Hay replacer for old horse? please help!

[tabithakat64]

My friends 35 year old horse is struggling to eat his hay, we have tried hayledge/hifi etc but he doesnt like these, what else can you suggest we use as a hay replacer? (he is still eating his hard feed)

[trieste]

My oldy is on Allen & page fibre pencils, which you soak for 10 mins or so, she eats them on their own, but seems to prefer them with hi-fi senior mixed in. You can feed as much as they'll eat as its just fibre.

[Jessey]

Grass nuts :p (also known as hay replacer cubes) you can get them in most feed stores, they are just chopped dried grass compressed into a nut which you soak into a mash - our old boy was doing great on them :D I mixed them up with short chopped freeze dried grass (redigrass, just grass etc) and he would pick at it all night :D

[nicolaj]

Had a friend with an older horse who had teeth, fed them Spillers Redi-Grass as a hay replacer, about £8 per bag.

http://www.spillers-feeds.com/en-gb/united-kingdom/header-bottom/products-and-stockists/chaffs-and-fibres/readigrass/

She had another old horse who had hardly any teeth so couldn't graze, well he would pull up the grass and mush it round in his mouth and then spit it out! Had to feed him virtual slop so he could suck it up!

[eventerbabe]

how about fibre-beet from the makers of speedi-beet?

http://www.speedibeet.com/

[becs]

Our nearly-toothless 32 year old NF would like bowls of veteran mix hourly, given the choice. He pushes HiFi / equivalent chaffs away in disgust and glares at me. He still tries the hay but you find chewed bundles spat out in the field shelter.

But we've found the answer at last - what Jessey suggests; soaked dried grass pellets, makes up to a green slop that he loves. If we soak it overnight then tip it over chaff, so it soaks down, he even eats the chaff too! ha ha.

Ours weren't keen on the Readigrass (and it triggered my hay fever!).

The dried grass pellets are sometimes called grass pencils. We thought they'd be abit more nutritious than the hifibre ones, thought have used (?D&H) Pasture Cubes too.

[puzzles]

the answer to this query is simple and easy; but one of the Dengie products, such as Hi-Fi Lite, Hi-Fi or Hi-Fi Good Do-er. these act as particl and complete hay replacers; they are easy to chew, highly digestible and low in energy whilst providing condition without fizz. they all contain alfalfa, which is high in valuable protein and calcium for veterans as well asfmore fibre thanalmost every 'fibre' fed ican find.
cubes are preferable as they are easier to chew, if your horse has gard feeed, and you can also soak them for easier digestibility and chewing.
good luck!

nb - also, you can add sugarbeet to his hard feed to soak and addcalories which are easily digestible as well as to soak the cubes.

[angelfben]

You can soak feeds like D&H Pasture Nuts into a mush as a partial forage replacer :)

[tabithakat64]

He wont eat any of the dengie products designed as a hay replacer, we have tried these already :(

[Trewsers]

What happens when they go out into the field then? If they have less teeth and can only manage a hay replacer in their stable then don't they nibbble grass anymore?

[becs]

don't they nibbble grass anymore? our old boy does - he loves grazing above all feeds. If you stand by him, you can hear his gums squeak as he tugs the grass off and chews it. He seems to follow the same "tear, chew, chew, chew" repeated pattern as others do.

But at this time of year, there's virtually no grass (they're out 24/7).

And as the OP also said, he refuses standard chaffs (HiFi even the sugary Senior version) alone.

[puzzles]

He wont eat any of the dengie products designed as a hay replacer, we have tried these already :(

then, hun, you need to instead use a high fibre hay replacer in the form of a cube; sucha s dodson and Horrel's as already suggested, or Spillers High Fibre Cubes or equivelant. for your horse, these are best soaked into a mash - especially if fed with sugarbeet such as Dengie Alfa-Beet, Fibrebeet or Speedibeet wheh extra condition or energy is needed, such as in winter - for easier consumption and easier digestion and absorbtion of nutrients.
ask a reputable feed manufactorer for ore specific advice, as each feed needs to be fed in limitation considering that 2-2.5kg of one of these cubes will provide your horse with all the nutrients he need, yet will probably need to feed much more than this to provide your orse with sufficient fibre that would otherwise be given in forage.
try mixing the cubes then - aswell as or instead of sugarbeet - with an unmolassed fibrous chaff, such as Dodson and Horell Fibergy or Spillers Happy Hoof: shop around 'til you find something he likes.
regular small proportions throughout the day are far less daunting than a massive bucketful or two to somehow last the night and encourage efficient and healthy digestion, and a more healthy appetite for your horse.
good luck!
:-)

[Ann Powell]

Hi, My horse Kelly is having the same problem. I visited the V/V website and they suggested as a hay replacer the follwing:

10 pounds of Fibre G
1 pound of Pasture nuts
in one Full bucket of water
soak for six hours

Have one for the morning (field) and one for evening (Stable)

I am going to try it

Hope it helps

Ann

[hackedoff]

Simple Systems do bags of grass nuts that you can soak too.

[Jessey]

Was short on time yesterday :o Our old chap had no molers left just the front teeth, he could manage grass but not hay or haylage.
He also was not keen to eat any of the standard chaff's on their own, I think they were too dry and hard to eat for him.

In the end (he was really struggling to hold his weight and was not getting enough fibre so getting dihoreea) so he was getting:

4kg grass nuts (dry weight)
4kg conditioning cubes
1.5kg barley rings (dry weight)
2kg HiFi (or dried grass for variation)
2 cups veggie oil.
1kg Speedybeet

So in all he got about 12kg of this mix per day, this was split into 4 or 5 feeds, though he was very good and if we gave him one big one (normally last one at night) he would just pick at it like they do with hay :p this had him looking much better quickly and he was quite content with it.
Sadly we lost him just before christmas as old age really caught up with him :(
But these are our comparison pictures, the first one was august last year, the second in october - he had improved alot further by december but just as I was thinking of taking some more we lost him.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y291/Jessey129/General/poniessummer2006063.jpg
And here he is Today, I am very pleased with the improvement :D
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y291/Jessey129/DSC01274.jpg

[nicolaj]

My friend also got intouch with the Veteran Horse Society for feeding advice for her old fella with no teeth. They were very helpful and it worked for him. Might be useful for some impartial advice.

[nicolaj]

the first one was august last year, the second in october - he had improved alot further by december but just as I was thinking of taking some more we lost him.

Sorry to read this Jessy:( .

[Jessey]

Sorry to read this Jessy:( .

Hey he was a 30 something year old rescue case, we gave him a good final 6 years :p I was sorry to see him go but there was no question it as his time :(

[nicolaj]

At least he had a good 6 years with you.