Tempting a fussy eater

Caramac71

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We have recently moved horse to a new yard. She is stabled overnight (was previously out 24/7) and she has settled really well apart from not wanting to eat her feeds.

Previously she was fed in the field with (molassed) chaff/nuts. She is under an osteopathic vet who recommended replacing the low quality feed with thunderbrooks chaff (or similar). Tried this in the field and as she’s dominant she just pushed another horse away and ate their dinner instead. So the compromise was that we brought her in and gave an extra feed of thunderbrooks chaff with supplements in to counteract the sugary foods. She was on milk thistle, bicarb and oil, and a mare supplement.

She had very little grass and they weren’t haying the fields before we left, and we weren’t allowed to bring in and feed hay, so I used to give her the healthy chaff to up her intake. She would eat buckets of the stuff, and we never had a problem getting her supplements in.

At new yard there is more grass and we feed ad lib hay at night. And she really isn’t interested in her feed. Her weight is good, as are her energy levels, so the only aim is to get her supplements into one feed a day.

We are feeding thunderbrooks chaff and hay cobs, and she picks out the cobs and leaves the chaff. But obviously the supplements are mixed into the chaff so she’s not getting them.

So after that long winded explanation, does anyone have suggestions of anything non-sugary that we could add to her feed to tempt her to eat it?

I don’t think it’s the supplements putting her off the feed, I just think she finds the chaff boring and she’d rather eat hay.
 

Fluffypiglet

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I gave up with the healthy stuff. He only has a scoop of mollichaff original and the level of sugar is neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things. I’d prefer him to have the better quality fancy stuff but he just won’t eat it.
 

ester

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Soak the hay cobs? They expand a lot so I’d want to soak them anyway. I use the agrobs version for fussy frank’s supplements which are a must.
 

Caramac71

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Soak the hay cobs? They expand a lot so I’d want to soak them anyway. I use the agrobs version for fussy frank’s supplements which are a must.
How long do you soak them for? I soaked for about 20 mins tonight and they were still pretty solid.
 

ycbm

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Spillers Speedy Mash soaks in two minutes and is very palatable. But then again so is bran, which is cheaper and soaks up water/supplements even quicker. Saracen Re-leve is very, very palatable for a really fussy eater
 

ester

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How long do you soak them for? I soaked for about 20 mins tonight and they were still pretty solid.

ermm, mum is in charge currently ;) but iirc it's about that long with warm water, but if cold we make it up in the morning use for the afternoon etc. He's fussy about beet/fastfibre etc, other grass chaffs but has always wolfed down agrobs aspero chaff and I switched to this soaked cobs about a year ago as his teeth were struggling.
 
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