Skinny 36 y.o pony not eating hay

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seabiscuit

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I have a very old shetland x Dartmoor which I have on loan as a companion, she seems very well in herself but she is SO skinny- you can feel every rib and bone underneath this large shaggy coat.
Her teeth are in great form and were recently checked. I have started feeding her three little feeds a day of Hi-Fi nuts, unmolassed sugar beet and Hifi which she gobbles up.
She has been coming in at night and does not eat any hay, there is no grass in the field so I'm a bit worried that she is going to start to waste away even more!

She looked great two months ago when the grass was good.
Have tried two different types of hay, neither which she liked, and she wont even touch High Fibre horsehage ( which is low sugar- dont want to give a little pony proper haylage!)

Any ideas on getting her a bit fatter? Is the feed right for such an old pony? I will start adding a bit of oil to her feed but its really the roughage that she needs to start eating more.
 
Perhaps with her age he teeth are not what they used to be and she is struggling with the hay.

If she is managing to eat feed ok then I would be tempted to leave her with a big bucket of Alfa/HiFi over night instead of the hay. I know lots of people with oldies that this seems to work for
 
Here I looked this up, hope this helps you a bit...

It is vital to remember that a horse needs fibre to maintain digestive health and fibre intake should still equate to at least 1.5% of bodyweight; a 500kg horse would therefore require 7.5kg of a fibre based feed per day. When horses can no longer manage long stem forage the next step is to try a short chop hay replacer product, like Dengie Hi-Fi Senior that combines short chop high temperature dried grasses and alfalfa in a soft and easy to chew format that makes eating fibre much easier for the older horse or pony. Often we are asked by horse owners if feeding such a large quantity of feed ina bucket is alright as the general advice for feeding horses is to keep bucket feed to a minimum. However, because Hi-Fi Senior and for that matter the other Alfa-A and Hi-Fi products are fibre sources, it is like a haynet in a bucket and therefore completely safe to feed in bulk - in fact the horse was designed to eat this way!

Soaking feed to a mash or gruel consistency can also help make it easier to consume. Adding Dengie Alfa-Beet to the ration is an ideal way of softening it as well as providing extra calories for those horses that need to gain weight. Dengie Alfa-Beet combines alfalfa and unmolassed sugar beet with a convenient 15 minute hot soak or 2 hour cold soak and is approved by the Laminitis Trust. There may come a time when an old horse cannot even manage short chop products. At this stage itis advisable to use an entirely soaked hay replacer ration that can be made up of soaked Alfa-Beet and High Fibre Cubes. It is equally important to weigh the cubes before they are soaked to ensure an appropriate quantity is fed.
 
Thank you very much all!!
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Especially Kezz- that is really helpfull!

It is all just more expense tho
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espec if she has to be fed large rations of this sort of thing to keep her going all night, it will cost a huge amount. Ah well , will find a way!
 
To increase her fibre intake I would feed Allan and page's fast fibre. It can be used as a hay replacer. I use it on one of mine, great stuff. It comes in pellet form and you just add water to turn it into a pulp so she shouldn't have any problems eating it. When it's really cold out, I add hot water to it and they love it all warm and scrummy!
 
It is a common misconception that mush can't be fibre! Fibre-beet and Allen and Page fast fibre (whilst this seems to be an acquired taste!) and hi fibre nuts and anything else which is fibreous even when soaked til they are soup are still fibre! It doesn't go away!

So, although it may be expensive, if you love the pony and want to keep it going whilst it is happy and healthy for it's age, then don't panic about not feeding long fibre.

Nobody, however, would begrudge you saying goodbye if the strain of feeding her becomes too much financially or practically.

How lucky you are, though. I would have sold my soul to the devil for eight more years with Polly
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I have this very same problem with B's old pony who is in his late 20's & is prone to laminitus - I spoke to the vets about is and was advised to try feeding oil on top of his feed (build up slowly to approx 1 cupful per day) as this will help with weight gain. Only started this week so early days - just need to keep an eye on him that it doesnt make him scour.

Good luck with yours.
 
We used to feed our very old very skinny pony a mash of high fibre cubes and stud cubes with some sugarbeet. We also mixed in some alfa a. He never ate hay, and didn't really eat that much grass towards the end, but this mash realy kept him going - he had very poor teeth.

I think we fed him soaked barley rings for a while, but he seemed better on the high fibre cubes and stud mix. We have fed other oldies on soaked Allen and Page Old faithful mix before which has also done well.

Good luck, its hard finding the right thing, but once you do - its all uphill from there
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My old mare is 36 as well, TBxnative. She is doing well on a morning & eve feed of coarse mix, sugar beet & alfa A with an extra feed while I'm riding Adrian of Allen & Page Old Faithful, barley rings or badminton conditioning nuts & sugar beet. She is also on pergolide.

