# My foal won't eat a hard feed??



## aregona (12 October 2011)

My colt foal born at the end of May stopped eating a hard feed about a month ago. I have spoken to the vets and a nutritionalist but neither have been able to help.

He is still feeding from his mum and is eating hay like no tomorrow. The vet has been again today and said he is looking perfectly healthy but he is a bit concerned about weaning time if he won't eat a feed. 

He was eating (and very happily) allen and page: fast fibre and calm comdition. Now he wont touch it. I bought him D&H stud mix, just grass, cool mix, sugar beet and he wont eat any of it, i have had small amounts of different mixes from friends to try but he just walks away. I have tried carrots in a bucket, i have tried hand feeding but nothing. The only thing he will try is the mollychaf original but he wont eat a lot of it. 

Anyone else had similar problems or any ideas?? Not sure what to do ref weaning him now. Luckily though i dont have to do anything immediatly as his mum is looking very well so no worries there yet. any help greatly appreciated.


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## aregona (12 October 2011)

a couple of pics for you so you can sort of see his condition, sorry all my other pics he is stood like a donkey as well!


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## mrogers (12 October 2011)

ohhh hes so scrummy!!

My colt was like that. I added a bit of molasses to his feed and he couldn't get enough of it. Then once he was used to hard feed, he didn't notice it when I stopped adding it.I still have nearly a full container here if you want it


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## CBFan (12 October 2011)

I wouldn't worry about him not eating when you wean him - as long as he is eating hay and grass he will be fine, if not better for it.

Trying him on lots of different things won't help - foals need to feel confident in what they are eating so won't tuck into new things particularly fast. He also won't have a massive appetite.

As for feeding carrots - I really wouldn't recomend feeding a foal carrots - they simply can't chew them and you're asking for choke.


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## foxy1 (12 October 2011)

Good old bran is very palatable for foals


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## aregona (12 October 2011)

Bran....really? Ok I will give it a go


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## alfiesmum (12 October 2011)

i asked the same thing about a week ago, and bran came up then. will be buying some at wknd, been trying with tiny amount of sugar beet and foal mix, today he stuck nose in bucket and walked away, but he has now discovered the mineral lick and is finally licking that, only taken a week to suss it out, he kept going up and copying my mare and kicking it but forgetting to lick it too , such a dope lol. (not his mum) i just keep the routine the same and hoping to make progress before i have to buy bran , feel like i am part of the feed shops family as i too made the mistake of trying it all


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## aregona (12 October 2011)

Well I'm cheating  I am asking on the local hunts Facebook page to get a 'sample' of bran first, Facebook works wonders for somethings!


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## Maesfen (13 October 2011)

aregona said:



			Well I'm cheating  I am asking on the local hunts Facebook page to get a 'sample' of bran first, Facebook works wonders for somethings!
		
Click to expand...

Crikey, it only costs less than a £1 in a health shop or even the pet shop, exactly the same bran too.

ETA, remember to damp it down with warm water and only try a handful at a time.
Foals should NOT be eating any chaff at all at that age as it's possible for them to mass it up and choke as their dentition isn't fully formed or get impaction which leads to colic.  Same goes for molasses, their digestive system isn't fully formed enough to digest sucrose before about eight months old and then only added sparingly.  For the safety of your foals, please remember those simple rules.


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## Miss L Toe (13 October 2011)

I would just stick with one thing for a while, as they are suspicious creatures, he looks lovely by the way.


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## MarinaBay (13 October 2011)

My foal needed a little extra hard feed we added milk pellets to her feed and she loved it!


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## Trolt (13 October 2011)

Ours won't eat anything  He'll eat grass, hay and drink mums milk and that is all thank you very much. 
If he's this opinionated now, I hate to think what he'll be like when he's older! 

We're just leaving it for the time being, he'll have grass and hay when he's properly weaned and then if he gets hungry he'll eat hard feed. 
He has a foster mum and originally we tried to bucket feed him to assist the foster mum, but he wouldn't touch foal milk or milk pellets 

OP - I'd be more worried about that fact that yours was eating and now isn't. Do you think the grass has got better or he has more hay so just isn't hungry? Or something worse such as he was struggling to eat the hard feed (teeth, or digestive tract) and it made him uncomfy so now he's suspicious of all food??


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