What to feed the dentally challenged, veteran horse

[wiglet]

I'm on full livery right now and the choice of feed is chaff and pony nuts. Not really suitable for my horse, the nuts are soaked, so are ok but, she struggles with the chaff.
I'll be moving to DIY next month so I can feed whatever I wish. I've been on full livery for so long I'm fairly out of touch with feeding so was looking for some suggestions for feeding my horse.

She's 23 and is missing a few teeth. She struggles to eat stalky hay but I can hopefully source some soft hay for her this year.
Over spring/summer she's had turnout everyday and has done ok with the grass but in winter she drops weight.
She's in light work - hacking out mainly but goes in the arena once or twice a week. She's in good health for a veteran other than her teeth.

Some of the feeds I've been looking at are:

Pink Mash (they also do a conditioning version apparently)
Spillers Senior Super Mash
Grass Nuts (soaked)
Simple System Haycare
SpeediBeet
AlfaBeet

Has anyone used these feeds and have they helped keep weight on? Are they palatable? She's a fussy one!
Would be interested in everyones views or suggestions.

Am really looking forward to DIY... but realise I may change my mind after winter!

 

[Tiddlypom]

Which teeth is she missing?

I ask because my mare has not long had her 402/403 incisors extracted due to periapical infection, and now that her sockets have fully healed up she's grand to go.

Soaked grass nuts are a good choice (if you can get hold of them) and most horses find them yummy.

 

[wiglet]

She's missing 109, 209, 110 and 210.
Everything is healed up, but she struggles to eat her hay and does lose weight over the colder months.

Is there a shortage of grass nuts? I'd have thought they were a pretty standard feed?

 

[Tiddlypom]

At least she's even on both sides .

There has been a shortage of grass nuts earlier this year as supplies ran out at the end of winter, but new supplies processed from the 2023 harvest are just coming in.

Have you tried steaming the hay to make it softer for her? Or maybe tried haylage, like the Marksway haylage?

 

[Parrotperson]

A friend keep her pony going for years just soaking everything til it was easy to suck up!! And that’s how the pony ate it. Speedi beet or proper sugar beet. Pony nuts. But all like a mash. He made it into his 40’s and had very few teeth left for the last five years. And he was perfectly happy!

 

[rabatsa]

I have fed soup to one of my oldies. Based on sugarbeet and grass nuts with high fibre cubes or conditioning cubes dependant on weight. You could also add a balancer if you wish.

Be careful in hot weather that you do not do too much at once as it will go off quite quickly, not such a problem in winter.

My oldie could eat grass freely for the first time in his life during summer.

 

[TheOldTrout]

Mine (age 24) has Spillers Senior Super Mash and loves it. It's very easy to use, you soak it in 1.5 measures of water to 1 measure of mash for about 2 minutes and it forms a kind of soft cake. You can make it a bit runnier with a bit more water too. She licks the bowl out! Having said that, she's not a terribly fussy eater.
Edited to add, one of the things that makes it suitable for older horses is that it's easy to eat if teeth are poor / missing.

 

[Britestar]

Grass nuts, then gain opticare balancer and condition mix added half an hour before feeding to allow to become a smush.
Big scoop of happy hoof when he comes in from the field. Repeated at bedtime. I give him hay and haylage in the winter which he likes to have a good suck on.
He also gets a grass block every night in the winter too nibble on.

He is 27, has excellent incisors, but pretty much everything else is gone.

 

[meesha]

My 2 both refused to eat soaked grass nuts,!!

They loved speedy mash fibre. But the one who needed it refused senior version unless loads of pony nuts mixed in!!

 

[Spotherisk]

Rowan Barbary Readi Mash Extra. 5 min soak, highly palatable, very good for weight gain. Brilliant stuff!

 

[TPO]

After dental work, and now a mysterious illness, mine wouldn't eat anything. I did initially manage to get him eating Spillers Senior Mash. It smells like apples and he hoovered it up initially.

