Help, my pony won't eat hay!

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carols284

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I have a 3 year old Shetland x Dartmoor who will not eat hay. He has lost weight so severely over the winter that the RSPCA have been called, but what can I do? He fills himself up with grass all day, which has no goodness in it at all, and is so seriously underweight that he looks as if he will collapse at any time, even though his coat shines. I have spent a lot of time with this pony over the winter months and the only things I can get him to eat apart from grass is Badminton Conditioning Nuggets and pony nuts. My vet has suggested Alpha A or Mollichaff, but he just turns his nose up at those. I know the goodness is coming back in the grass at the moment, but it's due to get cold again next week. I don't think he will survive much longer if that does happen. He would literally rather starve to death than to eat what he needs. I really don't know what else to do. Can anyone please advise me?
 
Can you keep him in? Have you tried different hay? How about haylage? Are his teeth OK? Is he worm-free?

Have you tried a huge trug tub full of Happy Hoof or even Ready Grass? I've also heard about people sprinkling garlic powder on hay if the horse wont eat it.

At least the grass is coming through now but have you considered feeding a hard feed to add calories if his weight is really that bad?
 
Does the pony show any intrest when the food is put down for him? Also does the pony eat apples or carrots or like garlic? There are other chaff feeds out there such as applechaff, im sure there is one with carrots mixed through it and ones with garlic in it. Also with the hay ae you only offering it in a haynet or also loose on the floor? Not all horses will eat out of a haynet or hayrack.
 
I can keep him in, but at this stage I am afraid to. It would literally be kill or cure. He will eat a very small amount of haylage, then return to grass. His teeth have been checked and are ok and he has been wormed.
I haven't tried Happy Hoof or Ready Grass yet and will try garlic powder on the hay. Thanks for that info.
He won't eat a hard feed as I would give to my others.
 
When I put the food down he goes to the bucket. If it's not what he wants he will walk over to me whinnying for his usual feed. He's not interested in apples or carrots. I haven't tried him with garlic yet, but will soon. The hay is given to him on the floor, in the same way as he would usually eat grass.
 
Have you also tried molasses? or even treacle or syrup? If you tried him with chaff you could always pick grass and mix it all up together. Or with his food a bit or a warm bran mash mixed in? Im bit unsure on how to try and get him how to eat hay or haylage but at least there are a number of feeds out there to try
 
Might be asking the obvious, but have you had your vets do bloods etc? How about some sort of nice smelling chaff (we have a local herbal one with mint and garlic and various other stuff, they love it!) with sugar beet? Worth a go as it's pretty cheap in the sceme of things and most horses go mad for sugar beet. I would say it doesn't sound right for a 3 year old to be doing this though, and i would be pushing for every vet test i could get if you seriously think he is so poor he is at risk of death :/
 
My horse won't eat hay unless she is 100% settled. If she travels or goes somewhere new then it takes a few days for her to settle into eating properly again. She seems to eat more hay if she eats it off the floor, rather than from a hay net.
 
Soaked grass nuts maybe with apple juice??

Seriously, I would get your vet out to check him over - maybe he has a problem swallowing hay and that's why he likes grass as it's easier to eat/swallow.

Sorry, not much help but I hope he soon starts eating properly.
 
I have tried molasses, but not treacle or syrup. He won't eat anything mixed with grass. I have also tried all types of grain and he won't eat it.
 
He hasn't moved for the last 6 months and seems to be happy where he is, as he calls to me when I arrive and runs up to me. He's always fed hay off the floor, as I believe this is more natural.
 
I will try the grass nuts. My vet has checked him over and is as baffled as I am, which is why I am trying this....... Thanks for all of your suggestions. I have never met such a stubborn animal before, who would literally rather die than eat what he needs at this time of year. Yet, in temperament, he is a real sweetie.
 
Just grass and ready grass are fantastic. I dampen mine for half an hour before giving it sometimes ( when my mare was a little off colour) but always mix it in with their sugar beet, oil will give him some more calories if you can sneek that in ( sunflower or Olive oil are my horses fav) Might he take some red cell in his feed? That may pick him up a bit.

