Veteran not eating his haylage

tigger01

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I have a 27 year old WB who has decided he doesn't want to eat his haylage. I am concerned that at his age he isn't getting sufficient to eat. He looks well, is only ridden occasionally and has recently had his teeth done. He is fed Hoofkind, conditioning cubes and Calm and Condition with Activet and 365 Complete supplements. All other 4 horses are eating the haylage. This happens every year. Usually I resort to feeding Hoofkind as ahaylage substitute. Anyone any ideas?
 

Charlie31

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When my last pony got very old he lost a lot of teeth and couldn't eat hay or haylage anymore. I gave him massive bowls of alfalfa, speedibeet and high fibre cubes and he lasted for several more years on that so you could give that a go.

Alternatively do you buy your haylage yourself or is provided by your yard? If you buy it yourself you could try different flavours of Horsehage or similar to see if there's one that floats his boat.
 

meandmyconnie

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Try soaking and putting on the floor/in a low manger to encourage him to eat it.

Add some of Hoofkind to his feed all the time - he might want it in winter? And see if he can get any more turnout time. If he's not turned out you might need to think about more than just his normal supplements in his feed to make sure he has a healthy diet, things like oils work well?

Make sure he gets his teeth done more than usual too.
Contact your vet too, make sure he knows whats going on and can give you more advice as can a nutritionist - Dengie often have good service and it's free too!

Good Luck :)
 
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