Due to this mysterious illness he stopped eating completely and the breakthrough was Saracen Re Leve mix, its soaked to a mash. It's 13.5 mJ/kg so high calories if you need to feed for condition too

 

[tda]

To keep the cost down, grass nuts and unmollassed beet, with SS Haycare soaked as an alternative

 

[ester]

we used agrobs weisencobs - for a fusspot - as also ppid so had to be careful sugar/starch
That or meadow magic

could eat soft hay/haylage but really struggled with any chaff

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

I used to feed my oldie who couldn’t eat any hay Simple Systems Haycare and Pure Feeds Meadow Mash. He would eat the MM too quickly to have it alone but the Haycare he wasn’t so keen on. I used to add some mint and fenugreek and he would have enough to keep him going all night. Some of the mashes have too much else added to them and are eaten too quickly and I wanted a plain forage type mash. He wouldn’t eat soaked grass nuts, Speedibeet or fast-fibre alone or mixed.

 

[Landcruiser]

My toothless oldie is on Coolstance Copra plus Speedibeet. I also put in a handful of chaff (currently Honey chop Topline and shine), and a good mugful of micronised linseed, all well soaked, twice a day. According to my EDT his teeth have "expired." He's doing pretty well on it.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Another vote for Spillers Senior Super Mash - extremely palatable, easy to prepare. We feed it to our 28 yr old loan pony and he looks great and loves it (and the others would do anything to get his bowl ).

 

[wiglet]

Have you tried steaming the hay to make it softer for her? Or maybe tried haylage, like the Marksway haylage?

We have a steamer at my current yard and she loves freshly steamed hay (when it's still warm). Unfortunately, the hay is steamed in the morning then fed in the evening so it's served cold and doesn't seem that much softer.
Haylage... we have big bale haylage at the yard, it's very coarse and she can't eat it. I assume smaller bale would be softer? Is the Marksway soft? It's something I could try but, because of her dental (and sinus) issues, I've been advised to feed from the floor only. I'm not sure the haylage would last?

To keep the cost down, grass nuts and unmollassed beet, with SS Haycare soaked as an alternative

I'm all for keeping costs down!!
This is the kind of diet I was thinking of although Spillers Senior Super Mash is getting lots of praise on here too.
Thanks for all the replies - got lots of ideas to try now.

 

[SantaVera]

My oldie with few teeth does well on Spillers senior mash and pink mash.

 

[meleeka]

I fed Fibre Beet last year and mine loved it. I’ve also used Spillers Supermash but it worked out quite expensive for the volume I needed.

 

[BigTrotBay]

Mine loves Spillers Senior Super Mash (appley aroma when it's soaked!), I keep her on this now but she was on Rowan Barbary Ready Mash (the purple then the red one) it put condition on really well but she went off them as she's a bit fussy. She was quite poor coming out of the winter before last and a cup of Bailey's outshine in her feed once a day brought her back quickly (quite expensive but good for a boost)

 

[wiglet]

My oldie with few teeth does well on Spillers senior mash and pink mash.

Do you feed the regular Pink Mash or the conditioning version? I do like the sound of Pink Mash but, wonder if she’ll eat it because it’s made with beetroot? Is it palatable?

 

[Melandmary]

I fed my oldie a combination of soaked grass nuts and spillers senior super mash, she had all her teeth but just didn’t have much appetite but would gobble that up. The grass nuts keep the cost down- I used the emerald green ones which are approx £12.50 a bag and they do a version suitable for ems that has no alfalfa in also called meadow magic. Just added a vit/ mineral supplement and very generous amount of linseed.

 

[Surbie]

Is the Marksway soft? It's something I could try but, because of her dental (and sinus) issues, I've been advised to feed from the floor only. I'm not sure the haylage would last?

Both the Marksways I feed my horse (the blue rye and the purple timothy) have been coarse. Burleybale pink haylage is lovely and soft, as is Baillie haylage - have fed both those too in the past. I eke out my horse's haylage allowance and a small bale lasts me over a week. I seal them up after opening and it hasn't gone off on me yet.