Help please - fussy feeder - running out of ideas!

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Vetwrap

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Any help or suggestions would be great - I'm running out of ideas here!

My young horse can be very explosive when initially mounted, but then will work beautifully. We have done all the usual checks - back, saddle, teeth and nothing has been found. Saddle has just been properly fitted and he has more dead sheep and prolite than you can shake a stick at. We're going for maximum comfort here! (Saddle was also fitted with sheepskin in mind.)

We are going to try and work through these issues and so would like to put him on a calmer to help keep his adreneline in check, but the problem is that he has gone off his food. He is fed Calmer Chaff, Fast Fibre, Brewers Yeast and Nupafeed. I have a Tryptophan based calmer to give him, but I don't want to put this in his feed if he is not eating it - it's just throwing money away!

Despite the fact that I am trying to keep all energy and sugar out of his diet, I have started to soak the fast fibre in apple juice, in an attempt to get him to eat the rest of the supplements - that doesn't seem to work overly either!

He is more interested in haylage than his dinner! He is living out as well.

Any suggestions would be great. I can't tell you how much time, heartache and money has been spent trying to get this horse going...

It's a good job he's cute...
 
I have an eventer who used to be extremely cold backed when mounting - i have parted company from bucking fits many times - both at home and events - i slowly trained him that everytime i got on i leaned forward and he bent his head back to get a treat - then he walked on munching his treat and forgot about the saddle - it really didnt take him long to figure it out - he is now (touch wood) not cold backed at all - i get on - he turns his head for his carrot (or whatever) gets it, starts munching and walks on - this really has solved the problem and i am no longer nervous for my life when mounting him!! it just made him think about the food not the person getting on - he is so much more chilled about it now - maybe that could work?
 
Try peppermint cordial, or a packet of strong mints dissolved in water and chucked into his feed, or powdered peppermint/spearmint available from your feed merchant. Treacle or syrup dissolved again in boiling water, apple juice or apple still water work quite well so does molasses.

It could be his feed is a bit boring so buy some pasture mix with garlic and mint added to pep up his appetite.
 
Does he like Polo's? If so buy some Peppermint oil and mix some to damp his feed to make it peppermint flavoured.

HAve you had him checked for stomach ulcers as well. If he is happy eating the haylage what about mixing his calmer in a syringe with the peppermint oil and putting it directly into his mouth.

Then feed him adlib haylage to help keep weight on.

I like the titbit idea for once you are on him. Distraction is a really good way to get them to forget their protest.
 
Probably not much help, but with the young horses that we had we had someone on the ground giving them a mint as the rider got on to encourage them to stand still and then another mint after a couple of strides, once they were happy to stand still the rider gave them the mint after a couple of strides from the saddle. (our's used to get sugar free mints as one of them had a sugar intolerance).
When you say explosive does he bronc, do a runner, rear?
Could he have had a bad experience in the past as the riders leg went over?
We did have one horse that never really got used to the riders leg coming over the other side of the saddle (he was a bit spesh), I've never found getting someone to hold the reins helps, would always rather they placed they're hand on the horses shoulder or chest if there is someone on the ground.
 
Try soaking a handful of high fibre nuts and adding the supplements to this. I find if you sprinkle a few nuts on top just as you give it to the horse, it's all soon eaten.
 
Sally-FF said:
I have an eventer who used to be extremely cold backed when mounting - i have parted company from bucking fits many times - both at home and events - i slowly trained him that everytime i got on i leaned forward and he bent his head back to get a treat - then he walked on munching his treat and forgot about the saddle - it really didnt take him long to figure it out - he is now (touch wood) not cold backed at all - i get on - he turns his head for his carrot (or whatever) gets it, starts munching and walks on - this really has solved the problem and i am no longer nervous for my life when mounting him!! it just made him think about the food not the person getting on - he is so much more chilled about it now - maybe that could work?
Click to expand...

Excellent idea! I think that distraction techniques could work with him, as he does love treats and can be a bit of a bully for them, but at the same time, this shows how interested he is in tit-bits. Thankyou for this!
 
Some horses love cider vinegar and it has the added bonus of being a healthy thing to give a horse.
I do like the syringe idea. My horse is a 'bucket kicker' so inspite of his feed bowl being wedged in a tyre weighted with stones,he still manages to knock it over and scatter his expensive supplements all over the floor!:mad:
 
Naryafluffy said:
Probably not much help, but with the young horses that we had we had someone on the ground giving them a mint as the rider got on to encourage them to stand still and then another mint after a couple of strides, once they were happy to stand still the rider gave them the mint after a couple of strides from the saddle. (our's used to get sugar free mints as one of them had a sugar intolerance).
When you say explosive does he bronc, do a runner, rear?
Could he have had a bad experience in the past as the riders leg went over?
We did have one horse that never really got used to the riders leg coming over the other side of the saddle (he was a bit spesh), I've never found getting someone to hold the reins helps, would always rather they placed they're hand on the horses shoulder or chest if there is someone on the ground.
Click to expand...

I don't think that holding onto him on the ground works either. My fear is that if I try to hold the rein while a jockey gets on, then I could end up pulling him in the mouth if he responds quickly. His reaction tends to be broncing. We have not had him scoped for ulcers and to be honest, though he is a TBx who weaves and will crib given the choice, I have put this off because I had always had other routes to investigate and the funds only go so far... It seems like a chicken and egg situation though, so maybe scoping him for ulcers is the next thing... Any idea of cost of that?

