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Picky gelding!

2K views 18 replies 5 participants last post by  jazzy475 
#1 ·
A friend of mine has a lovely 12 y..o grade gelding who she bought 3 Weeks ago. He was in perfect condition , but has lost some condition since then. He has a round bale all to himself to eat ad lib, but he is not eating much at all. In 3 Weeks he has eaten MAYBE 1/5 of it when he should have eaten a half. It isnt very cold here but he really should be eating more. He doesnt seem ill settled or anything and eats grain with gusto, so we dont know why he wont eat hay. he was floated 2 months ago, no hooks, good healthy feet and he doesnt look bad, but you can see faint ribs jusy standing still, whereas he was lightly covered.

I checked his hay, it is average for winter. Some is stemmy and brown, some is nice, but it doesnt seem to matter to him. Is he just picky? Or is something wrong? We upped his grain (safe choice) to 4 lbs and added 2 lbs of alfalfa pellets to his feed until we can figure it out but this is a little odd. It isnt always possible to find super high quality round bales. This is in no way bad hay, just not amazing. What should we do? She bought jiggs costal, just like his old owner fed. We can try to find better, but if he is really this picky there might be problems if we go through another famous drought or something!
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#4 ·
He shows no signs of ulcers though I worry about him getting them with grain and little forage, which is why I told her to add alfalfa as a buffer. His feed is devided in 2. The hay is the same mix but different hay seller and we cant use the original Sellers hay becausd we hauled him in from 3 hrs away.

He does not have a pasture buddy which isn't ideal, but she is currently looking for another horse. It just takes time to find the kid safe horse she needs and she only has 2.5 acres of pasture (divided in 2) so she doesn't have space for an extra pony. So maybe he is pining for company. But why is he eating just grain? And what can we do to help him in te mean time? He doesnt act bothered by being alone, he trail rides 3 times a week with other horses and is indifferent about being with them or leaving them. His owner hates keeping him alone but.doesnt have another option right now. They cant get a goat because the.fence is 3 panel wood and borders a busy road. He does have a cat friend.
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#5 ·
Most kids, being like horses & not appreciating health reasons not to, if given the choice, would probably opt to live on chocolate cake & minimise broccoli intake. ;-) There's one big reason for him to love his grain & eat less hay if he's getting lots of other stuff. And 2.5 acres may be providing enough grazing for him to need little hay.
 
#6 ·
Most kids, being like horses & not appreciating health reasons not to, if given the choice, would probably opt to live on chocolate cake & minimise broccoli intake. ;-)


Don't even need to be a kid to minimise broccoli and healthy food,heck i rather eat chocolate cake too.:wink:
 
#7 ·
The pasture is horribly eaten down and is not a source of any real calories for him :( she just bought the property. The grass is eaten to nubs. She hopes to revive.it.

Are you suggesting decreasing grain? We JUST bumped him to 4, he was eating 2.5 and still not eating enough hay. The grain and alfalfa is BECAUSE he is losing weight. We would prefer that he ate just hay and maybe some vitamins.
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#9 ·
That might work Jazzy. Hope he starts eating hay soon though. It would be very expensive to get most of the roughage to him via pellets or beet pulp.
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#11 ·
Reason i mentioned ulcers is, my gelding will eat his pellets & beet pulp over hay,when ulcers flare up. Think ulcers are real possibility,could just treat and see if that helps also. Only signs of ulcers from my gelding is he backs off on eating of hay. Goes from eating 20 to 25 lbs of hay to as little as 5lbs a day.

They don't all show typical signs of ulcers,some just go off hay and prefer feed pan stuff. Just my 2 cents worth.:wink:
 
#10 ·
You don't have to substitute lb for lb with alfalfa pellets and/or beet pulp. Normal hay has 800-900 calories, alfalfa pellets 1100, beet pulp 1200. And both are cheaper than Safe Choice. Add salt, vit E and flax seed and you're good to go for a while. I would slowly slowly decrease the SC, tho, to not put him off feed completely
 
#12 ·
^No, in this situation, I agree, it doesn't sound like you should decrease supplementary feed, but just putting it out there, that it may still have a bearing & commonly does.

I would however, switch the 'safe choice' to something low carb & healthier personally. Try a 'pony feed' or such, which is high fibre/forage, low carb. It's not just calories he needs.

I would also consider treating for ulcers, as it could be that's his problem - sometimes going off hay is a 'symptom' that responds to treatment. Probios, and blood tests for nutrition would be my next thought.
 
#17 ·
I'll have to see if there is anywhere to get Triple Crown here yet. Last year there wasn't- but I've wanted to try it for a while! She just bought him a tub of Probios, and a new bale of super nice hay is coming in on Friday, so hopefully those make a difference. If not we'll consider treating for ulcers, but I hate to tell her to spend that much money if the simple solution is something much easier. This is her first horse and she already spent a LOT preparing for him (moving, fencing, renovating, searching for him, PPE, getting well fitted tack, etc)
 
#18 ·
Just wanted to thank y'all who were suggesting that he may have ulcers.He started acting up under saddle which isn't usual for him, and acting touchy. We got him a few tubes of U Guard and he's back to eating his hay like he should be. He has a new buddy coming along in another week or so as well, which should help his stress level a lot. Put him on 4 lbs of alfalfa as well and his weight has picked up great.
 
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