Won't Eat Barefoot Diet

GinaGem

GinaGem

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I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions about feeding my mare. She's been on fast fibre, linseed, pro balance and agnus catus (for moodiness) for quite a while now and all was going well till i had to put her on bute and she just wouldn't eat it. So i started feeding the bute with a little mix just to get it in and now the course is finished she won't eat the fast fibre anymore, i guess because it's boring and isn't sweet. So any suggestions what to do to encourage her to eat it again?
 
I have a pony who can't stand agnus castus - have you tried removing each thing to see which it is she doesn't like?
 
Thanks no i haven't tried eliminating everything, i might try that tonight. I may try the garlic as well as i have that. I didn't really want to go and buy a whole bag of food just to wean her off something. She's off the bute now it was just a few weeks to try and see if she was in pain but still won't eat the normal feed without the bute and mix.
 
Unmolassed sugar beet is fine on a barefoot diet, mine has it no problems, so try that. Spillers high fibre nuts have been found to be fine and very tasty for fussy eaters too. I also put coolstance copra meal in my boy's feeds, he loves it and licks the bucket clean.

Oh and I may be wrong but I'm sure I've read somewhere that garlic isn't a good thing to feed? Hopefully someone else will come on and know what I'm on about!
 
I add a little oat straw chaff to speedibeet, for a bit of sweetness. They're not overly keen, but in my case I WANT them to slow down, as they're gobblers.
 
ChristmasChick said:
Unmolassed sugar beet is fine on a barefoot diet, mine has it no problems, so try that. Spillers high fibre nuts have been found to be fine and very tasty for fussy eaters too. I also put coolstance copra meal in my boy's feeds, he loves it and licks the bucket clean.

Oh and I may be wrong but I'm sure I've read somewhere that garlic isn't a good thing to feed? Hopefully someone else will come on and know what I'm on about!
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I have read that garlic kills the good bacteria and so is not good to feed. I wouldn't feed garlic.
 
I started eliminating things when my mare refused her feeds and found it was the pro hoof she didn't like, even in the tiniest amounts. :(
 
ChristmasChick said:
Unmolassed sugar beet is fine on a barefoot diet, mine has it no problems, so try that. Spillers high fibre nuts have been found to be fine and very tasty for fussy eaters too. I also put coolstance copra meal in my boy's feeds, he loves it and licks the bucket clean.

Oh and I may be wrong but I'm sure I've read somewhere that garlic isn't a good thing to feed? Hopefully someone else will come on and know what I'm on about!
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Re garlic. When you look at the studies on most foods and additives carefully, it usually turns out that the researchers have fed collosal amounts of the ingredient to see what happens. There was a study some years ago using rats ,that "proved" that a certain type of artificial sweetener caused cancer. It later transpired that they had fed the rats an amount of the sweetener that was the equivalent of them drinking 800 cans of diet cola drink!

I wouldn't be without my garlic. Horse loves the taste and it really keeps down the flies in summer. It's good for respiration, digestion and the heart and arteries and many vets endorse its use as an intestinal worm deterent (but not an alternative to a proper worming programme!). I use Lincoln 100% garlic powder but keep strictly to the manufacturer's dosing recommendations, feeding it all year round to keep it in his system for the summer. Supplement mixtures with garlic in them don't have the same effect, particularly on the flies.

As the old song said "Fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong";)
 
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I've had the same problem with my fussy TB. I added mint and spillers high fibre nuts which got her interest up and she started picking/eating it. Wouldn't say she licks the bucket clean yet but, we are getting there
 
From what I can gather form the first post, it's not that the horse won't eat the BF diet, it's that he wont eat bute ? Shy only gets Topspec, but if he needs bute (rarely), I use Healthy Hooves and lots of linseed oil - and he laps it up. THEN he gets his Topspec in addition !

Hope that helps :)
 
Sirocco said:
What do you feed instead?
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At the moment, nothing to replace the pro hoof. :( She has Pure Easy which contains a balancer, micronised linseed, 26 crushed tablets of metformin, and one prascend a day. I need her to eat her meds and when the pro hoof is in the feed she won't touch it, so I have had to stop giving it. I am looking for a more palatable balancer, but haven't found one yet.
 
Ellen Durow said:
Re garlic. When you look at the studies on most foods and additives carefully, it usually turns out that the researchers have fed collosal amounts of the ingredient to see what happens. There was a study some years ago using rats ,that "proved" that a certain type of artificial sweetener caused cancer. It later transpired that they had fed the rats an amount of the sweetener that was the equivalent of them drinking 800 cans of diet cola drink!

I wouldn't be without my garlic. Horse loves the taste and it really keeps down the flies in summer. It's good for respiration, digestion and the heart and arteries and many vets endorse its use as an intestinal worm deterent (but not an alternative to a proper worming programme!). I use Lincoln 100% garlic powder but keep strictly to the manufacturer's dosing recommendations, feeding it all year round to keep it in his system for the siummer. Supplement mixtures with garlic in them don't have the same effect, particularly on the flies.

