my horse not finnishing his dinner?* sorry a bit of a long rambling*

[leanne123]

over the last couple of mornings my horse alfie has had some of his dinner left in his trough, this is very strange as he loves his dinner and i haven't recently changed his food , he gets ;-
1 and half scoops of alfa a oil
1 large scoop of speedy beet and conditioning cubes plup mixture
3 quarters of a scoop of pastre mix
he gets this twice a day morning and tea. hes been on box rest for 5 weeks now but has been having a couple of hours turnout alone in a small paddock in a morning for the past week. he has to come back in for a couple of hours around dinner time and is having a haynet and a quarter bucket of carrots, while the other horse that is on box rest. is now able to go out use the small paddock. but he then goes back out into the paddock again around 3pm while i do his stable ect.
i can't leave him out in the paddock with the other gelding as hes very aggressive towards other geldings and i'm only just getting ontop of alfies injury plus hes a big wus and would end up bitten or kicked to death.
hes been so good while hes been on box rest, not barging or going mad, hes fine when i bring him in, in the afternoons and enjoys a good groom while hes munching his carrots. hes looking really well too. really healthy and his coat is gleaming.
the only thing that has changed in his routine is my sister has put him out in a morning for me the past couple of days as i've had to work early. but its been me thats been seeing to every thing else. hes really glad to see me more so than usual and has taken to stamping his foot in temper when he dosn't get his own way, or i do something else before going to him (like having a chat with my sister in the tackroom).
it seems a bit like a toddler temper tantrum if you know what i mean.
i was thinking hes getting a bit depressed and missing his friends after all this time and sort of craving my company.
what do you guys think?

 

[Tempi]

you are feeding him alot imo.......hes on box rest, i definately wouldnt be feeding him that much..............does he loose weight easily or something? im slightly confused as to why you are feeding him so much when hes not in work, im not suprised he dosent want to eat it as he certainly dosent need it.......(thats not meant to sound rude btw, just my opinion)

 

[TGM]

Similar thoughts to P_G - does he really need all that whilst on box rest? Is he still eating his hay/haylage OK? Unless he is very skinny I would cut right down on the hard feed and give him plenty of good quality hay/haylage.

 

[SouthWestWhippet]

Hi, i was thinking the same thing. At the riding school where I worked all we gave the horses on box rest was a handful of chaff when we fed the others (just so they didn't go nuts!) and plenty of hay/halage.

If you were worried about him getting the right minerals/vitamins etc you could buy him one of those stable lick things with all the nutrients in. Might help to occupy him as well.

JMHO and I hope he gets well soon

 

[BenjaminBunny]

I think he just doesn't need it

My horse has been on box rest - he was initially underweight so i fed him a handful of chop with a handful of high fibre low energy nuts - once he got to a nice weight he just had ad lib hay - this also prevents boredom as horses are trickle feeders and have little and often

if i were you i'd stop feeding him - he doesn't need the energy

 

[showjumperzoe]

Maybe try the d&h colvelence diet (can't spell it)lol

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

Agree with others,maybe he does not want it, my mare doesnt always finish all her tea and hay, i think its due to the mild weather/temperatures, as on the colder, icier days she has been much hungrier,just keep a close eye but try not to panick too much, hope your horse is all better soon

 

[MagicMelon]

I agree too, thats a lot of feed in one sitting. He's probably full!

How long's he been on this feed? I found one of mine seems to go off feed eventually when he gets bored of the same stuff! He's on a different feed altogether now and eats every single bit.