Gutted - ponies teeth are terminal

I have seen soaked barley rings work wonders! Simple Systems and Dengie do alfalfa nuts that can be soaked, there are many different brands of sugar beets with or without mollasses. Alfabeet, or even just mixing some other conditioning chaff in with the slop might work. Ready Mash Extra smells amazing! Micronised linseed could be added in. Any cubes can be soaked really, you just need to find something he likes. Good luck!
 
I took on the care of a 39 year old whose only working teeth were her front nippers. Her guts were clearly still working well as she was fine on grass and in the winter I gave her soaked hi-fibre nuts and mix with sugarbeet and lots of senior chop. I actually had to slim her down a bit after she came though the first winter a bit too well covered to go onto good grazing! Just be sure to weigh all the food dry to make sure the pony is getting enough. I stuck to the 2% of bodyweight per day rule and she made it to 44 before her back end went and she was PTS.
 
Sloppy fibre feeds have to be the way to go. If you want to make them a bit more interesting you could try adding carrots and/or apples and parsnips that have been grated in a food processor - I used to do it for my first boy when he started losing his teeth and it always seemed to be appreciated. I also used to add a bit of dried (or well chopped fresh) mint for a bit of tasty variety as well.
 
Just to add to everyone my friends very elderly shetland lived a decade practically toothless on speedibeet mixed with alfalfa.
 
I wish I could post pics on here so I could show you my 28 yr old mare whom I bought only 2 years ago .

Her teeth have been very neglected too , but I have them checked every 6 months now .

This winter she lost a little weight - not much, but too much for my liking. she , too, struggles with hay / haylege and spits most if it out :(


I asked for advice on the VHS FB apge and got loads of great tips.

I now feed her Veteran Vitality with Kwikbeet , all soaked obviously - and micronized linseed which is fab, and also Honey Chop chaff which she can eat easily and is fairly low in sugar ( 7.5 % ) compared to other chaffs .

I do give her a hay net over night - soaked - and she does manage some of it .

I am very lucky in the fact that I have all 3 of my horses on a private smallholding and the owner will give my oldie a very late night feed for me ( which she loves :o) .
 
My old girl had two teeth left at the back and they did not meet, she managed for ages, I fed lots of Alfa A ( she gummed it!) and she slurped up calm and conditioner.
 
I also have a 25yo gummy ... She is looking amazing on speedibeet, grass nuts, linseed and in the bad winter I boil up some calm & condition for her. She gums at chaff and grass at hay but it's hard to know how much of that ever goes in her as she has no front teeth either so can't break up stalks at all.
 
Our toothless pony does well on the Rowen Barbary mashes, he went from looking quite poor to looking young again. Our other oldies also get fed a small amount too, even though they still have some working teeth.
 
Thank you all so much for your sucess stories - fingers crossed we can add to the list of happy gummies!

Seeing the teeth was amazing if not a little shocking - I wish I could have taken a photo so everyone could see what scrimping £40 a year could do in their early years !

I'll experiment a little with which sloppy feeds he likes best over autumn so I'm well prepared for winter.
 
Haven't had chance to read everyones replies so really sorry if I am repeating what has already been said.

I find the cheapest version of grassnuts are from Graze On (much, much cheaper than Simple systems) - they also make a very nice soft grass chop, and a lower calorie straw/grass chop - I soak the nuts and mix together 50/50 of them and the chop in a large bucket and feed 3 times per day as her hay replacer (I feed the same weight as I would hayalge and adjust according to ponies weight as you would do with regular forage) and I also give her some soft haylage which she has if she can manage or leaves it if she can't and she grazes all summer and as much as possible in winter. She also has a 'proper feed' of fastfibre and balancer soaked to add her supplements to.

I've had a couple of years of ups and downs with my 20 year old ponies jaw - not exactly the same problem as you Polos mum but causes the same eating problems and experimenting with different things to see what works for you and your pony sounds like it is definitely the way forward. Best wishes x
 
I dont want to be the odd one out but i dont know if I would put my oldie through winters not being able to eat properly or only eating soaked feeds :( When my boys teeth go ill have to really assess if I will be pumping him full of soaked feeds to keep him here for me or for him :(

He cannot have cereals, is already not the best doer in the world and i dont think it would be fair on him being a pasture ornament on grass/hay he cannot really eat. Id need to separate him constantly to feed him or keep weight on him and I just dont hink it would be fair on him nor on me.

Kudos to all those who have kept the oldie with no teeth going, I just dont know if my morals would let me.
 
BB I appreciate your honesty, if I'm in any doubt about his quality of life there won't be any debate, so you're right if he has to be in all the time just to get through all the soup that's not going to work for him mentally.

I feel I owe it to him to do lots of research, give some good ideas a go and if they don't work, no harm done. I have lots of luck on my side, they are at home so a 6am and midnight feed is easy in my PJs, I'll also be off work this winter on maternity leave so mid day feeds also no problem.
 
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