Just Feeds Just chop-experiences?

Hallo2012

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Need a very low calorie chop with no added oils of any sort (he cant have linseed and is allergic to something in Topchop zero!) and found this.....

to leave a trug in the field and overnight as a last resort when he is hungry as he is on restricted hay and a sparse field. So nothing tasty or that he is likely to gobble down, i want something boring that he will nibble at!!!!
 

ycbm

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Efeeds deliver 22kg bags of chopped feed straw for a good price if you buy a few. I fed my fatty it all last summer.
 

Myloubylou

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My dustbin of a mare didn’t think much of it so probably will serve your purpose if he’s hungry.
 

MotherOfChickens

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I've been using the plain Honeychop-its a good product, better than TopChop Zero as is more substantial and they dont trough it down. However, really piggy Fell also gets some long oat straw in nibleze net as if its too easy, he will just eat everything in sight-the nibleze net can be used as a hay pillow if cob is unshod.
 

Hallo2012

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Halleys dont do the straw chop any more, they do the blocks though.

thanks for confirming that, have emailed them with no response :(

i think i am going down the e-feed route as thats quicker than my local shops can get it and i am in desperate need now, having not been able to get any oat straw bales at all.
 

ycbm

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thanks for confirming that, have emailed them with no response :(

i think i am going down the e-feed route as thats quicker than my local shops can get it and i am in desperate need now, having not been able to get any oat straw bales at all.


I think Roger Nicholas in Swettenham (Congleton/Holmes Chapel). has Hestons of feed straw and delivers small loads to your area if you are desperate.

I've also got very low feed value Timothy haylage, dry enough to use as hay, that you could pick up if you're desperate but it's a long way to come, I think, I'm on the other side of Cheshire from you.
 

Hallo2012

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Efeeds bales are about £7 for 22 kilos.

just ordered 2 as a trial, thanks. should be here tomorrow so i can crack on with seeing if filling up on this makes him less hangry!!!! i think fatties are such hard work to keep happy.....the other pony just gets ad lib hay and ad lib rough short grazing and looks the same all year round, rounded but not fat...................this one literally survives on fresh air and by sniffing Raf's dinner through the stable bars lol!!!
 

ycbm

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Tell me about it! I am having such an easy time this year with two lightweight horses and no cob to worry about. Last year, I was riding when I really didn't want to, buying straw chop for him and feeding extra food to the other, and he was still too fat for my liking. This year I'm not even soaking the haylage, first time in for years. Bad doers are so much easier in summer. Come winter, I'm going to be back to moaning that I can't keep weight on the TB though 😆

After a few days when they realised nothing else was going to appear, they ate 4-5kg a day between two horses and two tiny ponies, 10am-6pm ish.

I hope you get on all right with it, I found it really handy having such big cheap bales.

.
 

Hallo2012

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well.............the little toad will not eat the e-feed chaff!

i am at my wits end. Today i have mixed a few handfuls of readigrass through it to try and encourage him to at least try it :(

i don't know what to try next if that doesnt work...........he cant have more grass and a muzzle as he gallops up and down, up and down until he has ruined the ground, is gasping for breath, foot sore and covered in sweat....never settles until its taken off whether its 15min or 5 hours.

tiny holed haynets he grabs at the whole thing, pulls on it, rears, then charges off round the stable in frustration so he churns his bed up, and unsettles the other pony (and me...........my blood pressure is rising just typing it out!)

so currently he has 3 x small portions of soaked hay at 4pm, 7pm, 11pm.

i cannot get hold of any decent long oat straw.

i feel like at some point in his life he's been left with not much food and he gets real anxiety related to not being able to eat as quickly as he wants to?

hence the idea of leaving a trug of straw chaff, but no good if he wont eat it, sigh.

any low-cal ideas to blend with the chaff to encourage a bit of nibbling?

(the other pony, who isnt on a diet will eat the chaff fine, nothing wrong with it!)
 

ihatework

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If he is hungry enough he will eat it.
He might be having a strop & a protest, but leave it in his stable and ignore him. It’s not like he isn’t getting any hay.
 

Hallo2012

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If he is hungry enough he will eat it.
He might be having a strop & a protest, but leave it in his stable and ignore him. It’s not like he isn’t getting any hay.

would you leave him with nothing but the chaff to try and encourage him to try it?

hes flipping fussy for a fatty lol!!!!!
 

ihatework

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would you leave him with nothing but the chaff to try and encourage him to try it?

hes flipping fussy for a fatty lol!!!!!

Hell yeah.
You want him to loose weight presumably, it won’t hurt him not to eat for a few hours at a time and I’m sure he will come around after a while of stroppy hunger strike. Report back after a fortnight!
 

Hallo2012

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Hell yeah.
You want him to loose weight presumably, it won’t hurt him not to eat for a few hours at a time and I’m sure he will come around after a while of stroppy hunger strike. Report back after a fortnight!
lol will do, fingers crossed his stomach wins him over!
 

Hallo2012

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Oh dear. Such a stressy pony. Any other reasons why he could be so upset?

hes dead easy to ride and to handle, clipping, washing loading etc and generally very genuine- the sort you could ride down the M6 in a headcollar after 6 months off.

hes just a bit weird about food.

ETA that the other pony is laid back horizontal and totally relaxed about everything, so its nothing wrong with the yard/field/routine per se and he gets a good variety of work (flat, poles, tiny jumps and lots of hacking)
 

MotherOfChickens

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does he like salt? might be worth mixing a bit of salt in it but he will eat if if hungry enough. otherwise mixing a handful in of good stuff wont hurt.



re small holed nets, I use them as something they can have after they've had a portion of hay/straw whatever first-so they can fill up a bit and not get too frustrated. The nibbleze nets are best imo, because the holes don't collapse in on themselves as the net empties. I am all for slowing them down but I hate to see hungry frustrated ponies as well.
 

Hallo2012

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does he like salt? might be worth mixing a bit of salt in it but he will eat if if hungry enough. otherwise mixing a handful in of good stuff wont hurt.



re small holed nets, I use them as something they can have after they've had a portion of hay/straw whatever first-so they can fill up a bit and not get too frustrated. The nibbleze nets are best imo, because the holes don't collapse in on themselves as the net empties. I am all for slowing them down but I hate to see hungry frustrated ponies as well.

both good ideas thank you :)

will try the salt if the readigrass doesnt tempt him and the idea about the net in addition to loose hay is deffo worth a try! on a day hes staying in for a bit ill try some loose hay plus a net and see what he does :)
 

chaps89

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Is it worth looking into a hay ball or one of the various trickle feeders (usually bins/plastic tubs with holes in the lid that drop as the horse eats) if the small holed haynets are proving too frustrating?

Mine also wouldn't eat straw chaff or plain chaffs. Absolutely turned her nose up at it - I tried for a week giving her a nominal amount of Timothy haylage and a tubg drug of chaff. In the mornings she was a PITA as she was hungry, but still she refused the plain chaff.
So I feel your pain!
 

ycbm

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Mine wouldn't eat it for about five days, as I recollect. They gave in when they were hungry enough.
 

MotherOfChickens

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mine were not impressed when I first introduced it. I am lucky now to have found a source of oat straw locally, I find the ponies seek out the old seed heads and tend to not completely pig out on it-whereas they would eat as much hay as I could give them.
 
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