Horse refusing hard feed

[MrRoo]

Hi does anyone have any ideas on a horse that stops eating hard feed? My 22yo ISH has started leaving his breakfast and dinner which is very out of character for him. He’s still eating his haylage and grazing as normal, teeth done last week and 6 months prior to that, he seems fine in himself. He usually loves his bucket feed but he’s just not really interested at the moment.

 

[Birker2020]

Hi does anyone have any ideas on a horse that stops eating hard feed? My 22yo ISH has started leaving his breakfast and dinner which is very out of character for him. He’s still eating his haylage and grazing as normal, teeth done last week and 6 months prior to that, he seems fine in himself. He usually loves his bucket feed but he’s just not really interested at the moment.

Maybe its connected with the dentist. Maybe speak to your vet and ask if he can go on bute for a couple of days and see if his eating picks up.

Here are links to the same issues you are experiencing
https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/horse-not-right-following-the-dentist-any-ideas.486943/

https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/my-horse-is-not-right-since-the-dentist.686282/
https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/horse-not-the-same-after-having-teeth-done-help.685851/

 

[MrRoo]

The feed refusal started about 3 weeks ago and the dentist was Friday of last week so I’m not sure whether it’s connected. I wouldn’t say it’s gotten any worse since the dentist

 

[Michen]

Yes quite often when grass is coming through they get less interested

 

[Birker2020]

The feed refusal started about 3 weeks ago and the dentist was Friday of last week so I’m not sure whether it’s connected. I wouldn’t say it’s gotten any worse since the dentist

Ah sorry, i thought you meant that it had started around the same time as the dentist.

 

[MrRoo]

I didn’t make it particularly clear in my first post! Thank you for the suggestion anyway!

 

[Birker2020]

I didn’t make it particularly clear in my first post! Thank you for the suggestion anyway!

No worries x

 

[Highmileagecob]

Maybe test for Cushings. Loss of appetite was the only symptoms of my friend's pony, and testing was done as a last resort when everything else had been ruled out. It came back with a high enough reading to warrant treatment.

 

[TGM]

Have you tried offering him a different feed or tried feeding him from a newly opened bag? Could be current bag of feed is off or been contaminated in some way.

 

[Lady Tinseltime]

Is your grass coming through quickly - it's sometimes much more interesting than feed

 

[Shilasdair]

I had this with a 20 year old mare a few years ago.
She was sent to the horspital for tests which found nothing.
Turns out her feed was off.

Might be worthwhile trying different feed, and also getting blood tests done.
Could also just be the grass that's coming through- is he losing or gaining weight?

 

[Rocky159]

If the feed is not off, try a spoonful of molasses in it.

 

[MrRoo]

I’ve tried him on different feed this evening and he wolfed it down. So problem solved hopefully! Thank you everyone for your suggestions

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Hi does anyone have any ideas on a horse that stops eating hard feed? My 22yo ISH has started leaving his breakfast and dinner which is very out of character for him. He’s still eating his haylage and grazing as normal, teeth done last week and 6 months prior to that, he seems fine in himself. He usually loves his bucket feed but he’s just not really interested at the moment.

My pony is refusing her feed at the moment so I stopped it. The only other one who stopped eating had a virus

 

[catkin]

One of my ponies is not eating a bucket feed when he comes in at the moment as the grass is coming through. Still eating hay and eating a bucket feed at breakfast as he's been on hay all night. In his defence his grub is 'health food' as it is vits and mins in a chaff carrier, and I guess the grass is now the equivalent of chocolate.

What we are doing to work round it is to give the main proportion of his daily vits in the morning so he's getting most down his neck then accepting that he may leave his evening stuff.
Funnily enough we have started him on a herb mix which appears to help with repelling flies in addition to the rest of his vits and the bucket grub has become desirable again..........blummin pony!

 

[WispyBegs]

Could it be that the grass is coming through and your horse is more interested in that? I’ve known a few horses that are not interested in bucket feed once the spring grass appears