foal wont eat.

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penffordd

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any advice anyone?. since bringing my 6 mth old TB foal in for weaning, she`ll only eat hay, she wont touch any of the various mixes etc that i`ve tried her with. this is puzzling because from being about 6wks old she would eat from the mares feed out in the fields.i`ve tried alternating feed, mixing feed, dry, moist, everything i can think of, she wont eat any of it. this is frustrating because she`s the 4th foal i`ve bred, and is the only one i`ve had problems with. as she is bred to race, i`m keen to give her the best start i can.
 
Have you tried giving her what the mare was having that she's used to sharing?
Have you tried cutting down her hay so that she's a bit hungrier to attempt something?
Have you tried just giving her a handful so that she's not over faced?
 
All I could advise is give it time, I'm sure she'll get there in the end. I have just had this with 2 weanling fillies, grass and hay only, no way on earth would they consider eating anything out of a bowl. It took them 6 weeks, now they can't get enough of it (foal mix/foal creep) and would like it adlib if at all possible!
 
We had this with a foal. We started by just giving her chaff or similar and then once she decided she liked it, mix was very gradually introduced. She's never looked back!
 
Being hungry will cure all that - stable or yard her, give her the same feed she had with her mum with a little extra chaff in it - miss out on the hay for a couple of days and she will soon eat it.

This is what I had to do with my Clydie when I got her - she had to be yarded for several days - grazing rules - when she first arrived and had never seen hay or feed in her life.

I started with some hay and just a sprinkle of the hard feed in a bowl. No water or anything else in it so it wouldn't go off. It took two days for her to eat it, I then increased the amount and added another type of feed - small amount again. Once she decided it tasted OK there was no looking back.
 
have you tried more natural feed like ready grass with the tiniest smidging of a mix .
or alfa a with a small bit of fix


or nuts of some sort stud cubes etc.

will she eat speedy beet or anything like that??

apple chaff

you might have to do more roughage at first to get her started


will she eat apples

you could mist hr feed with apple juice
or put http://www.pegasushealth.com/horse-supplements/My_Day_Feeds_Apple_Express in
 
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