Partial grass replacement - what would you feed?

[Barklands]

We have a gelding who is turned out with a smaller laminitis prone pony - they get on like a house on fire so reluctant to separate them. They are stripped grazed but would like to top up condition on gelding without smaller pony piling on the pounds!

Gelding gets ad-lib hay at night and fed twice a day, balancer, micronised linseed, molasses free chaff and conditioning cubes. I have upped his feed a little but am a firm believer in there is nothing quite like dr green.

I plan on switching him over to haylage but wonder if anyone has had good experiences with readigrass/dengie pure and the likes? I thought he could be given a bucket when he’s in over a night as a sort of grass replacement. So essentially is it effective? Do they eat it? Etc etc!

 

[Peglo]

My TB got a bucket of readigrass to eat over night. She liked it and I could feed it dry to her as she didn’t gorge herself and just picked away at it.

 

[rextherobber]

I feed Dengie Pure Grass to an oldie, I feed it damped down. I feed Simple Systems Timothy Chop to an older fatties. It's stalkier than the Pure Grass, not as stalky as Readigrass though

 

[Irish-Only]

Soaked grass nuts and a grass chop would be ideal as a dr green feed.

 

[Archangel]

I feed soaked Baileys Meadow cobs or Meadow Magic during the winter. They love it.

 

[MuddyMonster]

Simple Systems Haycobs is my go to.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Emerald green grass tastic or graze on grass.

 

[Goldenstar]

I definitely try some sort of dried grass product .
I never had a horse who did love soaked grass pellets .
Haylege is also a good option .

 

[millitiger]

I use Dengie Pure Grass instead of chaff and they seem to love that

 

[Jenko109]

I imagine that making the switch to haylage will be all that you need.

 

[Jambarissa]

As a fibre feed I like any of the 100% hay cobs soaked (simple systems, thunderbrooks, baileys) and a mollasses/lucerne/soya free chaff.

However if you're looking at putting more weight on I'd want to increase protein and fat. You can feed quite large amounts of linseed or linseed oil if you don't already, and I'd go with a higher energy grass nut like simple systems Red grass nuts and an alfalfa type feed if your horse tolerates it.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Can I open this thread up again please and ask for more thoughts on feeding an old horse with very poor teeth.

I know time is limited but he is in decent condition now due to good grazing, happy in himself and can still be seen to chase a rabbit out of his paddocks. Very few teeth left and quidding hay badly, been seen and advised not to feed any hay. What work could be done was done, no fractures or wobbly teeth but no grinding surfaces left. He choked on chaff despite it being well damped down.

His appetite is good, fed 4 times a day with a variety of veteran type mash feeds. He likes soaked grass nuts and sugar beet. I need a soaked fibre replacer for him to pick at over night. I gave him a trug of soaked grass nuts, 4kg dry weight and it didn't take him long to polish the lot off. He is kept in a barn with free access to good grazing. When the grazing goes he is in big trouble, he won't go out if it's raining, which when he had teeth, was no problem as he simply ate free access haylage and hay, but now he just stands in until the rain stops. That's not going to work for him in winter. Is there such a thing as a forage replacer that he won't guzzle in one go ?

Alfalfa makes his legs fill. Any thoughts gratefully received. It is heart breaking to see him waste away, I don't need telling to let him go, I have everything in place to ensure he goes at the appropriate time and a vet that sees him several times a week. Thank you.

 

[Peglo]

My old pony’s bulk feed was speedibeet and grass nuts and I gave her a bucket of readigrass to chew on. She was missing a lot of teeth so she quibed most of it but it was something to chew on. She was a good weight right to the end.

 

[meleeka]

Mine has 2.5kg Simple Systems Haycare 1kg ish (dry weights) Speedibeet and a double handful of Spillers Happy Hoof all mixed together. She can't eat many chaffs, but Happy Hoof is quite short and fine and she eats it ok if there's plenty of slop with it. That lasts her most of the night. She also has a small haynet to pick at, but it has to be soft meadow hay.

 

[SEL]

Do you think he'd slow down if chaff was mixed into a grass pellet slop? I use that mix for my fat appaloosa who inhales pure slop.

 

[Britestar]

My toothless old boy gets graze on grass in a bucket. Its short enough for him to gum it down.

He still gets hay and haylage and gives it a good suck.

What about veteran vitality or fast fibre for overnight?

 

[criso]

You can get softer haylage designed for veterans, could he manage that?

 

[sportsmansB]

Could you feed your mash stuff (grass nuts, speedi beet, fibre beet) in various trugs with bricks inside to make him have to snuffle it out and move around between them?
I had one who choked on lots of stuff and she was OK with Simple Systems Lucie brix, they sort of disintegrate into tiny stalks and / or can be soaked but aren't as guzzly (they do other non alfa ones, she was competing so needed the oomph)
I fed her like this while competing at 110 eventing, it was expensive and a pain to get anyone else to do it if I couldn't, but it kept her on the road for years.

 

[Jenko109]

I must say, I do commend anyone who keeps their old horses ticking along when they can no longer eat hay.

It must be ever so expensive.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

The emerald grass tastic is soft and quite short that might work, mine love it so he may just guzzle that as well but after the novelty wears off he may just calm down.

