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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
  
| LMS - 2014-07-20 8:41 AM
If he's eating what your feeding, then he's not too picky! IMO he just needs more! Weigh your grain to be sure and throw in more hay, if he's cleaning it up how is he ever going to have enough to gain?
I guess I am a bit skeptical about just pushing strictly grain on him due to energy levels and stuff. Ill be checking to make sure hes getting the reccomended amount but posted because he doesnt eat supplements so yes i find him a picky eater in that respect. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
 
| Not many horses will initially clean up the powdered supplements. I always start mine out and either wet the pelleted foods, mix with a little red cell, mix with molasses, mix with Apple cider vinegar, or mix with papaya.
Right now I give papaya with all my pelleted feed and my horses eat every morsel of food.
I do agree with giving free choice hay, as it sounds like if he is eating it all up, he isn't getting enough, I always like for them to have leftovers, this will also help prevent ulcers. |
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Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| Thank you!
He doesnt clean it all up right away... he eats a good marjority, goes and grazes maybe drinks and munches on it the rest of the evening but I guess my point is hes not leaving food uneaten besides maybe a tiny bit which I believe is normal.??
I was just trying to see if there was a supplement I should be looking at. hes not skinny by any means but hes just thinner than preferred |
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Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| cheryl makofka - 2014-07-20 8:32 PM
Not many horses will initially clean up the powdered supplements. I always start mine out and either wet the pelleted foods, mix with a little red cell, mix with molasses, mix with Apple cider vinegar, or mix with papaya.
Right now I give papaya with all my pelleted feed and my horses eat every morsel of food.
I do agree with giving free choice hay, as it sounds like if he is eating it all up, he isn't getting enough, I always like for them to have leftovers, this will also help prevent ulcers.
Sometimes he leaves some of his forco but he will usually go back and clean it up. However, when I had him on cool calories and/or weight builder... he left the majority of the powder in the feeder. Do people just spray the feed with water? or how much water do you add? |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | stayceem - 2014-07-20 8:23 PM LMS - 2014-07-20 8:41 AM If he's eating what your feeding, then he's not too picky! IMO he just needs more! Weigh your grain to be sure and throw in more hay, if he's cleaning it up how is he ever going to have enough to gain? I guess I am a bit skeptical about just pushing strictly grain on him due to energy levels and stuff. Ill be checking to make sure hes getting the reccomended amount but posted because he doesnt eat supplements so yes i find him a picky eater in that respect.
Edited by LMS 2014-07-21 6:33 AM
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | They probably aren't giving him enough hay. That was my problem with some of the barns I boarded at in the past... I would add alfalfa pellets or get him turned out on good pasture. If he's not cleaning up his grain I would also consider something for ulcers.
I have personally fed rice bran and seen good results. If he wasn't gaining with that, I would again suspect ulcers (which if he is not on pasture and just getting a couple flakes of hay/grain twice per day, is not uncommon per the studies I read). |
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | stayceem - 2014-07-20 9:01 PM cheryl makofka - 2014-07-20 8:32 PM Not many horses will initially clean up the powdered supplements. I always start mine out and either wet the pelleted foods, mix with a little red cell, mix with molasses, mix with Apple cider vinegar, or mix with papaya. Right now I give papaya with all my pelleted feed and my horses eat every morsel of food. I do agree with giving free choice hay, as it sounds like if he is eating it all up, he isn't getting enough, I always like for them to have leftovers, this will also help prevent ulcers. Sometimes he leaves some of his forco but he will usually go back and clean it up. However, when I had him on cool calories and/or weight builder... he left the majority of the powder in the feeder. Do people just spray the feed with water? or how much water do you add?
Anytime I'm adding a powdered supplement, I wet their feed. Just a light mist to make the powder stick to the pellets.
I've also used applesauce before. Just to mask the taste/smell of the meds/supplements. And applesauce is also something that will stick to the feed.
Does your boarding stable feed for you? Is it possible that they could feed him 3x a day instead of just 2? For his size I just don't think he's eating enough. And it would be more beneficial to him to add more feedings than to add more feed to each feeding. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 330
| Being a picky eater can be the only noticeable symptom of ulcers.
I'd get the horse checked, or start treating and see if you notice an improvement. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | I would try Renew Gold. I've had nothing but GREAT results with it! Give them a call; they are very helpful. |
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