Ideas for fibre replacement feeds (mashes only)

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Morgan123

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Helloooo

with a very old TB with no teeth, I get through high fibre mashes like nobody's business. Being a chestnut mare,she is also a bit faddish so it's useful to swap round the high fibre part of her diet when she gets bored of one thing. The core of her diet is Calm and condition, which she does well on, but she can't eat grass, chaff or hay at all so we have to have a fibre replacer too. At the moment I'm swapping between the following according to her many whims:

Fast fibre
Sugar beet
Alfalfa cubes
Grass cubes

Tried readymash extra and she doesn't like that AT ALL which surprised me. Alphabeet is acceptable but obviously that's mainly sugarbeet and alfalfa anyway so not much change there from what I already have. She's ok on spillers high fibre but again gets bored easily.
Any others that people would recommend?

Thanks.
 
Personally, for me, having seen a few veterans go downhill on changes of diet, I would find one that was palatable and stick with it. The equine gut takes time to adjust to new feeds, chopping and changing is asking for trouble based on what I've seen....

The best results have always been soaked grass nuts. Add some texture with grated apple or carrot. I'd choose grass as that's what they are used to and the gut flora are used to digesting that, and they play a large part in digestion. A quirt of vinegar as it's soaking increases appetite as do a few herbs here and there... you just have to make it interesting..
 
She doesn't like Bailey's high fibre :-(

Tallyho yes I always change slowly, but unfortunately because she gets bored I can't just stick with one thing all the time or she won't eat at all. She's right off the grass nuts at the moment and won't touch her food with them in there. Guess herbs could help, will consider that.
 
Our oldie gets fast fibre plus simple systems Hay care. . Have you tried it? She also likes spillers high fibre nuts..

We are planning to add in linseed if she needs more than this..

She can't have hay either, though gets a handful of grass chaff in her mash.

People on the veteran horse society fb page seem to have good results with a&p veteran vitality but I haven't tried it myself.

Fiona
 
Agrobs pre alpin senior is designed for senior horses who can't chew, probably not the cheapest option but their other stuff is lovely so would be worth a shot.
 
We've use the dengie alfa a pellets and the alfalfa pellets for one of our oldies when he only had 3 teeth. Plus the ones you mentioned OP.
Currently the fussy ex racer is liking the D&H winter health mash at the moment
 
Fab thanks all, this is v helpful :-). Off to buy herbs and mint and things today and then I'll give some of these a go when that gets boring! thanks.
 
See you're on Calm and Condition from them but Allen and Page are bringing out a new product called Veteran Light which is a pelleted feed that you soak for about a minute so it's quick soak. I'm hoping to try it with my oldie though his teeth are fine but he's a good doer. It's low calorie so might not be enough for a TB in winter if you are trying to keep weight on. A&P are really helpful with advice if you contact them on email or phone :)
 
smellsofhorse said:
Have you tried the green ready mash?
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I use that (Ready Fibre Mash) in preference to some of the alternatives because it has relatively good levels of protein (it is mainly soya hulls) which they all need for soft tissue and immune system support. Beet pulp is usually laced with molasses and really you need low sugar for all but horses in really hard work. Unmollassed (Equibeet or Speedibeet) are okay but do have higher levels of iron than I would like. Mine have the ready Fibre Mash plus grass pellets and Grazeon chop to be low sugar or additives, and do well on it.
 
Midlifecrisis said:
Top Spec high fibre cubes soaked to mush were what the vet school fed recommended for my poorly mare who couldn't eat hay.
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My 37 yr old has never looked better on Topspec Fibre Plus cubes with senior lite balancer soaked into a mash and has 5 feeds a day of it as he doesn't eat much hay, he also will not eat any chops or allen and page range.

He used to eat cushcare until we had quality issues and he stopped eating it, which was when we changed to Topspec and I am so pleased it was a blessing in disguise
 
MochaDun said:
See you're on Calm and Condition from them but Allen and Page are bringing out a new product called Veteran Light which is a pelleted feed that you soak for about a minute so it's quick soak. I'm hoping to try it with my oldie though his teeth are fine but he's a good doer. It's low calorie so might not be enough for a TB in winter if you are trying to keep weight on. A&P are really helpful with advice if you contact them on email or phone :)
Click to expand...

They are so helpful, I've had a sample of this as everyone was talking about it on a cushings group I'm on, but nope won't eat it or any of their range. He did eat 3 bags of fast fibre before deciding he didn't like it but waited for me to replenish my stock before no telling me
 
Another vote for Agrobs Senior, it is designed for exactly this need!
You could also try their cobs(various options) or flakes (which soak quicker).
Their Gut Mash is divine, and will tempt the fussiest feeder and can be mixed in with their other feeds for extra yumminess.
 
I inherited a 23 yr old gelding when my father passed away suddenly.

J is a poor doer with hardly any teeth, although he can have hay and grass.

He is also prone to choke, I have him on Veteran Vitality and senior fibre which is essentially turned to slop which he drinks.

He looks fab on it especially as we have very little grazing now.
 
Copra and grass nuts or Barnary mash.

If horse is ok to do this with, we have an oldie on the yard who gets bored and owner changes between 2 or 3 different mashes with copra, keeps the old girl i interested.
 
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