# What to feed an elderly horse as a hayreplacer who wont eat chop?



## spottydottypony (13 April 2013)

My 36 yr old poor doer gelding has barely any teeth and cannot have hay or mixes. Everything has to be soaked. He will only eat one brand of chop i have tried many others with mint, herbs. molasses, pony nuts but he does not like them. The brand he likes has had a fire at their factory so are not making any for a while and all my stockists have non. The question is what do i give him? He cant have hay, he doesnot like the VHS hay replacer reciepe. He already has a huge bucket of high fibre cubes soaked with loads of sugar beet as well as conditioning cubes soaked. I have tried grass nuts but hes not fussy on them. Can you buy hay cubes which you soak to a chaff? Ive also tried Simple Systems Lucie nuts, Fibre blacks and he wont eat them. The brand he likes is called Leigh Senior which is a veteran chop with added dried grass, hay and slightly molassed. They are local to me does anyone know anything similar? I have also heared that Fast Fibre fed in large quantities is not good


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## whirlwind (13 April 2013)

Will he eat soaked fibre blocks ? They make a mash.


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## fatponee (13 April 2013)

How about one of the Rowan Barbary mashes?  I thought Fast Fibre could be fed as a hay replacer...not heard of it being bad if fed in large quantities.  Do you know why this is?  Hope you find something


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## ofcourseyoucan (13 April 2013)

my oldie livery is now 34 and has come through the winter looking fab for her age on fast fibre, kwickbeet, alpha a and pony nuts.  She cant eat hay as has no back teeth, can pick at grass, she also has cushings so cant eat mixes or grains or molassed things. she also has blue chip and oil. try fast fibre though they don't all like it...


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## galaxy (14 April 2013)

Old Laminitic pony at my yard is fed a dry scoop of fast fibre a day (she's only 12hh) and it really has done wonders for her weight.  She can still nibble at the grass, but can't have much and had dropped off last year.  Fast fibre literally transformed her.

When it heavily snowed this year she was also given tub trucks of Readi Grass that she seemed to love (she can't eat hay).  She's also quite fussy.


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## JillA (14 April 2013)

My dentally challenged veteran gets soaked food, 2 x half large flexi tubs a day - Speedibeet, alfalfa pellets and grass nuts. She is Cushingoid and IR and it suits her - she doesn't carry much weight but she has plenty of energy!!
ETA I would rather add supplements she needs rather than feed a composite like Fast Fibre which already contains them, then I know daily quantity. She gets MagOx, salt, and micronised linseed plus her medication (Prascend and Danilon)


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## Archiepoo (14 April 2013)

large tubtrugs of alphabeet saoked into warm soupy mess ,my boy paints it all over the stable -but he loves it


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## amandap (14 April 2013)

Beet (unmolassed) as part of it? It's a highly digestible energy source. 

The problem with fast fibre fed at recommended amounts for complete forage replacement is I believe the selenium levels which become very high in these quantities. Selenium is highly toxic in over dose.
Fast fibre also contains beet.

My preference would be something like beet and linseed with a separate decent balancer rather than a compound feed.

Check with your vet about feeding high levels of alfalfa(lucie nuts etc.), high protein isn't recommended if kidneys aren't functioning properly.


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## BlackRider (14 April 2013)

How do you stop them wolfing the hay replacer?


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## Roasted Chestnuts (14 April 2013)

Alfalfa pellets, fast fibre, veteran vitality, beetpulp, veteran cubes soaked, conditioning cubes soaked basically anything soaked.

My veteran is getting alfalfa cubes, linseed and staypower/ERS pellets soaked with conditioning fibre and beetpulp to make a sloppy feed  he will eat chop and hay etc.

Probably the cheapest alternative would be a scoop of alfalfa cubes and a scoop of beetpulp in a big trough soaked in advance and fed daily


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## splashgirl45 (14 April 2013)

feedmark do fibre blocks which can be soaked to make them ok for horses who cant eat hay....they have just sent me a sample so may be worth phoning them to ask advice and maybe they would let you have  one to try.


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## Bennions Field (16 April 2013)

I use my own hay and chop it with a chaff cutter (brought off eBay) bit of hard work for about 15 mins but saved a fortune in chaff already  

Mare is 30 this year and gets 2-3 slabs of hay chopped to which I add a 2lb scoop of s/beet soaked which makes 3-4 sccops and the same of northern crop driers grass nuts ( much cheaper than s systems!) I was worried at first she would eat too much too quickly but she has about a third of it then has a nap and nearly always has a little left in the morning -she looks good on it considering her age and the cushings - she also has a vit / min added to make sure she's getting all she needs


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## JillA (16 April 2013)

Bennions Field said:



			I use my own hay and chop it with a chaff cutter (brought off eBay) bit of hard work for about 15 mins but saved a fortune in chaff already 

Click to expand...

Did you get a chaff cutter as such or a garden shredder? I was given a garden shredder and it doesn't chop fine enough really, and it keeps getting clogged if I use any soft hay or haylage with any moisture in it.


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## Bennions Field (17 April 2013)

JillA, i got a proper chaff cutter, of the antique variety, its a little bit of a work out to use but cuts the chaff up to around 3/4 inch long max so perfect for my old girl, the others get it too, so i dont buy any chaff any more either therefore saving money 

the chaff cutter cost me £40 and then £150 to get it delivered from scotland to shropshire, there are usually others on ebay for good money but its the delivery that could cost a bit as they are heavy !   

i know it cost a bit to buy initially but i used to use around 5-6 bags of chaff a month so its nearly paid for itself already in a few months !  and given its poss around 100 years old already its poss going to outlast me


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## SCMSL (17 April 2013)

To answer to your question, there is no way to stop them from wolfing down the feed. You have to make sure you give small amounts as often as possible.

As for hay replacers, check this website out http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/livestk/01625.html - specially table 2.

If you can get your horse to eat Rowen Barbary's solution mash, its a complete formula (so no need to add anything else) and its not overly palatable, so your horse should take longer to eat it. Either that or formulate your own feed from the table in the website, and then add a multi-vit supplement.


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## BlairandAzria (21 April 2013)

Leigh's are selling their senior chop still - I bought a bag today!


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