Mare balling haylage up...

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RunToEarth

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My old girl is 28, and has recently start to ball haylage up and spit it back out. She is eating some of it, but there are balls all over her stable and over the door.
Understandably she is old and her teeth are not what they were, we have had a little look but there is no way on this earth would an equine dentist be able to get a proper look up there.
Is it just through old age this is happening, and something we have to accept? She grazes during the day no problem and keeps weight on.
 
Maybe she is doing it because she can't chew it properly. Could you try and chop it up a bit for her into a sort of chaff? Not an easy task I appreciate. The reason she is managing grass is because it's shorter and not as bulky.
 
Whyever do you think an equine dental technician would not be able to examine her teeth? It's what they have trained to do, and a good one will make all the difference to her comfort. Sooner or later she will drop weight if she is sucking her hay and not digesting it, and it's hard to get it back on an oldie. They deserve to be kept comfortable and even if she doesn't have a particular problem, you'll want to know if there are any loose teeth, sharp edges or ulcers.

Our 32 year old pony hasn't been able to eat long hay or haylage for about 3 years, he can still graze on what little grass we have and he has short chop hay replacers - Happy Hoof (which is fully supplemented) with Speedibeet, and a big tubtrug of HiFi to pick at overnight. If it's really nasty weather, too frozen to graze, he has a small amount of soaked High Fibre cubes too.

Last autumn he started leaving his feed and just started to drop weight. Our EDT found a very loose back tooth, which had lost its opposing molar but was moving whenever the pony tried to chew anything. He was able to remove it without sedation as it was already so loose and the pony hasn't looked back, he was clearing his buckets again within a day or two.

I'd definitely have a dental specialist examine her, rather than a vet - in my experience, unless they have a real interest in dentistry they just don't make such a noticeable difference to the veterans.
 
My old horse Simon had septic arthritis of the tempero mandibular joint ( jaw ) and the first sign of this was that my stable was full of balls of hay. The TMJ is basically the jaw joint and thus he couldnt move it properly to chew. He eventually had xrays and surgery but the story is quite along one so pm me if you want more!!

I would def have a vet or dentist have a look, it might be something as simple as a tooth problem or it might be more serious.
 
I look after an elderly pony and he struggles with hay, haylage and chaff.
He only has 2 molars that will grind off each other. most of the rest have now fallen out.
Last time he had his teeth done, the vet reached in a pulled out 3 very loose teeth.
He now lives on a diet of soaked grass nuts, sugar beet and calm and condtion.
I also give him hay which he enjoys trying to eat, and can manage some of it.
 
Yes, teeth I'm afraid. As mentioned previously she may have a wobbly tooth or even lost one or more. I weigh my oldie every month so I can spot weight drop quickly and increase/decrease his soaked feeds accordingly. His total ration is replaced as he has only one molar left now but he manages to snip off grass with his incisors before sucking it to death then spitting it out!

Is she tricky to have her teeth done? Sedation is difficult at that age but I would def. have them looked at for her own good.
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For an elderly one loosing teeth we used Dynavena Le Brick forage block ( crumbles when they eat it) in a skip of Dengie HI Fi Veteran for her forage at night.
Dentist did what he could
 
she's quidding, and its her teeth get a vet of EDT to look at her. a horse of her age may not b able to cope with hay of haylage any longer and you might have to used hay replacements such as hifi.

good luck with ehr
 
We have a lot of oldies who quid haylage if the get it. We have two who are in their late 30's and another four who range from mid 20's to early 30,s. We dont bother with haylage for them, it is pointless as thet recieve no nutrition from it. Soaked food is the best way to help. There is a soft and soak range, for the life of me the makers name has gone out of my head, might be Bowen, that I swear by for weight management. It can be expensive but it does work. I feed my poor do'er TB it and he looks fantastic, and my friend feeds her 33 yo ISH the same thing, he looks great. Get her teeth looked at but be fussy about who treats her as rasping an old horses teeth is far from easy as they have poor roots and are easy to dislodge. Good luck with her and fingers crossed the winter gets better and is short.
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get the edt out to sedated her and get her teeth done then he can see what state her teeth are in then he can advice if good or bad then you can go from there to what food to feed her but if she can not eat hayledge you might have to go down the hay replacers route!
 
Qidding, this is a sign usually of problems with the teeth. There is absolutely no reason an EDT cannot check and probably do something to help. The difference to the 31 year old mare I rescued was amazing.
 
Well she would need to be out cold for EDT to get anywhere near her teeth, and at 28, we really do not want to risk her on anything as strong as acp. Maybe I should stick her on hifi.
 
when horses eat. they roll there food into a ball like structure called a bolus to be swallowed. perhaps she is having difficulty finishing the job off. i think dentist is the answer with any age of horse.
 
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Well she would need to be out cold for EDT to get anywhere near her teeth, and at 28, we really do not want to risk her on anything as strong as acp. Maybe I should stick her on hifi.

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A few years ago I had a pony aged 40 come here on short term livery while awaiting a sanctuary vacancy. When he arrived he was SO poor I rang the sanctuary to say he would probably NOT be coming!

Got my vet to look at his teeth (and my vet is VERY good with teeth) and he didn't stand a chance - the old boy went vertical. He was worried about sedating him but my response was: "Either you sedate him and do his teeth - or you shoot him now." His heart sounded strong - so he got full sedation and some major work on his back molars which were - to quote the vet - like the Alps!!

He stopped quidding and started eating and putting on weight as fast as the dope wore off - and made it to the sanctuary - where he is now 44 and looking great! Yes, the risk with sedation is higher with oldies - but you honestly don't have an option. Without urgent dental treatment, this pony will be dead of starvation in 2 months!!

Until you can get teeth done, what we did with old pony was put a scoop of Bailey's Number 4 in the bottom of bucket, add a couple of scoops of a good, 'easy eat' chaff like Graze-on or Senior, and add a couple of scoops of VERY sloppy SBP on top. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then scrape it out (the pellets will be mush!) It'll buy you a little time - but no substitute for sorting out those teeth.
 
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