Poor chap, sounds a sensitive little soul. But the dried grass is really really fab. My mare is virtually living off it at the moment as we had our field harrowed at the wrong time and now own a swamp!!
 
Really pleased to see some goodness coming in the grass. He didn't come straight to me, as he usually would, so I'm guessing he's not that hungry today. I also noticed the other ponies aren't eating as much hay, but going for grass, so I'm hoping that means the grass is now better for them than hay.
I believe that my son really hit the nail on the head with his diagnosis. He said that the pony's head has been telling him that he's hungry, because he hasn't been getting any roughage, but his stomach has been telling him that he's full, due to the amount of grass consumed. Also, not eating hay, etc. is simply personal taste.
 
Never heard of Just Grass before. I'll get some tomorrow and try it. I give my horses vegetable oil with their feed, so he get's those calories. Will also try some red cell.
He's a real character. Loves to push his head under my arm, so that I have to walk across the field cuddling him around the neck! There's not a nasty bone in his body, doesn't bite or kick, even though he's been through quite a lot while I've been trying to find out what's wrong.
 
Firstly i wouldnt bother with the garlic, it is one of the least liked flavours of horses. It is also very potent and will more than likely put the pony off.

Secondly i wouldnt keep the pony in. At least by being out he will get some grass/food into him. If hes in and not eating then he will get even less and also likely to have increased stress.

When were his teeth looked at and has he had a worm count done? Is it that he doesnt like hay and other feeds or that he physically cant eat hem? Also, if he has gut damage from worms then what he does it will not be utilised very well.

A shetland x dartmoor that has eaten grass all day should not look like an rspca case! So either he isnt getting as much grass as you think he is or there is something physically wrong with him. Has he had blood tests?

Badminton conditioning nuggets have one of the same ingredients (a palatable essential oil) as their high fibre complete nuggets, so i suggest feeding these as well to increase his fibre intake. You can soak them slightly if needed and they can be fed in large quantities. He may not like alfalfa as that can have a bitter taste, so leave 2 seperate buckets of soaked unmollassed sugar beet and just grass in with him too. Another alternative is allen and page fast fibre, which you soak. If he doesnt eat any of them straght away, leave them there for 24 hours then replace with fresh and persevere.

Also, ensure he has a decent shelter outside (even thick hedges/trees to shelter from wind from all directions) or train him slowly to wear a rug. Your vet really needs to be more pro-active in helping you, so consider a second opinion or nag your current vet to do more.
 
Just Grass and Readi Grass are great, except that they trigger my hay fever symptoms! It must be very unusual for a Shettie type to fail to thrive, most have problems in the opposite direction. I'd wants some basleine bloods from the vet, if only to reassure nothing sinister is going on.
 
I did try some sugar beet with garlic today. He ate a very small amount, with some of his feed mixed in, but left the rest. I'll try just sugar beet tomorrow.
His teeth were looked at this week and are ok. He will finalise his initial worm treatment in 2 weeks, so my vet hasn't done a worm count. My vet wants to wait 2 weeks to do blood tests, but if he loses any more weight (I'm using a weigh tape regularly) I will contact my vet immediately.
Thanks for the advice on food. I find Badminton to be a very good product and I'm trying different things all the time with him, but always keeping the Badminton conditioning nuggets going.
Where I keep him is close to the moor, not lush grass and very bleak and cold. After the winter we've just had (there must have been about 2 months when the ground was so frozen none of them could eat grass) it is understandable that he would lose weight without hay. Even the moorland ponies wouldn't survive without the farmers putting hay out for them.
Over the past few days I have put him into a small (about 1 1/2 acres) field which has been rested for the winter. He's really enjoying that grass and is right beside the other ponies. He's always been a bit of a loner, when it comes to his own kind, preferring human company. When he stands at the gate, looking longingly at the others, I put him back with them for a while, then when he wanders off on his own again I open the adjoining gate and he goes back on his own again.
There is shelter from hedges with large trees, also in well established gorse.
He does wear a rug.
 
