pony quidding, dentist cant do much more? what shall i do??

[woodlandswow]

Hello all - thought you may be able to help

we have a companion who is a friends and he is basically our lawn mower/companion.
he was getting rather fat during these last few months, so when i bought him in and started feeding him a bit of hay (!dont worry - two haylage nets of soaked hay at 2pm when he had been in for a while so his tummy wasnt empty) i noticed he as quidding.
called dentist out - she was excellent and after two heavy doses of sedation she managed to get into his mouth
the owner (despite saying the dentist had been recently) obviously hadnt had one out for a long while. his teeth were really bad, severe wave mouth - so dentist did all she could, without trimming off all his teeth.
he is at least 25 so any teeth wont grow back, however i noticed he was quidding again the other day, texted her and she said there wasnt much else she could do (not very helpful)
im a bit worried about what to do come winter when all grass is gone (he can eat this well!) and what to give him, if he cant eat hay properly??
any advice greatly appreciated

just to add, the owner "loves him very much blah blah blah, but doesnt want to spend any more money on him?! - my parents arent too keen either as he is not ours etc)

 

[AmyMay]

I would stop soaking the hay, and seeing if that makes any difference.

 

[be positive]

I would stop soaking the hay, and seeing if that makes any difference.

My old pony struggles and will not eat soaked hay, he is fine with it dry or haylage, you may also find that it is easier for him fed on the floor so he can just pick the bits he wants.
Otherwise he can have some hay replaced with Fast fibre, speedibeet or any form of chop, you can leave a tub in his stable for him to browse through in his own time.

 

[woodlandswow]

thanks for your advice - im worried that if i give him some chop, or similar then he would eat it all in one!

 

[be positive]

thanks for your advice - im worried that if i give him some chop, or similar then he would eat it all in one!

He may do but as long as there is hay on offer he will have the choice, as long as he does not start to lose weight in the winter, from the sound of it some weight loss would not harm, if he drops too much just up the short fibre on offer they usually get bored and dont bolt it if you keep the feed very plain.

 

[cyberhorse]

Keep the hay but don't soak and consider feeding something like fast fibre once you are out of grass. I think from what I remember this feed was aimed at horses that have trouble eating.

 

[joeanne]

Replace the hay with a bucket of fast fibre, you can mix in a bit of chaff which my oldies have always loved.

 

[Jill Crewe]

OP would you mind giving an up date on this as I have the exact same issue with my new horse. Did the horses mouth settle down and the quidding stop?

(although in my case the vet is coming back for a second rasping session in 6 months but couldn't take any more off at time)

 

[Jools1234]

we have a 35yr old pony where i keep mine he had wave mouth it was dealt with a yr ago now he needs it re-doing, they would be better off with no teeth than wave mouth as you would just feeds them very sloppy soaked grass nuts-you cannot leave wave mouth as when it progresses they cannot eat at all