Current other thinking is to practice the on/off time and time again, until he is bored and no longer reacting. I'll get a bag of horse treats and work through them.

Re. his eating, he just doesn't seem inspired by his dinner. The field is fairly bare, but they have haylage in the field each night, but when he is in, he doesn't seem interested at all in dinner, so I have removed his haynet and he can have it back once he has eaten his dinner. I haven't put the tryptophan based calmer in yet, as that is expensive to throw away. Maybe cruching a couple of polo's in would help - or, as Evelyn suggested, peppermint oil. Is that the same as peppermint flavouring?

I really appreciate all your help and suggestions. I know that we all go through it at times with our horses, but it is kind of soul destroying when you keep ticking off the possible causes and still come up clueless. I know the answer is there somewhere!
 
The scoping for ulcers isn't very expensive - the Gastroguard is, though.
As to the calmer (tryptophan based), have you tried Equistro Equiliser? Reason I'm asking is, apart from Equistro being really good, it is also made with dried melon juice as carrier - it tastes and smells divine and I had one of mine just lick it of my hands. They are very concentrated, so the dosage is small, I would just tip it on my damp hand and let her lick it - she did with gusto.
 
Out of interest can he see other horses eating at the same time he is. i.e. are they all fed together.

Just that my lad would not be bothered to eat until his friends had their feeds. Its like a competition thing to make sure they all got their feeds and that nobody else was having theirs.

Much like my dog when she was living with our other dog. Always always ate her food. Now she lives on her own and isnt that bothered because she knows her food will always be there.
 
Just did a search on threads about gastric ulcers and might look at seeing if there is any change in his behaviour if he is put on something like Coligone - there seems to be good reviews on that. I know that Fine fettle Feeds Happy Tummy is also supposed to be good and was recommended by my trimmer. Of course, that also means that I have to get another supplement down him, so I think that the syringe might have to be deployed!

On the upside, if it is made to taste nice, then he'll never worry about worming, will he!

Re. competitive eating - yes, the others are all eating around him, some with dinner and others tucking into haynets. It doesn't seem to make a difference to him.

So, stupid question, but Nupafeed Liquid, mixed with tryptophan calmer, brewers yeast and something like Coligone - in a syringe with a cruched extra strong mint? Is there anything there that is not ok? I don't want to overdose him with anything!
 
martlin said:
The scoping for ulcers isn't very expensive - the Gastroguard is, though.
As to the calmer (tryptophan based), have you tried Equistro Equiliser? Reason I'm asking is, apart from Equistro being really good, it is also made with dried melon juice as carrier - it tastes and smells divine and I had one of mine just lick it of my hands. They are very concentrated, so the dosage is small, I would just tip it on my damp hand and let her lick it - she did with gusto.
Click to expand...

Haven't heard of this, but sounds like I should do some more rersearch. It is an equine America one that I bought
 
It could be the Brewers yeast putting him off his food?

Perhaps try without it to see if he is interested then, process of elimination.

If it is that putting him off then you can re-add it gradually with peppermint cordial, which should disguise it.
 
My girl is a fussy eater - the list of things she won't eat is long, but it includes.....

Bute
Antibiotics
Molasses
Garlic
Apple juice
Polo Mints
Cider vinegar
mostexpensivesupplements
anythingthattastesdifferent
Copra
Rice-based-feeds

Anyway, I now feed her :-

Chopped Grass
Sugar Beet
Split Peas
Linseed
& the Sensible Essentials supplement from Equifeast.

This supplement is their vits & mins plus their calmer. I use equifeast products because she'll eat them, and because they seem to work for her. Messing about with her diet is a no-no because if I introduce something STRANGE like, say NAF Pink powder, she'll refuse to eat dinner at all.

When she has to have medication I mix it into a paste and syringe it into her mouth. Thank goodness she lets me do that!
 
I'd been getting a bit desperate about the fact that my youngster wouldn't eat, when I posted on here last week. We also had issues with him broncing when mounted - hence the reason I wanted to try him on calmers...

Susie-FF suggested distracting him at the point of mounting and I can't tell you what a difference that made! I legged a friend up into the saddle, whilst giving ponio a treat and he was as good as gold, mooching off chewing his treat! He was so relaxed and chilled that we went up to the bigger outdoor, where my instructor gave friend an impromptu lesson, ending with some jumping! It was so amazing to see how much the pair of them were enjoying themselves.

To cap it all off, when we took him back to his stable, he tucked into his dinner and polished off the whole lot! I did leave out the brewer's yeast and this must be the key, because he has eaten up ever since.

So, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou - to all those who replied with suggestions and ideas. I feel like we have made a major breakthrough. HHO really is a wonderful source of knowledge and there are some great people on here.

Thanks again!
 
If his condition is ok why don't you just knock the feed on the head? Maybe he's not that interested in it because he's not hungry and his body doesn't need it?

I'm trialling the new syringe callers for blue chip at the moment. Each syringe has 3/4 servings in it and you give 10ml about an hour before you ride. It had the ingredients you are looking for.
I haven't tried it yet but could be worth a go? Then you don't have to worry about the feeding issue. If it doesn't work then at least you didn't fork out on an expensive tub of the stuff and if it does work then great! :)
 
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