Ideas for a very fussy lami prone horse?

[Maz55]

Hi, my lami prone horse (only had it once, once too many times...) is incredibly fussy. in her evening feed she has speedibeet, linseed, salt, forageplus laminae balancer, max gut, honeychop lite and healthy and a sprinkle of meadow nuts for interest. most of the time she'll eat this, but from time to time leaves a bit in the bottom of the bucket. breakfast is a challenge. no she doesn't NEED breakfast, but i i like to offer something when feeding others even if it's just a "taste", and max gut have advised me to feed twice a day. i've tried various combinations of speedibeet, soaked meadow nuts/soaked hay cobs and chaff with the max gut, but more often than not she'll decline. i've tried adding copra, beetroot and peppermint (separately) to no avail. when i try something new she'll tuck in energetically but then get bored very quickly. she'd rather have her hay. so any lami friendly ideas please just to get the max gut down the hatch in the morning? she can't have alfalfa before anyone suggests that and carrots/apples are off the menu. thanks in advance!!

 

[MuddyMonster]

My very fussy pony will eat Agrobs with no bother. He's on Weisencobs and the Fatties Chaff but prefers the Weisencobs I think.

He's sensitive to texture too, so could have a play with that?

I did have to play around with the supplements too - I never could get hom to eat Forage Plus, Thinderbrooks or Equimins supplements very easily.

I sometimes syringe his medication too, which might be an option?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

If she doesn't need the feed, I would offer her a handful of the Hoenychop and salt and leave her to make her own mind up about whether to eat it or not, tbh. We need to harden our hearts when dealing with laminitics

 

[Maz55]

Thanks MuddyMonster - i'll have a look at agrobs. i have to syringe in bute as and when it's needed and after a day or so it becomes a battle so really don't want to have to resort to that for supplements, but thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Maz55]

If she doesn't need the feed, I would offer her a handful of the Hoenychop and salt and leave her to make her own mind up about whether to eat it or not, tbh. We need to harden our hearts when dealing with laminitics

thanks. apart from the max gut everything she needs is in her tea, as that does usually get eaten eventually. she is in quite hard work and is doing really well on this so i'm reluctant to change. the trouble is the max gut really helps her and when she was originally eating it twice a day i noticed significant benefits but getting it down in the morning is a challenge!

 

[MuddyMonster]

Have you tried removing supplements in the breakfast feed for a day or two and introducing one at a time? That sometimes helped - or at least, identify what he didnt like! Salt is an issue with mine so I offer salt/electrolytes in water.

 

[MuddyMonster]

I also did clicker training type stuff with the syringe, so it becomes less of a battle.

I used just plain water or water with mint essence or something like that in to help.

Just a thought .

 

[ester]

I'd second agrobs, either weisencobs or leichtgneiss (sp!)