Yes, it is unusual for Shetland types not to thrive, but since having this problem I have talked to several other people who have had similar problems. In fact one person I spoke to was quite annoyed about theirs, saying it makes him feel like shooting the b******. I know he wasn't serious, though. Cares too much about his animals.
I will try Just Grass and Readi Grass. Thanks for that.
It was really nice to see that he wasn't in a rush for his food today. Instead of being at the gate waiting for me I had to walk up the field and get him! Hoping and praying that means there's more goodness in the grass now and he doesn't need additional food as much, although he still ate most of it.
 
I would like to thank everyone for their advice and help.
Just to give you all an update, I was really at the end of my tether a while ago, when he had lost a further 7 kg in a week I was seriously thinking that the only thing to do was to have him destroyed. I phoned my vet, who was TB testing that day, then going on to do the evening surgery, so was too busy to come and see him. Not knowing where else to turn I phoned Mole Valley Farmers, knowing they have staff who have been on courses to know what to do in certain circumstances. I was put on to a nutritionist, who advised me to use Top Spec food ballancer, of which he only needed a coffee cup full. The only way I could get him to eat it was by mixing in with a bucket of pony nuts and conditioning nuggets, but he did eat it. That was the turning point with this pony. Top Spec food ballancer makes the most of what he is eating. He put on 1kg in the first day, within 2 more days he had put on another 3kg. He now eats anything, hay, haylage, Alpha A, Molichaff, sugar beet, in fact anything which is put in front of him. This stuff is amazing. He suddenly found his appetite. He doesn't want to go back in with the ponies, loves being with the horses and is getting a very mature attitude because of being with them. As he's only 3, he's amazing people when I lead him out on the road to get him used to traffic, because he's so laid back, standing for ages while I chat to drivers and passengers who think he's really cute.
Once again, thanks to everyone for your help. I'm really glad this pony has pulled around, I've spent so much time on him, trying to get him to eat, that I've really got attached to him and would have really hated to have lost him.
 
First thing I would do is have his teeth checked, make sure hes wormed properly, buy no dust, fresh green hay in and rug him up, try him on sugarbeet and graze on.
 
carols284 said:
I also noticed the other ponies aren't eating as much hay, but going for grass, so I'm hoping that means the grass is now better for them than hay.
I believe that my son really hit the nail on the head with his diagnosis. He said that the pony's head has been telling him that he's hungry, because he hasn't been getting any roughage, but his stomach has been telling him that he's full, due to the amount of grass consumed. Also, not eating hay, etc. is simply personal taste.
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Your son may well be right although the fact that the pony is very poor would disturb me. This type of pony will normally do well on grass alone if there's enough of it.

However, if there's insufficient grass - or not enough fibre in the grass - then he SHOULD eat hay if it's GOOD hay. When my haylage was TOO good (and a bit 'soft'), over the winter, the bloody horses started eating fence posts for extra roughage!

I would suspect a tooth problem. You say they've been checked - was it bya vet or a qualified EDT?? I've lost count of the number of horses I've had come here who had 'been checked' but which actually had quite serious dental problems. A lot of vets aren't particularly good with teeth (and more than a few are damn useless!!) and there are a lot of unqualified 'horse dentists' around. Some are good - some are worse than useless!

ETA - just read your last post! Glad tohear he's improving. The improvement after the additionof the balancer - and the fact that he's now eating hay etc. would suggest he had a fairlysevere mineral/vitamin deficiency - now corrected. Although it could also be that he had some retained caps which have now been shed.
 
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Great news your pony is doing so well! :D Must be such a relief. I'll bet the person who advised the product would be chuffed too!
 
Yes, it is a relief that he's doing well now. He looks so different. Hard to believe he was in such poor condition.
I've thanked the person who gave me the advice. They were only sorry to hear that I don't have before and after photo's for them to use for their product.
 
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