more from her food.
Also as she likes her hay, you can get unmolassed timothy hay chop too, but obviously that wont do anything much for her condition.

We have just gone through this with my friends horse, he was never really interested in hard feed at his previous home either, but we feed a low sugar/starch diet too which obviously isnt as tasty! He is just so suspicious and would rather go hungry than eat something that smelled funny (was all about smell for him - wouldnt even try other stuff after a sniff!).
He is now eating relatively well, on speedibeet mixed with grass nuts (soaked), but he only needs a small amount for supplements as is a very good doer.

Anyway, my point is that he would also not eat if you paid attention to the fact he wasnt eating (IYSWIM!), so feeding and walking away was what works with him, just give it to him and if he didnt eat it wasnt a big deal. Also leaving it with him all day/night he eventually would eat it up, once bored of his hay.

I hope that doesnt sound patronising, its just something that jumps out at me, when they know its driving you crazy they do it more!

EDIT - forgot the other thing about friends horse, we very much suspected ulcers but didnt see the point of going through scoping as obviously doesnt rule out hindgut etc (Im aware thats a bit controversial). He was put on egusin which has improved his symptoms to an extent, and he is slightly better at eating after the course. We have changed to ulcerex for maintenance now (syringed into him) as it was just not possible to get enough of the maintenance egusin into him, might be worth trying something like that if she has other ulcer symptoms?

Teeth, may cause it to be uncomfortable to eat anything otehr than the fibrebeet texture?
 
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Firewell said:
Something you might find interesting.. A vet that came to our yard was saying that as well as a long winter and no grass last years hay is very low in nutrients because of the wet summer. People have been feeding lots of hay and wondering why horses still dropping off but it's because there is hardly any goodness in the hay/haylage. Thats what he said anyway :).
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Thats interesting firewall....

We fed big bale haylage this year (as small bale hay impossible to find after last years bad summer), and I thought the mares would do better on it.... The fact that they both look lighter than previous years was totally confusing me :(

Fiona
 
I feel your pain! I have a 7/8ths TB who sounds exactly the same - the amount of feed I have thrown/given away over the years is unbelievable because even if we start eating one it might only last a week or two before it gets thrown all around the stable. She won't touch alfa, chaff, grass nuts etc etc and I've been thorough just about every feed on the market.

Mine however will eat Winergy Condition ( despite not eating alfa in any other form! ) so I have to stick with this but she will only eat half a scoop at one sitting so less than half a kilo each time which isn't very helpful. I add Baileys Outshine which she will eat when mixed with the Winergy and I really rate it. I've tried all the rice brans, copra etc to no avail but this gets eaten & does make a difference.

I know you're getting the ReLeve in now but if you decide you need something else PM me and I'll send you some Outshine to try - it's been a godsend to me.
 
another vote for Havens Slobbermash - ours favouritest feed ever :p

However.... it does have a bit of a rocket fuel effect, at least for Barry :-( Also not the easiest to find though they may well send you a sample.

good luck finding something tasty for her!
 
Havent read all the replies (so sorry if repeating) but - go old fashioned. Get dome good quality barley, boil it ( I do mine in the aga over night) and add to feed. Never found a horse who can resist it and it produces fantastic results.
 
I would try Allen & Page anyway - I've always had mine on them, with Equilibra 500, with excellent results. Their herbal quiet mix is palatable. Your mare might have a different opinion of A&P feeds from your previous horses! If you're stuck then I would be inclined to try them anyway. If she will eat it then it's better than nothing.
 
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