Feeding help

Lissie

Lissie

Well-Known Member
Jan 18, 2016
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Lottie is quite a fussy eater and loses weight in winter when she's hunting. Not your typical Irish cob. She goes off her food completely during hunting season and seems to get bored of the same feed very easily. She doesn't even eat a full hay net a night most days.

We started off on calm and condition but I was having to feed that much of it keep weight on her and she just won't eat big feeds so swapped her on to ready mash extra which she does like. Now we've finished hunting, she won't really need this but she's refusing to eat the calm and condition, I need to feed her something to get her supplements in her. She has joint supplement, linseed and salt. Does anyone know of any tasty but low sugar/protein feeds? or anything to add to her feed to make it more tasty that won't sent her loopy. It's such a waste of money as I've bought bags of feed that she just won't eat.
 
Ours find Dodson and Horrell everyday cubes tasty enough (two have to have supplements). They like Baileys cubes too a just the non heating every day ones.
 
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Not cheap, but Keyflow Pink Mash seems very tasty according to most horses I know. If you look on their website you can request a sample rather than having to buy a whole sack at once. A cheaper but often readily eaten option is to dampen some high fibre nuts until you can mix the supplements in, but obviously that depends on whether her ladyship likes high fibre nuts.
 
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I've been through this pain with Raf when we were training for the Kiplingcotes Derby (apparently a lot of horses in hard work go off their feed) and again since when he went off his feed for reasons I can't remember. I tried all sorts, I don't know how many samples I got from feed companies. Some he rejected instantly (including the readymash and pink mash that I had high hopes of) and others he liked briefly and then went off them. Saracens Relieve was liked for quite some time before he rejected it.

In the end what he seems to like best are cheap pony nuts and chop. Ungrateful so and so ...
 
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Thanks everyone some things to try. She won't eat standard chop and pony nuts with her supplements in. Will get a sample of the pink mash, although she often eats something for a bit then turns her nose up. She seems to prefer the mash type feeds maybe because her tongue is really thin and short where she lost bits of it when she was abused. Will try damping fibre nuts.
 
If she prefers mashed most nuts will soak to a mush, warm water speeds it up. Jim would often start on pony nut soup when he was off his feed.
 
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My fussy Storm will always (touch wood) eat a handful of Baileys Senior coarse mix - to get her supplements down, it does the trick.
 
Mattie is prone to dropping weight. He's been ok this year, but when it's been bad I have used Saracen Equi-Jewel with success. They usually suggest mixing it with Re-Leve, both low starch and sugar.
 
Equerry condition mash is the only thing Kia consistently ate other than grassnuts. He was as fussy as they come :(

Didn’t send him loopy and I fed it all year round and it’s fairly economical.

I also tried releve and yes he ate it but I couldn’t continue the cost at the amount I had to feed.
 
Grass nuts are my go to for any horse who doesn't need to be under the 10% sugar and starch. Great natural Dr Greengoes along way for weight and I've yet to meet a horse that won't eat them. Emerald green feeds are my favourite brand as lower sugar and starch than most but still very tasty to horses.
 
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Ben just needs feed for his supplements. He gets a small portion of speedibeat with a handful of low calorie fibre nuts mixed in with parnsnips and chopped carrots.
 
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@mystiquemalaika if you want grass nuts under 10% combined starch & sugar then look at the Emerald Green Meadow Magic ones.

@Bodshi I tend to soak the Emerald Green grass nuts slightly if I'm using them as a feed, simply because they're a very hard nut. They are safe to feed dry though, and I feed them that way as a treat or in a treat ball.
 
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She's still turning her nose up at everything, given in and just let her have the ready mash at least it gets the supplements down her. Once the ready mash extra is all used I'll see about swapping her onto the normal ready mash. She's looked really well on that this season hunting though.
 
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