# Feeding Veterans Who Can't Chew Hay



## lelly (23 February 2015)

What does everyone feed their veterans who can't chew hay. I have a oldie who started just dropping the odd bit of chewed hay. Dentist said he was ok in his mouth so didn't worry too much. Fast forward two years and he can't chew hay or chaff of any sort now, not even ready grass. I have a different dentist and he can't see why he's not chewing hay. He just makes little sausages with it and spits it out. He's having grass nuts, unmollassed beet and micronized linseed. I just wondered if there's anything else I can give him.


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## MissMistletoe (23 February 2015)

It sounds like you are feeding the right feedstuffs, I assume you are soaking the nuts into a sloppy soup?.

I could be that you need to feed more of the soaked feed, but spread it over 3/4 small feeds a day to ensure gut is kept active.

Have you tryed Mollichaff? Their chaffs are very soft and finely chopped straws compared with stalky alfalfa based chaffs such as Dengie/Spillers.

It will get expensive! (and hit me over the head i'm a dreadful owner!!) but I buy the cheap value high fibre nuts (aim for at least 20%)  fibre) which are just £5.50 a bag. Perhaps replace the grass nuts with these?

Your horse won't mind it's not a fancy brand, all they care about is getting their fibre in and my oldie wolfs his pony nut soup down!.

The linseed ans beet are good too, they provide calories and hydration, so I would stick with these.


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## Darkwater (23 February 2015)

It might be a problem with his jaw rather than his teeth, my mare can't eat hay because of degenerative problems in several points of her jaw - might be worth speaking to vet about him rather than dentist if you're concerned? I can't really help with ideas for feed as mine has mostly on chopped grass/oat straw chaff with soaked grass nuts when she has to be in. Fast fibre is a good low calorie hay replacer that I used at one point though, it is mostly made of unmollassed beet but might be an option if you just want a bit variety for him, or something like Topspec Fibreplus which is designed to be fed soaked if necessary. Can he graze or does he struggle with grass too? If he can graze, I would be making sure he has as much turnout as possible - it makes life an awful lot easier. Edited to add - I feed Graze on Gold Blend - It is a really soft, finely chopped straw based chaff which is lightly coated in oil - my mare finds this much easier to eat than the dry grass chops which like the poster above said, can be quite coarse and difficult for them to eat. It might be worth trying a range of chaffs if you haven't done already, there might be one out there he can mange if it is mixed really well with his sugarbeet or soaked grass nuts.


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## MissMistletoe (23 February 2015)

Interesting thought there, Darkwater. I am a little surprised that it can't eat grass, so it could be that further investigation is necessary- 2nd opinion maybe to rule out a jaw disfunction.


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## lelly (23 February 2015)

Thanks everyone. I have tried all sorts of chaff/chop, I have soaked it overnight with his feed but it is always left in his bowl. I worry then that this is stopping him eating his feed. He has seen the vet before Christmas because of weight loss. They ran blood tests and a cushings test but there was nothing the vet was worried about. I didn't say he can't graze, he is out all the time but we haven't any grass at the minute. I will have to see how he goes when the grass comes through. I was really just looking for any feed that might be better for him.


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## dollyanna (23 February 2015)

There is a new feed available in the uk from http://www.red-rufus.co.uk/ - they do a veteran chop that is designed as a hay replace for those who can't chew well by chopping the forage into shorter lengths, apparently the length that they would naturally chew to. They are great at sending out free samples if you get in touch so might be worth a try?


