|
|
 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 559
 
| I have an 8 yr old hard keeper barrel horse .. She isn't a big hay eater & she gets all the grass hay she'll eat . It isn't the best quality though ... She's a very picky eater .. Won't eat beet pulp / alfalfa cubes etc . She's extremely annoying. I feed purina equine senior to an older horse of mine who can't eat hay anymore . Would this be a good option for her ? I know it has lower fat & calories though & she is a calorie burning machine . Any suggestions ? Sorry for another feed thread ! I just need opinions ! |
|
| |
|
 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 396
Location: Iowa | I feed ultimuim and soaked alfafa pellets to my hard keeper/picky eater he seems to eat it all right up and looks great! However ultimuim has beet pulp in it...there is a thread on here somewhere about senior feed being fed to younger horses for the calories though. I would search the forum for that! |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | Renew Gold |
|
| |
|
 The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
 
Location: North Dakota | My hard keeper has responded very nicely to Ultium, added Amplify, and 2nd cutting alfalfa:) |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 559
| I'm not opposed to a senior feed at all ! I love how digestible they are .. I am currently feeding Her ultium with the grass hay . It just wasn't a complete feed so I've wondered about mixing some senior with it , or just doing straight senior . I'm just not convinced renew gold will work on this mare .. I doubt she'd eat it . She's very finicky / picky |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1694
Location: Willows, CA | The vast majority of hard keepers have teeth issues that limit how they chew. You would be amazed how often cleaning up a rough edge on the outside of the uppers or inside of the lowers cures hard keeping issues. Just having hay or pasture available full time does not mean that they eat enough of it if it hurts to chew. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 559
| winwillows - 2015-03-25 10:18 AM
The vast majority of hard keepers have teeth issues that limit how they chew. You would be amazed how often cleaning up a rough edge on the outside of the uppers or inside of the lowers cures hard keeping issues. Just having hay or pasture available full time does not mean that they eat enough of it if it hurts to chew.
I just has her teeth done a week ago . |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1694
Location: Willows, CA | If her teeth were just done, you may have already started solving your problem. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 559
| winwillows - 2015-03-25 10:25 AM
If her teeth were just done, you may have already started solving your problem.
Her teeth are done frequently .. And they weren't bad . She's always been this way , so I know that isn't the problem . I asked for suggestions , not how to take care of my horse . I'm not an idiot . |
|
| |
|
Location: South Dakota | Forco will help her utilize her feed. I have fed it faithfully to my hard keeper for the past 2 years, and she looks great, very nice topline, and bloomy. |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 999
Location: Sunny So Cal | Have you tried THE Muscle Mass? I like triple crown complete but I also use Vitabran High Fat and Protein. Good luck! Those hard keepers can drive a person crazy. I had one and I would try everything. Luckily he ate cubes and beet pulp. But I couldn't miss a day, he would suck back up again over night. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 559
| Cowgirl Kat - 2015-03-25 11:21 AM
Have you tried THE Muscle Mass? I like triple crown complete but I also use Vitabran High Fat and Protein. Good luck! Those hard keepers can drive a person crazy. I had one and I would try everything. Luckily he ate cubes and beet pulp. But I couldn't miss a day, he would suck back up again over night.
That's how I feel with her! She'll eat something for a while then decide she doesn't like that no more .. She's just an annoying horse in General .. In the mornings she won't eat bc she's too busy worried about going out .. When I feed them & leave & come back to put them out . She just drives me insane .. She acts like she's never hungry & I can't have her not eating it she'll look terrible .. But she just doesn't get it lol I haven't tried the THE but I know she won't eat it .. She'll just smell it & not touch it . |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 600
Location: Oklahoma & Texas | I would suggest Renew Gold too -- i have some picky picky eaters.. and its funny.. the 1st time i fed it they did kinda pick at it - i guess they were not used to the flavor - but the next morning they had cleaned it up and they were waiting for it! They lick their buckets clean now and these are not horses that ever did that before there was always stuff left in their buckets and now they are waiting at feed time for their dinner whereas before they'd just go eat their alfalfa first... for your horse if needs the additional calories may want to do the renew gold with the ultium or the senior -- i feed it w/senior to a few of mine.. i just feed like 1lb of senior twice a day w/the 1/2 to 3/4 of a lb of renew gold.. works like a charm my horses are already slicked off and looking awesome... and they like it! |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1694
Location: Willows, CA | Fancy Lass - 2015-03-25 10:32 AM
winwillows - 2015-03-25 10:25 AM
If her teeth were just done, you may have already started solving your problem.
Her teeth are done frequently .. And they weren't bad . She's always been this way , so I know that isn't the problem . I asked for suggestions , not how to take care of my horse . I'm not an idiot .
