Oldie not really eating as much haylage....

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wizzi901

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Got my oldie back from season's hunting this week. He looks well and is his usual grumpy self but really isnt putting away as much haylage as he used to. The person who borrowed him had tried hay and he wasnt really interested too much in that.

Other than this I have upped his hard feed and he has ad lib very nice haylage if he wants it.

Do you think he is just bored and looking foward to grass or any other reason why he would drop his intake for a couple of months?

Lost a little weight but nothing more than I would expect for a 27 year old horse that has been hunting 1-2 times a week.

He is fit, happy and himself in every other way...but it is very unlike him to not put away a whole haynet...any ideas...
 
Agree with others, would get teeth checked. In reality at that age its possible he can no longer chew hay or haylage and may require a bucket feed instead - ie chaff / sugar beet / soaked high fibre cubes.
 
My 26yr old is exactly the same. He has fine teeth which are checked every 6 months but the problem is still to do with his teeth. Although they are not over worn and there are no sharp bits etc as with all older horses the teeth become rather more loose in the jaw. This makes chewing long and coarse fibre simply harder work and they can't be bothered not to mention that it can sometimes be a little uncomfortable as well. So you may simply have to feed him a greater amount of hard feed that is easier to chew. My guy gets a big bucket of Alfabeet and Hifi in the evening which he loves and hopefully this will make up for it. He used to eat 6-8kg of hay or haylage whereas now I'm lucky if he will eat 3kg!

Worth getting the teeth checked anyway but just be aware that even if they are fine, he will still find hay hard work.

Sqip
 
Mine is the same, just doesn't seem to want hay/haylage. His teeth are fine too, not even loose. I think he's just eagerly waiting for the grass, must be much tastier than the hay! I just give him a bigger bucket with chaff etc
 
Could it change that much then in 4 months? He was stuffing it down just before xmas? I will up the hard feed even more and dentist is already booked, twas my first thought too...

He doesnt look poor at all, but he was the one that used to have two/three nets and if on the floor over half a bale of hay/haylage a night so its quite noticable that he has stopped eating as much..very tempted to let him nibble one of the rested fields.......
 
We changed our haylage supply the other day - previously the mare was eating every scrap of haylage, yesterday she had the new stuff and barely ate half of it overnight - it smells and feels much nicer to me - but she wasn't keen. And I KNOW her teeth haven't gone loose overnight!
 
Agree with everyone--dentist and soaked feeds
Introduced my pair to grass nuts (soaked) this winter along with Hi Fi and Speedibeet and Top Spec
Lots of choice these days of feeds to soak, used to boil barley etc for oldies and steam hay to soften fibres.
 
Agree with everyone...dentist first. But tbh, in my experience - especially with older horses who are used to the seasons rolling around and know the score - I've known loads of horses who go on a sort of hunger strike about now every year. They feel the daylight lengthening and they know the grass is just out there waiting to burst through and they dump the haylage in favour of holding out for new spring grass. Of course, hard feed is ALWAYS acceptable! Could your veteran go out on some decent grazing for a few weeks? Is he ok eating grass or is that as difficult for him as hay? If he turns his nose up at grass as well, I'd be looking a little deeper. Maybe he's struggling with the demands of hunting? x
 
You should definately get his teeth checked to rule out any problems. Older horses should have them checked more often than younger ones. We have an old pony who needs his rasping evey 5 months! Also he may have a sharp bit which is digging in and causing him soreness. He may even have a slight crack in a tooth or abcess forming. Get either your vet or dentist to check and then you can feel happy about his health.
For his age it sounds like he is fit and healthy and still living a very active life. Most older horses will reach a pont where they natrually start to lose some condition. My pony is 26 and only started showing his age last year. We have older horses which are knocking on 40 which dont look their age at all!
Each horse is different. Maybe he is finding his roughage hard to digest and needs something more palatable. We feed our older horses soaked grass nuts to replace any roughage they cant eat. Its just the same as hay or haylage but in pellets and soaked so it is easier to chew and in a better form to digest.
Altering the feed so it is in an easier to digest form is better for the older horse. Still offer haylage but in smaller quantities so he doesn't feel over faced and you dont ened up with too much wastage.
Also have you considered that a change in his diet might have caused him not to eat as much. Maybe he prefered the haylage where he was and is now being fussy? Our horses will turn there nose up to good quality hay/haylage if it is different to something else they've been having.
 
Dengie alfalfa pellets and alfa beet, and Allen & Page fast fibre would all be helpful as hay replacers. If you need more condition, Baileys No 4, which is the top line cube, can be soaked and will help put weight on - I know of a pony with terrible teeth whose dentist recommended this feed, the pony is busy stuffing his face with it now!
 
Hi there - I had a real oldie who eventually had no back teeth at all so couldn't chew up grass, hay or haylage and to top it all was a fussy eater!! I managed to find a thing call Leigh Senior. It's a very fine chop; it's only about the length of your little finger nail and just melts in their mouth, so they don't need to take too much effort to chew it. Mine really loved it and because it was low sugar it was ok for cushings and I just fed it adlib, she did really well on it and for the first three years on this actually put weight on (she was 37 when we lost her thru a stroke). I swear by this stuff.
 
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