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## katie_southwest (23 February 2015)

I have a pony in his 30's who cant eat hay. He has several 'snacks' throughout the day of soaked fibre cubes and sugarbeet/speedibeet and a few oats. 
At the moment theres not much grass so he's in a paddock of his own at night time with a big trug of
Fibre cubes
Chaff
sugarbeet/speedibeet
Oats
all soaked together which he eats alongside picking at the grass. 
Its just really keeping fibre going through him as he cant eat a haynet like the others...although he does like to walk around picking up their leftovers and spitting it back out


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## JillA (23 February 2015)

My 36 year old has very few molars (if any) so can't grind either forage or grass fine enough to swallow. she does enjoy chewing and quidding it (the little "sausages") so I wonder if she is getting anything out of the juices. But by and large she lives on unmollassed beet with an equal amount of grass nuts all soaked for 12 hours, and her supplements, including a balancer for vits and minerals, and micronised linseed. She can't have cereals because she has Cushings and Insulin Resistance. 
She has been living on that for at least 4 years now with no ill effects, and prats about like the youngsters, so as long as you are feeding enough you are doing okay. Mine has what equates to 1 1/2 big tub trugs a day, split between two meals. Works fine for my old lady, maybe yours could manage some micronized barley or oats as well.


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## Tiddlypom (23 February 2015)

Our old rescue lead rein pony did this. He had very few teeth left, but the EDT trained vet fettled those he had under sedation, so we knew he was comfortable. He happily grazed grass and spat out the 'sausages', though he couldn't manage hay. I gave him up to 5 bucket feeds a day of soaked-to-a-crumbly-mash Dodsell and Horrell 16+ cubes plus Blue Chip balancer, at a minimum of 3 hour gap between feeds.

He was hale and hearty to the end, but gradually lost more weight so we had him pts aged about 44.

This was about 15 years ago. Cushing's was never mentioned as a possibility, but on reflection I bet he had it to some extent. We were much less aware of it then.


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## mynutmeg (23 February 2015)

my friend has a 30 year old who pretty much has no teeth left. He gets a complete feed by Chestnut horse feeds - it's a high fibre hay replacer that soaks nicely and comes in bulk bins so it's pretty cheap for the quantity and really easy to feed. It basically replaces hay/haylage He gets it topped up with chaff, calm & condition and linseed.


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## aussierider (27 February 2015)

My old horse is missing several teeth and cant eat hay at all. Most of his diet is roughage from a product pretty much the same as fiber beet, you soak it into a mash and he absolutely  loves it! Luckly he is able to eat grass too so he manages to snack all day at least, he certainly  cant eat enough grass for him to get enough roughage but given his total inability  to eat hay he does do surprisingly  well with grass.


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## Polos Mum (27 February 2015)

Mine has soaked so mush grass nuts - 2 x dry stubbs scoops 3 or 4 times a day soaked for 3/4 hours.  I use the emerald green ones and he loves them, eats them all up but not crazy stuffing them so I'm happy he has something in his system all the time


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## ILuvCowparsely (27 February 2015)

lelly said:



			What does everyone feed their veterans who can't chew hay. I have a oldie who started just dropping the odd bit of chewed hay. Dentist said he was ok in his mouth so didn't worry too much. Fast forward two years and he can't chew hay or chaff of any sort now, not even ready grass. I have a different dentist and he can't see why he's not chewing hay. He just makes little sausages with it and spits it out. He's having grass nuts, unmollassed beet and micronized linseed. I just wondered if there's anything else I can give him.
		
Click to expand...

I would use any of the allen and page feeds

  or grass nuts soaked

 maybe even phone D&H for some nutrition advice


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## paulineh (28 February 2015)

Look at the new baileys feed "Keep Calm" It takes just 10 minutes to soak , less if you are using hot water.


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## Pebble101 (28 February 2015)

I used soaked high fibre cubes and speedibeet for my old pony.  It is easier for them to eat grass that isn't too long and 'stemmy' if you can find some.  

One thing I did discover - my pony did not like his food too sloppy!  Dry breadcrumb texture was what he preferred.

I used very fine hay and he sometimes managed some, but mostly it was chewed and sucked then he would spit it out.


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## southerncomfort (28 February 2015)

My oldie has been having a sloppy soup twice a day consisting of Fast Fibre, Top Spec Cool Condition Cubes and grass nuts.  She also has a trug of Dengie Hi Fi Senior which is the only chaff she can cope with.  It is much softer and shorter chopped than others.

Edited to add: now the grass is starting to come through I'm beginning to swap the conditioning cubes and grass nuts for plain high fibre nuts.


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