Hive mind - the fussy git is driving me bonkers!

Auslander

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@Auslander Rowen Barberry sent me some samples of their leisure plus and they were eaten tonight complete with the herbs and balancer he won't normally touch. Might be worth a try
I'll give anything a go!
He started sniffing suspiciously at the Baileys comp mix last night. Ate it, but I sensed a little less enthusiasm than usual. Thankfully I have a bag of Redmills mix waiting in the wings
 

DirectorFury

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A sprinkle of D&H Elite Sport Muesli is the only thing that gets my fussy nightmare (also a cob that didn't get the food memo) to eat the hoof supplement she hates. Sorry if you've already tried this one!
 

Slightlyconfused

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Coming back here.

Any tips to get a horse on prascend to eat? He always fussy in summer, summer is for grass eating only 🙄. He was eating his tablet in his apple but have now decided they are gross so back to small handful chaff and sprinkle of grass nuts.

Need a low cal feed, he loves bran mash si something like that but with no lucerne or oat feed fillers as he gets hyper on it.
 

Auslander

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I'm not holding my breath, but he has turned his nose up at Spillers Senior mash, Baileys Allround Comp mix, Redmills cool and cooked, and Ease and Excel in the last few days. I bought him a bag of Agrobs Musli today, gave him a taster, and he hoovered it, licked his bucket clean, then picked it up and threw it at me - seems like hes'a fan (for the moment!)
 

PinkvSantaboots

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Coming back here.

Any tips to get a horse on prascend to eat? He always fussy in summer, summer is for grass eating only 🙄. He was eating his tablet in his apple but have now decided they are gross so back to small handful chaff and sprinkle of grass nuts.

Need a low cal feed, he loves bran mash si something like that but with no lucerne or oat feed fillers as he gets hyper on it.
I dissolve tablet in a tiny amount of water add a few drops of peppermint essence suck it up in a big syringe and my horse happily takes it and give him a treat afterwards.

I tried disguising it in so many things he just spat it out then refused to eat from my hand so this is the only thing that works.
 

criso

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I'm not holding my breath, but he has turned his nose up at Spillers Senior mash, Baileys Allround Comp mix, Redmills cool and cooked, and Ease and Excel in the last few days. I bought him a bag of Agrobs Musli today, gave him a taster, and he hoovered it, licked his bucket clean, then picked it up and threw it at me - seems like hes'a fan (for the moment!)
Fingers crossed that lasts. Musli is the all time fave for mine, I think he know it's more expensive than the other things I add to make it go further.
 

teach

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If it’s just to hide things, recovery mash is great! You can buy travel packs of it too, so don’t need to buy a full sack. It does have to be soaked though, so no good if he doesn’t like wet feed
 

Auslander

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If it’s just to hide things, recovery mash is great! You can buy travel packs of it too, so don’t need to buy a full sack. It does have to be soaked though, so no good if he doesn’t like wet feed
Tried that! Sometimes he likes it, sometimes he doesn't!
 

Auslander

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I would buy a few bags of stuff and alternate it so he don't know what his getting maybe he likes variety 😆
That's exactly what I'm doing!
He's not going to starve, as if he doesn't fancy what I've given him, he shoves his mate off his feed (veteran vitality) and eats that instead.
Before anyone says "Give him Veteran Vitality then" - I've tried! He won't touch it if it's given to him, but he'll eat his mates if he feels like it!
 

MereChristmas

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That's exactly what I'm doing!
He's not going to starve, as if he doesn't fancy what I've given him, he shoves his mate off his feed (veteran vitality) and eats that instead.
Before anyone says "Give him Veteran Vitality then" - I've tried! He won't touch it if it's given to him, but he'll eat his mates if he feels like it!

A long time ago a friend and I decided we should have bought 3 wall china flying birds and spent the time and money we’d spent on caring for, worrying about and riding horses on sitting in front of a roaring fire with a drink of our choice in our hands.
Of course, we didn’t, we carried on caring, worrying and riding.
My sympathies @Auslander
Horses, fun aren’t they?
 

PinkvSantaboots

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That's exactly what I'm doing!
He's not going to starve, as if he doesn't fancy what I've given him, he shoves his mate off his feed (veteran vitality) and eats that instead.
Before anyone says "Give him Veteran Vitality then" - I've tried! He won't touch it if it's given to him, but he'll eat his mates if he feels like it!
Or give him 2 feeds of different stuff so he can choose I used to do that with a very old warmblood that belonged to my boss.

She used to hate seeing him a bit lean so I used to just make up a few concoctions everyday and leave small feeds for him, he was 28 years old and just needed feed of some sort but just refused to eat alot of the time and I got an earful from her if he didn't look right.
 

rabatsa

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That's exactly what I'm doing!
He's not going to starve, as if he doesn't fancy what I've given him, he shoves his mate off his feed (veteran vitality) and eats that instead.
Before anyone says "Give him Veteran Vitality then" - I've tried! He won't touch it if it's given to him, but he'll eat his mates if he feels like it!
I once had a very poorly pony that would not eat. I deliberately mixed the yard feeds with the pony loose and the feed room open. The pony ate "stolen" feed until he would eat his own again.

Does not solve your problem though.
 

Birker2020

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Alf is the king of love it, love it, love it, hate it, when it comes to feed. He has a bute in the morning, so he needs to eat something! It's not the bute, as he is exactly the same with his evening feed. Very enthusiastic about anything new, but within a week or two, he can't be bothered to eat it.
Recently, hes had Ease and Excel, Releve, Redmills Cool and Cooked, Ulsakind cubes, cheap pony nuts, stud cubes, local feedshops own brand coarse mix, local feed shops comp mix -all with and without speedibeet. Currently on Redmils performacare balancer, which he always eats, but it's not enough volume to secret the bute in.
Anything else that your fussy horses love? I don;t even think its that he doesn't like any of the above - he just gets bored of the same old!
I have added molasses tea, peppermint cordial and apple cider vinegar to see if I can tempt him, but he is the only creature in the world who is more stubborn than me!
Veteran Vitality, all horses love that! Very palatable.
 

Auslander

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Veteran Vitality, all horses love that! Very palatable.

Already covered that!
That's exactly what I'm doing!
He's not going to starve, as if he doesn't fancy what I've given him, he shoves his mate off his feed (veteran vitality) and eats that instead.
Before anyone says "Give him Veteran Vitality then" - I've tried! He won't touch it if it's given to him, but he'll eat his mates if he feels like it!
 

AShetlandBitMeOnce

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I once had a very poorly pony that would not eat. I deliberately mixed the yard feeds with the pony loose and the feed room open. The pony ate "stolen" feed until he would eat his own again.

Does not solve your problem though.

I have seen people with dogs 'accidentally drop' pill laden bits of food, so that the dog snaps it up thinking they're winning... Could you lead Alf past a 'bucket for someone else' and let him steal it...? Sounds silly but desperation calls 😆
 

Annagain

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Can you use reverse psychology on him - give him a token amount of something really cheap he won't eat but give his mate enough veteran vitality for the two of them so when he shoves him off he's actually eating his own share?
We could do this with Monty when he wouldn't eat Danilon - we'd give Archie the Danilion laced feed (he was on it too) then give Mont a tiny amount with a tiny sprinkling of Danilon on it. He'd soon turn his nose up at that and go to share Archie's which was exactly the same. They'd share though rather than M shoving A off - you might need to give his mate something separately if he's not getting enough.
 
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