feeding toothless horses.

[dluehosh@juno.com]

Well, I went on down to my local Southern States and got Triple Crown
Alfalfa and Grass forage (two types) and also got the Triple Crown
Complete feed, and we give him free choice forage in a Rubbermaid 100
gallon tub which has a leak in it (can't use it for water). And he gets
about three coffee cans plus enough water to get it moist of thecomplete
feed. He has COMPLETELY turned around. He was looking pretty pathetic
last summer, but now he actually has FAT on him. And he's breeding like a
champ this year. He bred last year but I don't think he had enough
energy. 
Now he drags me over to the mare. 

Now, this is a bit expensive, but the deal is he couldn't chew hay of any
kind, so this stuff has enough roughage in it and is small enough he can
just pretty well swallow it without a problem. After a while he also
didn't gobble it as fast so it lasts a bit now. I started out going
through one bag every two days of so, but now we are going through about
1 bag every three or four days and he has gained weight hand over fist. 
And that is without having given him the Complete Feed every day. Most
days, but not all. 
Anyway, the Triple Crown products are very good I think. A bit pricey,
but you do get what you pay for- I have never found weird things in the
hay. I opted for this plan because I am very busy and can't mix five
meals a day for him- and I am glad to say it works. My broodmares like it
too. 
I haven't had to add anything else to his diet either- he doesn't seem to
even need his salt block but it's there anyway along with his water.

If the vet hasn't been out to evaluate his teeth, that might be a good
place to start too- I had a couple of molars that were not even in the
back- enough that they were causing ulcers on the opposite jaw. OUCH! We
took care of that. 
Hope that helps.
Gwen Dluehosh DVM

On Fri, 10 Mar 2000 01:40:04 EST Eenergonzillen@aol.com writes:
> In a message dated 03/09/2000 10:12:55 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
> dluehosh@juno.com writes:
> 
> << now that we have
>  figured out how to feed him (he's got NO teeth!)  >>
> 
> how do you go about feeding a horse with teeth problems?? > -Renee

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