Tips for fussy eaters

Vickijay

Vickijay

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Hi,

My new TB is SOOOOOOOOO fussy when it comes to eating, she has had teeth done and they are now fine (they werent)

She will eat buildup mix (but doesnt go mad for it, will sometimes finish it, sometimes leave it)

She wont eat, any kind of nuts, alpha a, hifi, grazon, any of the 15 samples from simple systems, tried mint in there-left it, isnt fussed bu mollases, didnt like speddibeet, not fussed by normal sugar beet, she will eat a bit of linseed but not too much and wont touch oil, leaves carrots and apples too.....

Am now going to try adding apple juice to her mix, any other tips????

She eats hay and a bit of haylage.

She is deff getting fatter just wondered if there were any more cool HHO tips lol

Fanks

Vicki
 
My mare is the same, but she only seems to eat pony nuts - and if I dare put more than 1 level 'scoop' she gets bored and walks off. (lives out, fed out). I add carrots (she won't eat whole apples, sometimes a cut up bit). I often have to stand there holding the bucket and almost hand feeding her. If I force her to stay (headcollar her) I think she will drag me off!!! I have been seen, or not in some cases, walking around after her in near dark with a bucket of food waiting for her to find 'the right spot' so she can stand and eat. I can add a SMALL handful of fibre chaff but EVERYTHING else she sticks her nose up at. She is lean through the winter, not worked but I would so love for her to be fat!
This last few days I've tried apple juice - WOW, she is actually eating with gusto (well for her anyway), thankyou to whoever suggested it!! I will see how the next few weeks go and I might be daring enough to add something more fattening to her menu!
 
Soaked oats!! They love them.
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Look at the thread one here tonight - it will tell you everything you need.
 
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Soaked oats!! They love them.
smile.gif


Look at the thread one here tonight - it will tell you everything you need.

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I looked for the thread but couldnt find it... I found one from ages ago saying soak whole oats for 12-24hours then leave to dry for a hour or 2. Is that right???

Haylage makes her a bit loopy, will the oats do the same or does something change??

Vicki x
 
If you do the soaked oat diet DON'T put the seaweed in!!! It stinks, even my two gannets took a while to get enthusiastic about it, a fussy eater would just faint on the spot. Find a different sort of multi vitamin instead.
 
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If you do the soaked oat diet DON'T put the seaweed in!!! It stinks, even my two gannets took a while to get enthusiastic about it, a fussy eater would just faint on the spot. Find a different sort of multi vitamin instead.

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Wont soaked oats hype her up?? Also I found a post on here from ages ago from someone who said soaking them was pointless...... This is the first time I have heard of it so have no real idea about it!
 
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If you find cuckoos post from tonight there is a fact sheet explanation on there which tells you all about it - and no soaked oats don't make them fizzy.
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Found it.

If I try it she wont eat the alpha a or sugar beet so would I just do it with her mix??

Why doesnt it heat them up??
 
What did she eat before you got her? Are you doing more work with her than she had previously? Have you had her blood tested? Checked for a gastric ulcer? Investigated an intolerance? Eg starch.
Only asking as I had this problem & starch intolerance led to gastric ulcer & as feed was exacerbating the problem horse wouldn't eat more than a very small handful, sometimes not even that. Tb can be prone to gastric ulcers.
Good luck It took me 4 yrs to work out the problem with my horse & solve it.
 
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If she won't eat the alfalfa or beet just give her the oats on their own - don't put it with any mixes.

It doesn't make them fizzy as the soaking means that the enzymes start to break down the sugars within the oats so it doesn't make them fizzy.
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Ok I shall get some tomorrow and see, hopefully not just another bag of food that she wont eat!!!!

Thanks x
 
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What did she eat before you got her? Are you doing more work with her than she had previously? Have you had her blood tested? Checked for a gastric ulcer? Investigated an intolerance? Eg starch.
Only asking as I had this problem & starch intolerance led to gastric ulcer & as feed was exacerbating the problem horse wouldn't eat more than a very small handful, sometimes not even that. Tb can be prone to gastric ulcers.
Good luck It took me 4 yrs to work out the problem with my horse & solve it.

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Girl before me said she was eating pony nuts which I really doubt. She was terribly thin (I did post the pics) She is doing very light work now.

Would she still be putting on weight if she had the ulcers? Is scoping her the only way to find out??

Part of me wonders that as shes having 4 or 5 feeds a day shes just full and not fussed.

She has put on a great deal of weight. She looked AWFULL a few weeks ago but not she just looks a bit light. She does look healthy, shiney etc, she just isnt very fussed about eating..
 
Will she eat in summer but not in winter? I had a mare like that once. It's a very rare condition, but the solution is easy - give her injections of oestrogen every three weeks. My mare ate a full feed for the first time in months an hour after her first injection. (it's into the muscle and a tiny amount, so easy to give if your vet will let you have it, you don't need them called out every time. )
 
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Will she eat in summer but not in winter?

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I have only had her 3 weeks.
Its like shes a anorexic!!! (sp)
 
Vicky it may be why she was sold, that she won't eat in autumn/winter. Is there any way you can find out? If not, giving her oestrogen once won't hurt and you'll know within hours if it's that. Your vet may take some persuading, mine did, and he nearly fell off his chair when he saw the result.

Anorexic is a great way to describe it. My mare would eat one lot of any new food, then refuse it the next time. She was as thin as a rescue case. I ended up with so many bags of food she would not eat. The oestrogen was a miracle cure!
 
QR it may take her a while to settle in if you've not had her long. Took my mare 4months to settle and start eating properly - she'd just pick at things and be very faddy. Then after 9months of eating well (although only what she liked) she suddenly went anorexic again and I've had to change her feed - She's now on Calm and Condition (A+P) and Alfa A, previously she was on cool cubes - touch wood she's been eating this well for 10days.

I'd suggest giving her fewer, smaller feeds so she's really hungry for them and thus re establish the eating patterns. Lots of forage and loads of fibre is good. I like to feed a lot of Alfa A as I feel it's kinder on the digestive system as opposed to hard feed
 
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Will she eat in summer but not in winter? I had a mare like that once. It's a very rare condition, but the solution is easy - give her injections of oestrogen every three weeks. My mare ate a full feed for the first time in months an hour after her first injection. (it's into the muscle and a tiny amount, so easy to give if your vet will let you have it, you don't need them called out every time. )

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What's the condition called? Sounds a bit like my mare. She didn't eat properly last year from Oct through to mid Feb, then ate really well until two weeks ago when she went anorexic overnight! Have changed her feed and she's eating again but would be very interested to find out more about this?
 
my pony can be fussy and i feel him coolstance (used to be copra meal) and find i can add anything to this (even bute) and he'll eat it readily.
 
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