Making feed more palatable.

MrA

Well-Known Member
Feb 8, 2012
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Any advice please.

Ale is on thunder Brooks chaff and balancer with a hoof supplement thrown in! He will eat it but he's not finishing it and so I'm worried he's missing out on some nutrients.

Any advice for something low sugar/calories I can add long term to make him want to eat it all up!
 
Be careful feeding a hoof supplement alongside thunderbrooks,you don't want to be feeding more than RDA of the vits mins etc. The balancers from Thunderbrooks if fed at RDA will be giving him everything he needs and generally don't need another hoof supplement alongside them.
Which thunderbrooks balancer are you feeding? Daily essentials or basemix?

You can try adding spearmint,or peppermint tea, sugar free apple juice worked for a fussy gelding at old yard to get him to eat his supps.
 
Sugar free apple juice worked for a mare I had who didn't eat. She had liver damage caused by ragwort ingestion, Usually the liver can repair itself but not if it's down to ragwort. Two of the symptoms were weight loss and anorexia. She had to be fed three times a day wîth a vitamin and mineral supplement and the only way I could get her to eat was to add the apple juice.
 
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Be careful feeding a hoof supplement alongside thunderbrooks,you don't want to be feeding more than RDA of the vits mins etc. The balancers from Thunderbrooks if fed at RDA will be giving him everything he needs and generally don't need another hoof supplement alongside them.
Which thunderbrooks balancer are you feeding? Daily essentials or basemix?

You can try adding spearmint,or peppermint tea, sugar free apple juice worked for a fussy gelding at old yard to get him to eat his supps.


Yes I was a little worried about this but I don't want to take ale off the hoof supplement just yet, I figured he would just expell the excess in his wee but can it be harmful? His feet are awful! I use the daily essentials powder one. Mint tea is a great idea thank-you
 
Sugar free apple juice worked for a mare I had who didn't eat. She had liver damage caused by ragwort ingestion, Usually the liver can repair itself but not if it's down to ragwort. Two of the symptoms were weight loss and anorexia. She had to be fed three times a day wîth a vitamin and mineral supplement and the only way I could get her to eat was to add the apple juice.


Thank-you I will give this a try then, he does love apples!
 
Some minerals dont get expelled when fed in excess and can cause problems, a good example is selenium, it can have dire consequences when fed in excess.

I've just put jess back on pro hoof which does wonders for her feet but she hates it, mint didn't help last time so might try the apple juice, though I'm sure even the no added sugar stuff is still full of sugar so will have to use it sparingly.
 
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Grated carrot is another to use and yes as Jessey says above,not all are expelled. You would be best talking to thunderbrooks about what is in your hoof supplement in comparison to the balancer and they can recommend what you need and don't need.
@Jessey did you see progressive earth have 20% off their pro hoof at the moment?
 
It's the pro hoof I use also. He's only on the lowest dose of the thunderbrooks daily essentials which is half of the scoop they supply.
 
Pro hoof is a pretty darn potent supplement as far as ingredients go,eg they have excellent ratios compared to alot of others, that alone fed at RDA would be all I'd give or the daily essentials. I wouldn't feed both. You would need to work out the ratios to feed both,eg feed 1/3 daily essentials to 2/3rd pro hoof etc but I'd check how much of each you are feeding so as not to go over RDA.
 
Sorry not pro hoof it's horse first, hoof first. Getting all confused!
 
Grated carrot is another to use and yes as Jessey says above,not all are expelled. You would be best talking to thunderbrooks about what is in your hoof supplement in comparison to the balancer and they can recommend what you need and don't need.
@Jessey did you see progressive earth have 20% off their pro hoof at the moment?
Yes sadly just after I'd ordered :(

Hank was a little colicy earlier, so I needed to get some psyllium into him, which neither like in large doses, I had a bottle of 'american peppermint' for baking in the cupboard so used 1/2 of the tiny cap mixed with water poured over it and they squabbled over the bucket!
 
I fed mint when mine was on a liquid vet mixture. Think I chopped a carrot in that and it disappeared.
 
Try linseed oil... D won't touch her feed (hifi lite and fast fibre) unless I throw a dollop of linseed oil in. She wolfs it down happily. And it's good for her.
 
I'm currently using Ribena really watered down :unsure:

Before that it was Apple and Strawberry cordial !!
 
Cutting up a carrot is working fairly well whilst I'm waiting for my mint to arrive, will report back when it does!
 
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I was using Thunder Brooks for over 4 years. I used daily essentials and herbal Mosley And for the first 3 years or so my pony looked well but this winter I have noticed he’s been off he’s itchy he’s had mallanders also not his normal self. I have had difficulty in getting it so phoned thunder brooks big mistake Ed who I spoke with was rather rude which put me off. Also noticed that there’s dehydrated carrots and apples in the chop which is meant for lamis. He’s been footie all winter I have had vets out amounting in huge bills. Next problem is price it’s getting very expensive to use. If it worked as well as it did then It’s not a problem. I decided to change to topspec its been the best thing I have done he’s slowly getting better and everything is crossed that I can just even sit on him as I haven’t ridden for 6 months. I’m not on Facebook so haven’t seen any posts and my concern is only for my pony. I know that I can contact top spec and be given advise that suits my pony and his health needs. I feel awful as I should have changed from thunder brooks sooner than I did.
 
I was using Thunder Brooks for over 4 years. I used daily essentials and herbal Mosley And for the first 3 years or so my pony looked well but this winter I have noticed he’s been off he’s itchy he’s had mallanders also not his normal self. I have had difficulty in getting it so phoned thunder brooks big mistake Ed who I spoke with was rather rude which put me off. Also noticed that there’s dehydrated carrots and apples in the chop which is meant for lamis. He’s been footie all winter I have had vets out amounting in huge bills. Next problem is price it’s getting very expensive to use. If it worked as well as it did then It’s not a problem. I decided to change to topspec its been the best thing I have done he’s slowly getting better and everything is crossed that I can just even sit on him as I haven’t ridden for 6 months. I’m not on Facebook so haven’t seen any posts and my concern is only for my pony. I know that I can contact top spec and be given advise that suits my pony and his health needs. I feel awful as I should have changed from thunder brooks sooner than I did.
Don't feel too bad - feeding is so often trial and error! I have a nightmare of a time feeding my geriatric cushings pony. Every so often he goes off something and starts to leave a bit in his bucket, which he can't afford, as he can't eat hay anymore. Then I have to figure out what he's gone off, how to replace it, or make it more palatable!
 
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