She does have all her teeth tho & has no trouble with hay.

It does seem strange that she's a lightweight retired 14.2 pony & she's eating twice as much as a chunky 16.1 sportshorse in work, but I've had her since she was 3, so she's more than earned the right to be a bottomless pit!
 
What about graze on witch is just dried grass for her grass and hay in take then some alpha beet and alpha oil and fast fibre that should do the trick!
 
We have this problem with a 34yr old, we are now feeding her one bucket filled with readigrass, one bucket full of fast fibre ( brilliant stuff ) and her tea which is alfa-a oil, sixteen plus conditioning mix and alfa-beet. All seems to be helping her so far and she loves having lots of different buckets to pick from.

It is more expensive but she's worth it xxxx
 
With old horses, even if there are no sharp bits or loose teeth the grinding surface can be very smooth, so they physically cant eat hay.

Suggestions, all soaked-
Grass nuts
Alfalfa nuts
Allen and page fast fibre
Unmollassed sugar beet
Fibre nuts

And leave a large bucket of hi-fi or dengie senior in the stable. Remember that a stubbs round scoop of hi-fi only weighs about 300g, so isnt that much even for a pony.

And when soaking feeds there may be a large volume but alot of it will be water (particularly with sugar beet), so weigh before soaking. If the pony is still not gaining weight you will have to look for higher energy feeds such as conditioning cubes.
 
What about soaking conditioning cubes or old faithful in hot water so they are more easily eaten?

Redigrass is also great at putting weight on.

Fibre is a very important part of a horse's diet.
 
hey you!
Looks like you will need to put her on forage replacement asap. Much like everyone says, Hi fibre everything!

Hifi lite or alfa a
high fibre cubes (or allen and page fast fibre)
speedi beet

occasional bucket of dampened grass nuts etc etc
 
The Graze On grass nuts are probably the cheapest--softened mixed with beet pulp and pony nuts all in a thick ''soup' and bucket of short chop overnight
As above if you cant keep weight on or cant afford feed in a bucket, pts rather than allow suffering because it can no longer eat hay
If you feed oil Vitamin E is needed
 
Hi fi senior is really fab stuff, (and smells lovely
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) I've used it with a veteran who couldn't eat much hay before with good results
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She is so spoilt bless her but she is a very special girl who has given alot of pleasure to many people. She was funny tonight though, her stable has got a grill that looks into feed room and she was screaming through the bars for her fast fibre, god knows what they put in it but she loves it xxxx
 
Thank you folks for all the help and advice!!

She has been getting several buckets a day of what is in my feed room at the moment- Alfa-Oil and HiFi. Will be looking into getting some other stuff for her next week- but she is already looking loads better :-)

Brighteyes- I was simply moaning about the cost of it all- I certainly would never even consider having her PTS! As if! She is a remarkable old lady and I and the owners plan to keep her going as long as it is possible!
 
Our 40 year old pony did very well on hifi senior, sixteen plus and soaked beet shreds but couldn't cope with hay.

One thing I was a bit slow to realise was that although he was a woolly mammoth he really appreciated good rugs in his later years.
 
Please, as well as changing the pony's feed, get hold of a weigh tape and use it at least once a fortnight. A woolly coat hides a multitude of sins and can make an animal look far less skinny than it really is. You must find out what she weighs now, and which way the weight is going - up or down. Weigh all the feed you give her. She must eat at least 2% of her current bodyweight every day in order to gain any substantial weight. I cared for a pony in its 40s for the last 4 years. She had no grinding surfaces and couldn't manage hay at all. She did well on grass, then in the winter I fed her on chop, soaked coarse mix , soaked barley rings and sugar beet which took her about 45-60 minutes to get through (she lived out 24/7- not my choice)
 
I use Allen & Page's fast fibre as a partial hay replacer, which is great for my 27yo TB. He loves it so much (and is often a fussy feeder) that he cant decide whether to eat this first at night or his regular short feed. Its really easy to handle and quick to soak - i hadnt thought of warming it up and will try that on these chilly old nights coming up.
Lack of fibre is a problem as the horse's gut is designed to eat lots of it - if you have problems with liquid in the droppings (dribbling pre/post stool), i found NAF pink powder works well.
If you are worried about cost i have heard of people using old-fashioned hand powered chaff cutters to make their own chaff from hay. Guess you might pick one up at an auction, just mind your fingers!
At risk of entering the over-rugging debate, a simple rain sheet when she is out might help to avoid her wasting any energy (food) keeping dry/warm. With a bit of tlc hopefully you can get her through the winter safely.
 
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