Horse off his food.... just moved yards, is this normal?

[SW3]

Hi there, hoping for some forum wisdom .... having moved home across the country, I have just moved my young horse from the yard on which he grew up to a new place. Even though we have tried to give him food that was as similar as possible to what he was having before, he seems to have lost his appetite for his hard feed and hay, even though there is not much grass on the land. Is this normal? Should say we only moved him on Sunday so there hasn't been much time for acclimatisation (hopefully I'm just being a worrier and he just needs a few more days to settle in). Assuming this is normal in the circumstances, how long do you think he is likely to take to feel more at home? I am giving him carrots and fuss and checking on him a couple of times a day to make sure he sees someone familiar. Thanks in advance! ;-)

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

If he is pooping OK and is turned out most of the time then he is eating something, which makes it a lot less serious. But if he stops pooping then get the vet in straightaway (I speak from experience as just put my boy's lack of appetite fairly soon after 540 mile move down to human style 'off his food' and should have called the vet earlier, it was ok in the end but I should have done it sooner).

Maybe buy a bay of horsehage as well so see if the smell of that tempts him to eating some forage. Or try some soaked sugarbeet, or a feed you dont normally use but which you know from the past he has liked (even if its normally too high calorie etc to feed him)

If hes in the stable more than he's out in the field then I would be a bit worried about all those hours without the gut having the chance to be working on something and would be tempted to get vet in if still not eating tomorrow....

You could also if you have any, give him a half sachet of bute, sometimes if their tummy is a bit 'icky' they lose appetite and the bute just makes them more comfy long enough for them to start eating and once they start they are fine. I have to do this every winter with my big chap who is impaction colic prone and goes off his food (altho he is 17hh HW so gets a whole sachet!)

good luck with getting him nibbling and tell us how he gets on....