HELP! 5 month old foal

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linodumoulin

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Hi everyone!

Im new to this forum, and forums in general so please bare with me.

Firstly - heres a little bit about me & my horses. I have 2 horses of my own - Lino (16.1hh Chestnut Selle Francais 15yo) and current noname (5 month old appy x knabstrupper colt). I also have full responsibility of my elderly boss' six horses which i ride & compete.. there is Trapper (17hh dapple grey 8yo ISH), Feico (17.1h 5yo freisien), Priscilla (16.2 chesnut 16yo ISH), and the 3 little ponies, (1 welshy & 2 falabellas)

So, my new Foalie (Whitehawk Dancing Fire, who currently doesnt have a stable name!) arrived last Friday... and he is just PERFECT! He is the most gentle, well behaved foal ever - who even picked up his 2 front feet for me today (proud mummy moment!). Anyway, I live in Jersey, and the ground over here lacks certain vitamins & minerals, so after some advice i bought some Spillers Grow 'N' Win and some basic mollichaff - but foalie doesnt like anything thats not grass! ive tried everything! ive mixed it with apple juice, crushed polos, mixed his favourite food (grass) with it - but he is just not convinced!

Any suggestions would be gratefully received please - theyre only small pellets but if its not simple grass, he wont eat it!

Thanks in advance!
 
Pop him and a mate out in a field with a couple of feed bins, the other horse will show him what to do. He may never have had hard feed before.

Try feeding him, a very small amount when he is likely to be the most hungry, eg, for breakfast if he's been in all night.

Try just a handful of oats or barley. I don't know what the feed you are trying to give is like, but I know that some of the processed feeds do not smell particularly pleasant.

He will come round and decide he like being fed. Congratulations on picking up feet.
 
I had the exact same problem two weeks ago, I put Morris in the field next to my other horse and he soon caught on, only thing is now he thinks I'm a walking feed bin and his little nose is just pocket size!! To start with I mixed his pellets with a bit of beet and left a few hours so was sloppy.
 
Please don't give a foal that young any type of chaff at all as they do not yet have the full dentition which will help it be chewed like an adult can; instead, it balls up and can cause choke; just not worth the risk.
Mix a small handful with a drop of warm water just to soften it and feed by hand, let him just lick or suck it off, once they get the taste they'll soon get going.
 
Maesfen said:
Please don't give a foal that young any type of chaff at all as they do not yet have the full dentition which will help it be chewed like an adult can; instead, it balls up and can cause choke; just not worth the risk.
Mix a small handful with a drop of warm water just to soften it and feed by hand, let him just lick or suck it off, once they get the taste they'll soon get going.
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They have their temporary molars within the first week of age and are perfectly capable of eating chaff when they are actually at an age when they start showing interest in their mothers feed.

Mine have all had chaff as do all the weanling racehorses here in NZ - chaff is the main portion of any ration. So long as it is fed damped it should not cause choke at any time.
 
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