It might be worth giving him Equijewel in winter if his prone to dropping off its great for condition.

 

[P.forpony]

I'd second the ideas above, see how he gets on with some soft Chaff mixed in with his soaked feed.
Just enough to prevent it from being gulpable. He still shouldn't need to actually chew it but it will probably do him the world of good physically and mentally if he thinks he does!

Separated out into several bowls and buckets in different place is important, if its just in a big tub they usually just sit there and go to town on it, and won't stop until its gone.

I'm also a fan of giving them some choice. I'd have his main feed, but then try adding a bucket of plain sugar beet, and another of plain grass nuts. With or without some chaff mixed in if he tolerates it.
There's lots of good research on the benefits of providing multiple forage sources and giving them choice
Oh and finding something less tasty may help!
I've got one that always leaves pink mash till the very end. It's the last resort snack, but as its low in starch and sugar I imagine it's like a plain rice cake

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

Can I open this thread up again please and ask for more thoughts on feeding an old horse with very poor teeth.

I know time is limited but he is in decent condition now due to good grazing, happy in himself and can still be seen to chase a rabbit out of his paddocks. Very few teeth left and quidding hay badly, been seen and advised not to feed any hay. What work could be done was done, no fractures or wobbly teeth but no grinding surfaces left. He choked on chaff despite it being well damped down.

His appetite is good, fed 4 times a day with a variety of veteran type mash feeds. He likes soaked grass nuts and sugar beet. I need a soaked fibre replacer for him to pick at over night. I gave him a trug of soaked grass nuts, 4kg dry weight and it didn't take him long to polish the lot off. He is kept in a barn with free access to good grazing. When the grazing goes he is in big trouble, he won't go out if it's raining, which when he had teeth, was no problem as he simply ate free access haylage and hay, but now he just stands in until the rain stops. That's not going to work for him in winter. Is there such a thing as a forage replacer that he won't guzzle in one go ?

Alfalfa makes his legs fill. Any thoughts gratefully received. It is heart breaking to see him waste away, I don't need telling to let him go, I have everything in place to ensure he goes at the appropriate time and a vet that sees him several times a week. Thank you.

I fed my oldie with poor teeth simple systems haycare which is Timothy grass pellets. He didn’t care for it that much that he would gobble it. I used to give him Pure feeds meadow mash in one trug which he devoured and haycare with some mint added in the other.

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

Age 27 on a no hay diet. Unfortunately he had a field accident in the autumn resulting in a pastern fracture. He was lively and full of it until the end.

 

[SEL]

I must say, I do commend anyone who keeps their old horses ticking along when they can no longer eat hay.

It must be ever so expensive.

Ah - but I would have done anything in my power to keep my arthritic old boy into his golden years. Unfortunately his joints meant that wasn't possible, but if it had just been teeth then we would have re-mortgaged the house for tasty slop.

 

[nutjob]

Having fed a horse for about 4 years which couldn't eat solid foods, if I had to do it again I would get something like this https://simplefeeder.com/product/standard-moist-feeder/ then the feeds can be given more frequently through the night and you can go away for the day knowing that food will be dispensed.

 

[JoannaC]

Having fed a horse for about 4 years which couldn't eat solid foods, if I had to do it again I would get something like this https://simplefeeder.com/product/standard-moist-feeder/ then the feeds can be given more frequently through the night and you can go away for the day knowing that food will be dispensed.

Oh wow that would be good if it works! My 30 year old pony with no teeth is fed on fast fibre, veteran vitality, spillers senior super mash, soaked grass nuts, Speedibeet as well as linseed, soya oil and balancer. He gets between 3 and 6 feeds a day depending on time of year. He's being pts next week as he is no longer holding weight but he's done really well up until now.

 

[AdorableAlice]

I must say, I do commend anyone who keeps their old horses ticking along when they can no longer eat hay.

It must be ever so expensive.

It is, but when a horse has taken you to places you can only dream of, won so much I've run out of space for his rosettes, cards etc, never came home without winning at the very least his entry fee and a few gallon of diesel, I feel I owe him the best of care. He is 30 years old and has been retired for 12 years now.

He is ok at present, equi jewel is helping him and I have more mash/conditioning feeds in my feed room that most feed stores do ! I will try the soaked hay cob type feeds too. I am cautious with chaff but will see what is out there that is soft. Frustratingly he won't touch copra.
Thank you for all the ideas and examples of how you have all helped your golden oldies. He gets a extra hug at 10pm every evening.

 

[nutjob]

Oh wow that would be good if it works! My 30 year old pony with no teeth is fed on fast fibre, veteran vitality, spillers senior super mash, soaked grass nuts, Speedibeet as well as linseed, soya oil and balancer. He gets between 3 and 6 feeds a day depending on time of year. He's being pts next week as he is no longer holding weight but he's done really well up until now.

He is 30 years old and has been retired for 12 years now.

Amazing, well done both for getting them to 30, a real achievement.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Amazing, well done both for getting them to 30, a real achievement.

Thank you, doesn't make what is very near any easier sadly. I just can't imagine his gentle face not being here. I've had 3 big horses (he is 17.2) get to a huge age, 2 staying working well into their 20's this one was only 18 when retired through injury. It's so hard this age thing. !!