help my horse wont eat hay/haylage

[jennandtoffsmum]

can anyone help my 23 year old mare,wont eat her hay/haylage she has lost a lot of weight due to having IBS she will eat her tea which is graze-on and condition mix but that all,i also give her slipperey elm bark powder with camomile tea and treacle which she loves twice a day this is to stop her diarreh which shes had for 3 week iv had the vet out who said they can do blood test but need to get her to eat proply any advise will be good as im really worried about her

 

[muff747]

The diet guru's will chip in soon to fine tune a diet for her, but I would say you could give her buckets full of the Graze on. I use the GO Gold by the bucketful for my PPID Cushings horse.
Have her teeth been checked? she may have problems/pain chewing. My friend kept her 30 odd year old arab in good condition for years after he lost most of his teeth on soaked grass nuts with chop added to like a porrige consistency. She would fill one of the largest tubtrug buckets full to the top for him and he'd eat that overnight instead of a haynet.

 

[texel]

Sorry to hear about your horse - I can appreciate your worry as your mare isn't eating, my chap was in a similar situation in that he went off his hay altogether and lost his appetite.

With IBS you have to cut out grains and concentrates and feed simple high fibre, you also have to ensure the horse is able to walk about. I would have though sugar would irriate the bowel.

Fennel seed and or tea is good for the digestion and the appetite, along with aloe vera juice. OIl is good to gain condition. These certainly helped my chap.

It may be that you try place her feed on some hay and introduce it gradually that way.

Once your vet has some results it may be a worth discussing an alternative diet plan.

Sending positive vibes.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Teeth first, then Cushings test, then there are a zillion feeds that you can soak and turn into a nutritious mash that your mare should be able to cope with. How certain are you that your horse has IBS? I thought that was a peculiarly human thing. Occam's razor. Teeth, Cushings, mash feeds. You can leave a big bucketful of soaked speedibeet with her and she'd be safe and might enjoy.