Kaylum
Well-Known Member
Mint from fresh from the plant they love it.
Hive mind - the fussy git is driving me bonkers!
- Thread starter Auslander
- Start date
Vermeer
Well-Known Member
I mix Bute (which she hates) in with veg baby food (which she also hates), smear it over her mouth and then give her a bucket feed of chaff straight away... She licks it off her chops and happy days. Silly but it works!
visa_bot
Well-Known Member
I’ve Has some success with fenugreek seeds in the past. They aren’t that expensive to try if you haven’t already.
Trinket12
Well-Known Member
What about sweet potato? saw something online the other day with a horse that munched it down
Caol Ila
Well-Known Member
I feel your pain. Hermosa drives me crazy with how fussy she is.
Pippity
Well-Known Member
Taking note of all these options... Blue ate her Saracen Re-Leve fairly reliably for a year or so but, with the spring grass, I might as well throw the money straight onto the muck heap. We have barn pigeons with excellent vitamin E levels, but the bloody horse is going back to her stuffy pre-PSSM-diagnosis self.
Auslander
Well-Known Member
So far so good - he ate the new stuff just fine this morning with bute in it. I'm not going to get excited though - as this is a long term pattern! If he's still eating it next week, then I'll celebrate!
His field buddy got told off for trying to help him eat this morning - so it's obviously pretty tasty!
His field buddy got told off for trying to help him eat this morning - so it's obviously pretty tasty!
Chippers1
Well-Known Member
Buzz is the same, loves a sample enough to get a full bag then hates it....the only success I have had (and that he is currently still eating!) is Spillers Ulca Fibre. He's on to his second bag which is very rare!
I also had a Mash sample to try but never got round to it as he enjoyed the UF so much
I also had a Mash sample to try but never got round to it as he enjoyed the UF so much
Auslander
Well-Known Member
Brewers yeast was a massive fail! He sniffed it suspiciously, took a mouthful, spat it straight out, shot me a filthy look, and marched off to shove his friend off his dinner, which he then ate with great reliish, even though it was Veteran Vitality, which he does not approve of! His mate tucked into the poisoned comp mix with no issues, so everyone was happy - but I will not be making that mistake again!
4Hoofed
Well-Known Member
The old sugar beet cubes?? The big lad is a bit take it or leave it with hard feed… not a big fan of nuts etc so he gets oats, sugar beet and readi grass and he’s made for it!! Went from half finished feeds to licking the bowl. Can even give him supplements and linseed now!
tda
Well-Known Member
That's the solution then, make him think he's pinching someone else's breakfast
every day 
TheOldTrout
Completely Unknown Member
My mare adores Spillers senior super mash.
Splash2310
Well-Known Member
A lady at my old yard used to use barley grass powder, mixed up with a bit of water to get her fussy lad to take meds. It always smelt absolutely delicious!
Pippity
Well-Known Member
After being in tears over Blue's refusal to eat her hard feed and therefore her essential vitamin E, this morning I gave her some bog-standard, unmolassed chaff, with vitamin E sprinkled on top, and she licked the bowl clean. Horses! I doubt she'll eat it tomorrow, but at least I've got SOME vitamin E into her. I was on the verge of mixing it into a paste and syringing it in.
PinkvSantaboots
Well-Known Member
My very fussy Arab will eat his feed for a while then refuse to eat it since I have added oily herbs to the feed he has loved it, it's basically dried oregano, Rosemary, thyme and I add dried mint as well mix the whole lot up in a big tub and feed 60ml scoop daily.
Failing that I get prascend in my other one by dissolving the tablet in a tiny bit of water then add Dr Oatker peppermint essence, it's got no sugar and is so strong it disguises most things I have added it to the feed in the past to get them to eat stuff and it's worked, its so cheap and you only need a few drops.
Failing that I get prascend in my other one by dissolving the tablet in a tiny bit of water then add Dr Oatker peppermint essence, it's got no sugar and is so strong it disguises most things I have added it to the feed in the past to get them to eat stuff and it's worked, its so cheap and you only need a few drops.
Birker2020
Well-Known Member
Veteran Vitality - guarantee that's a winner.
Auslander
Well-Known Member
He's not a fan. Occasionally nicks his mates, but wouldn't touch it if i gave it to him
Auslander
Well-Known Member
I put a handful of Italian herb blend in his dinner last night - with all the above in it (plus basil!) and he loved it!
Abacus
Well-Known Member
I was thinking about this. If he’s serially fussy, have you tried having a bin each of, say, the 5 foods he likes the most and rotating daily, rather than keeping going with each until he goes off it?
It might even be possible that he's actually quite attuned to what he needs and ‘feels’ a tiny deficiency of X mineral/vitamin, so loves a particular feed until that need is satisfied. I might be crediting him with too much intelligence… who knows…
It might even be possible that he's actually quite attuned to what he needs and ‘feels’ a tiny deficiency of X mineral/vitamin, so loves a particular feed until that need is satisfied. I might be crediting him with too much intelligence… who knows…
PinkvSantaboots
Well-Known Member
Hopefully it will work for him! I buy all mine in bulk from wholefoods on line and I now keep some back for my cupboard and also buy all my herbs and spices there now.
Auslander
Well-Known Member
i just bought a 1kg bag of it on Amazon - even if he goes off it, I can use it in my own kitchen!
Auslander
Well-Known Member
He's pretty smart!
I think he just has a refined palate, and wants to be fed like a person with plenty of variety! He's a very special old boy, and nothing is too much trouble where he is concerned, as he thoroughly deserves special treatment - so if I need to fanny around with his feed regime for the rest of his days - so be it!
Auslander
Well-Known Member
Well - we got 6 weeks success eating the Spillers Senior mash. Was beginning to think Id found the holy grail of horse feeds, but nope!
Ate it yesterday just fine. Today, sniffed it once, and walked away. Obviously, I had just bought another bag...
Ate it yesterday just fine. Today, sniffed it once, and walked away. Obviously, I had just bought another bag...
webble
Well-Known Member
No help sorry but just wanted to offer support. Kiki won't eat most feeds even without supplements in I feel your pain
Auslander
Well-Known Member
He will eat Baileys competition mix, so at least I have that! It's a bit turbo charged for an old horse who goes for a walk round the block a few times a week, but ho hum!
criso
Coming over here & taking your jobs since 1900
Mine decided not to eat his breakfast this morning, no reason, nothing different. Ate his dinner though, exactly the same ingredients.
Pippity
Well-Known Member
The only thing mine will reliably eat at the moment is alfalfa, which then blows her brain. And even then, she'll only eat it if it's bone dry, at which point, all the supplements drop straight through and she doesn't get any.
She really hasn't read the Cob Manual.
Auslander
Well-Known Member
I don't get second chances.The moment I see him sniffing it, I know it's game over!
Auslander
Well-Known Member
She needs to come and stay here for a bit - my mare herd is very good at teaching incomers that you eat up or lose it!
blitznbobs
Well-Known Member
Havens slobbermash