As the old song said "Fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong";)
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Have there been any studies that prove garlic is actually beneficial though?

I used to supplement it in spring and summer but found no real benefit other than making the feeds smell nice :o

I would worry about feeding it long term.
 
Sirocco said:
I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions about feeding my mare. She's been on fast fibre, linseed, pro balance and agnus catus (for moodiness) for quite a while now and all was going well till i had to put her on bute and she just wouldn't eat it. So i started feeding the bute with a little mix just to get it in and now the course is finished she won't eat the fast fibre anymore, i guess because it's boring and isn't sweet. So any suggestions what to do to encourage her to eat it again?
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It sounds like she got used to having sugary mixes again :D.

Perhaps add the mix to the feed and slowly wean the amount down?

I have used Spiller's High Fibre cubes with my Cushing's lad safely.

Unmolassed beet is fine (it's another fibre source, like Fast Fibre) such as Speedibeet/Easibeet.

My Tank loves spices and will eat anything with Tesco Curry powder added in :eek:.

Fennel seeds are aniseed in taste and good for bloating.
Fenugreek seeds are also good.

My old boy loves dried cherries :D.
 
Twinkle Shy said:
From what I can gather form the first post, it's not that the horse won't eat the BF diet, it's that he wont eat bute ? Shy only gets Topspec, but if he needs bute (rarely), I use Healthy Hooves and lots of linseed oil - and he laps it up. THEN he gets his Topspec in addition !

Hope that helps :)
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No the bute is finished but i fed it with livery mix to get her to eat it (my friend had some so saved me buying anything) but now she won't eat the boring old diet so i just ned soemthing to get the supplements in really that isn't sugary mix!
 
Ah, well in that case, i would just present it to him, and leave it with him - he'll eat it if he's hungry. Sorry, wrong end of the stick AGAIN :o
 
Clava_Christmas said:
I have read that garlic kills the good bacteria and so is not good to feed. I wouldn't feed garlic.
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One of the studies on the effects of garlic on horses fed 700 grammes of freeze-dried garlic per horse per day!!!! The trial was stopped when it became apparent that there were very dangerous effects on the blood chemistry. However, at feeding rates of up to 70 grammes (more than most people would feed in a day, I would think) there seemed to be no ill effect. Other studies caim that toxicity only kicks in when garlic is fed at the rate of 25% of the total diet.

As for killing "friendly" bacteria, studies show that it doesn't but it does kill a huge range of pathogens, including Helicobacter Pylori which is implicated in human and equine intestinal ulcers, Salmonella, Klebsiella and lots of other pathogens dangerous to both our horses and us.

It contains "good" minerals and is said to help with arthritis. There is also a suggestion that it protects the liver

What you mustn't do is feed so-called "fresh" garlic from the supermarket. It isn't fresh (can be up to a year old by the time it reaches the shelves) and may well have been treated with pesticides and other chemicals while in cultivation and later to help shelf life.
 
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Wagtail said:
At the moment, nothing to replace the pro hoof. :( She has Pure Easy which contains a balancer, micronised linseed, 26 crushed tablets of metformin, and one prascend a day. I need her to eat her meds and when the pro hoof is in the feed she won't touch it, so I have had to stop giving it. I am looking for a more palatable balancer, but haven't found one yet.
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what about hoof health balancer at forage plus, sarah there would probably send you a sample
 
Ellen Durow said:
As for killing "friendly" bacteria, studies show that it doesn't but it does kill a huge range of pathogens, including Helicobacter Pylori which is implicated in human and equine intestinal ulcers, Salmonella, Klebsiella and lots of other pathogens dangerous to both our horses and us.
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So how does it know which are friendly bacteria? :D Or rather, what defense have friendly bacteria got that unfriendly ones haven't?
Here's one vets take on feeding garlic. http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/nutrition/feeds/eqgarlic528/

Op, I think you just have to start again introducing the low sugar diet as Obi-one says. Or try speedibeet...
 
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amandap said:
So how does it know which are friendly bacteria? :D Or rather, what defense have friendly bacteria got that unfriendly ones haven't?
Here's one vets take on feeding garlic. http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/nutrition/feeds/eqgarlic528/

Op, I think you just have to start again introducing the low sugar diet as Obe-one says. Or try speedibeet...
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As for how garlic knows which are friendly and which aren't friendly bacteria - well, how do some anti-biotics now how to kill some bacteria but not others?

The link quoted in your post actually uses the studies mentioned in my post on this subject so you pays your money and you takes your chance.

An argument can be made that onions and garlic are also toxic to humans but they are also very good for you - it all depends on the amount consumed. Likewise vitamin A is toxic to humans but it is also essential to health - again the amount consumed is the key.
 
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My suggestions would be.... Tumeric?,...Fenugreek?..handful of low cal pony nuts, fresh mint,..giving the feeding warm and not cold?... and perhaps looking into the Winter Forage Balancer on Sarah Braithwaite's site perhaps...
 
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