Quidding

Celtic Fringe

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My old cob, who is probably around 30 years of age, is now unable to chew hay effectively and is quidding. I am concerned about a possible increased risk of choke but am I worrying unnecessarily? Any experiences, good or bad, would be good to hear about :)
He lives out 24/7 as part of a herd who get ad lib hay and although it is clearly not a major part of his food intake my old cob is still enjoying chomping on the hay before dropping it again.
Our EDT sees him every 3 months and so far has managed to keep him comfortable but his teeth are simply worn out now. Overall he is in good shape and holding weight well on feeds of soaked grass nuts, soaked conditioning cubes and micronised linseed.

This is him earlier in the summer - shiny after a bath (he hates a bath) :D He is now getting wild and woolly but is a similar weight.
Troy.jpg
 

twiggy2

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I used to look after one who could not eat hay or short grass due to teeth being age poor.
He has three troughs if soaked grass nuts, sugar beet and veteran mix each night and access to long grass ech Day-he kept good weight like that for 4 years.
 

Magnetic Sparrow

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I also had an oldie with molars which were essentially smooth. His quidding was awful, but he never suffered from choke. He was always a good doer, but I got through a lot of short chop feed trying to keep weight on him.
 

Celtic Fringe

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I also had an oldie with molars which were essentially smooth. His quidding was awful, but he never suffered from choke. He was always a good doer, but I got through a lot of short chop feed trying to keep weight on him.

Many thanks - good to hear that your oldie didn't have problems with choke. My lad eats slowly but it is still a bit of a worry. I don't really want to keep him separate from his herd and I feel that he has a psychological need to keep 'chewing' forage even if it is not a main part of his diet any more. He is keeping weight on fairly well so I'm not too worried about his calorie or fibre intake for the moment but will keep a careful watch as we go into winter.
 

chaps89

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A friend has an old horse (late 20s) who simply can't eat hay - he has big tubs of soaked grass nuts/speedi beet/fast fibre overnight instead and does well on his 'mush'- though I remember going to the feed store once and being quite alarmed at how expensive her feed bill was.
I'm not sure how you manage this though if he's out 24/7 with a herd, would/could he come into a coral/stable for part of the day/night so you could get the food into him?
 

Celtic Fringe

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A friend has an old horse (late 20s) who simply can't eat hay - he has big tubs of soaked grass nuts/speedi beet/fast fibre overnight instead and does well on his 'mush'- though I remember going to the feed store once and being quite alarmed at how expensive her feed bill was.
I'm not sure how you manage this though if he's out 24/7 with a herd, would/could he come into a coral/stable for part of the day/night so you could get the food into him?

Thank-you. At the moment he is holding weight well on 2 or 3 mushy feeds a day. He is easy to feed in the field as the others don't come near while he is eating (I feel sorry for them and offer some consolation carrots or treats :))! If he needs more then he could come into a corral during the day and have big tubs of mush to browse on. We'll keep a careful eye on him as the weather changes.
So far he seems ok on the hay though there are a lot of half chewed mushy balls on the ground.
 
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