Hay replacer for old pony

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Sandstone1

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Im using allen and page veteran light and pony cubes for my old pony. He is starting to struggle a bit to eat hay or haylage. Teeth checked and vet just says he is a old pony but is good in all other ways. He is a reasonable weight but dont want him to drop too much as its hard to get it back when they get old. Any other suggestions to help him? Im thinking linseed?
 
Speedibeet is a good way of providing bulk for less ££ as it swells more than Veteran Lite. I used Haycare as well, so VL was her 'tea' and Haycare and Speedibeet mixed was her 'haynet'.
 
My older 26 and 28 get veteran vitality , grass nuts , linseed . My older man has slightly dropped off this last few weeks so have changed him to care and gain instead of the vitality which is absolutely brilliant.
 

I had to join to tell you about this, I have 29 year old and a 28 year old horse, I use this paper cutter to chop their hay or haylage into inch long chunks. I use the largest gorilla bucket to contain the chopped hay. This lets me feed them hay or haylage I have chopped myself.

It takes about ten minutes to chop enough to fill one bucket. I use this to reduce the amount of hay replacer, I think it’s healthier for them and it helps keep costs down.
I got the idea from a facebook group for senior horse owners, an American lady on there used this method and it’s ideal for me and my old ones.
 
My 31 year old was on Care&Gain with mugful of micronised linseed and double handful of Lite&Healthy chaff (non molassed, non alfalfa) plus hay and grass (he lives out).

He started quidding his hay about 2.5 weeks ago and dropped weight. The vet came and he had two dentals done under sedation. (The first at home and he was unwilling despite sedation, the 2nd I trailered him to the vet clinic, his first trailer trip in 6 years but he travelled fine, and he was still fairly unwilling despite sedation).

We found a couple of large diastemas (food stuck in gaps between his back teeth) which were flushed out with water.

Vet said no more chaff, as it's the worst thing for getting stuck in tooth gaps, whereas hay and grass isn't.

So I've doubled his Care&Gain and linseed, and bought some veteran cubes to replace the chaff.

Since his dental he's been able to eat hay without quidding so I'm hoping with the extra bucket feeds too that he'll start putting some weight back on.
 
I'm using lots of speedibeet and Mole Valleys own High Fibre Mash with added oil and linseed.
We are also just trying Baileys Meadow Cobs which are going down well but take my brain a bit more getting round as they take an hour to soak in cold water so i have to think in advance!
 
I have used soaked sugarbeet, grass nuts and high fibre cubes with a balancer added. To put on or keep weight I replace the high fibre cubes with conditioning cubes. For fatties use the unmolassed sugarbeet, others the full fat variety. Extras like grated carrot & apple can be given as a treat.
 
I do struggle to leave enough food for him overnight. In his younger days, enough haylage could be left to keep him ticking over. Now that isn't an option, I have to give large amounts of soaked food that doesn't encourage grazing and picking - he just stands and eats!
 
Mine has 2 tubs ( am & pm) of unmolassed sugar beet with soaked haycare or baileys meadow cubes and some chaff as he can still manage that , but he still also has 2 nets of hay per day along with care and gain and chaff as bucket feeds 3 times per day .
 
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