Wow! I guess I overstepped my bounds here. Only a suggestion of what I see in doing roughly 1000 individual peoples horse diets a year for almost thirty years. If everyone that had teeth issues with their horses was an idiot, we would probably all be one at some time or another. Me included. It is simply the single most common issue that I have seen over all those years, even more than parasite issues, and often fixes a hard keeper and picky eater. If this is not the case with your horse, that is fine. Sorry I hit a sore spot. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 559
| winwillows - 2015-03-25 12:04 PM
Fancy Lass - 2015-03-25 10:32 AM
winwillows - 2015-03-25 10:25 AM
If her teeth were just done, you may have already started solving your problem.
Her teeth are done frequently .. And they weren't bad . She's always been this way , so I know that isn't the problem . I asked for suggestions , not how to take care of my horse . I'm not an idiot .
Wow! I guess I overstepped my bounds here. Only a suggestion of what I see in doing roughly 1000 individual peoples horse diets a year for almost thirty years. If everyone that had teeth issues with their horses was an idiot, we would probably all be one at some time or another. Me included. It is simply the single most common issue that I have seen over all those years, even more than parasite issues, and often fixes a hard keeper and picky eater. If this is not the case with your horse, that is fine. Sorry I hit a sore spot.
Sorry I was so rude .. But her teeth are fine . I have treated her for ulcers in the past with no change in her.. I just don't understand how a horse just won't eat like this one does .. It frustrates me to no end ! I'm just at a dead end here & idk what else to do .. My hay is poor quality so I didn't knkw if its best to put her on a complete senior feed or keep her on ultium . I feel like she needs a conplete feed to fill in for when she won't eat a lot of hay . I had her on triple crown senior but it's gone up to $24.25 a bag & I just don't want to spend that .. Purina senior is $19.50.. But idk if it'll be enough . I. Guess all I can do is try it . I just feel safer feeding senior feeds due to the digestibility .. Then I don't feel like I'm over feeding :/ |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 462
Location: Louisiana | I have a mare that is a hard keeper too. She will draw up overnight. Recently I had her to the vet and while there I asked him what diet I could put her on to make her fill in. He told me to work her up to 10lbs a day of Purina Equine Senior. Alfalfa and grass hay. Said in 30 days I would not recognize her. I did that but I also added some muscle mass. It has done wonders for her. I know that is a lot of feed but once you get her stabilized you can back down a tad. Also, he gave her a shot of prozac for her anxiety. That also helped her a lot. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 550
| If you can get better hay, it would probably be more cost effective than any feed.
I have one who is a hard keeper on poor hay, but if I have decent hay I could probably keep him looking good with no feed at all.
I know this is a hard time of year to get new hay, but might be worth a try. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 559
| jtaylor - 2015-03-25 12:44 PM
I have a mare that is a hard keeper too. She will draw up overnight. Recently I had her to the vet and while there I asked him what diet I could put her on to make her fill in. He told me to work her up to 10lbs a day of Purina Equine Senior. Alfalfa and grass hay. Said in 30 days I would not recognize her. I did that but I also added some muscle mass. It has done wonders for her. I know that is a lot of feed but once you get her stabilized you can back down a tad. Also, he gave her a shot of prozac for her anxiety. That also helped her a lot.
This is kind of what a vet around here suggested to me .. Maybe I just need go try that instead of ultium . We ran out of hay & had to buy more & I'm not happy with the quality :( |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 999
Location: Sunny So Cal | Fancy Lass - 2015-03-25 9:54 AM Cowgirl Kat - 2015-03-25 11:21 AM Have you tried THE Muscle Mass? I like triple crown complete but I also use Vitabran High Fat and Protein. Good luck! Those hard keepers can drive a person crazy. I had one and I would try everything. Luckily he ate cubes and beet pulp. But I couldn't miss a day, he would suck back up again over night. That's how I feel with her! She'll eat something for a while then decide she doesn't like that no more .. She's just an annoying horse in General .. In the mornings she won't eat bc she's too busy worried about going out .. When I feed them & leave & come back to put them out . She just drives me insane .. She acts like she's never hungry & I can't have her not eating it she'll look terrible .. But she just doesn't get it lol I haven't tried the THE but I know she won't eat it .. She'll just smell it & not touch it .
Does she eat a bran mash? For my picky one I put it in a bran mash and grated carrots and apples in it mixed with apple juice. You may have to buy a few different feeds and just keep rotating it. I had to do that too. Or you could always syringe the product down her throat for a bit and see if it will even help. I used to put holes in an apple and then make the powder into a paste and put it in the apple. My horse would eat the apple with the medicine fine. Probably would work for a supplement too. oh boy, sounds like you have a real difficult case. Does she just not eat alfalfa cubes or will she not eat the hay too? Have you tried pellets?
Don't know if any of this will help, just racking my brain. |
|
| |
|
Veteran
Posts: 242
Location: Nowhere Land | My mare was the same way for the LONGEST time. I finally treated her for ulcers.. twice. And she got much better. Then i discovered Formula 1 Blue label Noni HA and she gets 3 oz of that a day .. eats drinks and acts like a pro. HIGHLY recommend this for your picky horse! Ask your vet about options. GOODLUCK!
I feed Triple Crown Complete
Edited by AngieM1 2015-03-25 1:16 PM
|
|
| |
Folks on-line