RE: FUSSY EATERS

["Flemmer, Linda" <flemmerl@rcbhsc.wvu.edu>]

Title: RE: FUSSY EATERS

Hi, Celeste! 

I had 2 mares who were fussy eaters like this in the past 18 years...  They were fine on light work, but seemingly lost their appetites when working for endurance.  It was a constant battle to keep them in flesh.  Both mares would walk away from grain rations, often preferring grazing or hay over grain.  They would drop to a condition score of 2.5 without any effort at all.  I had never met a horse before who would turn down grain!

First, I would never knowingly buy a horse like this again.  It's a real struggle to maintain them.  Give me an easy keeper any day.

For these two mares, we started feeding them 3 or 4 times a day.  They seemed to be "overwhelmed" by large meals twice daily.  They would dig in for smaller meals more frequently.  Even though they still didn't finish it all, they ate more that way.  I also took away any unfinished grain after 30 minutes.  Eat or don't eat, but no "snacking" for later or saving it for the overweight pasture mates to find after the mares were turned back out.  I kept <really> good quality hay in front of them & allowed them 24/7 to pasture (except in severely bad weather).

I added a multivitamin to their feed along with 2 cups of oil daily (introduced gradually, divided out over all the meals).  The oil provided a lot of extra calories.  Be sure to keep the oil covered & out of sunlight - it goes rancid very easily and then they won't eat it.  You can use any type of oil.  Our horses love corn oil, tolerate most of the others, although they HATE olive oil.  We didn't know about beet pulp & rice bran when I had these horses.  I still don't think I'd use rice bran (hard to get for me).  Of our current 3 horses, one likes beet pulp, one tolerates it (if dry) and one turns up his nose & says, "Yuck!!!  Beets!  You're torturing me."  We've used beet pulp to stretch our hay rations in bad years more than for weight gain.

We had an equine dentist come to really look at their teeth.  I wanted them to get the full benefit of whatever they did decide to consume.  I also wanted to be sure that their lack of appetite wasn't related to sores in their mouths from sharp edges.  Even if your friend's horse is not chewing well right now, he should get the benefit of oil added to his diet since it sticks to the grain rations even if the grain is not chewed.  We also fed crimped or rolled grains in the hope that they would get more benefit from the grain if it was processed.  I can't say that it made any big difference though.

I started riding in a hackamore - they were more willing to eat & drink on rides bitless.  I always took the bit out at vet checks, but this allowed more grazing & drinking on the trail.

I had fecal counts done from their manure to be sure that they didn't have a parasite problem - neither did.  It was a consideration, though.

Lastly, I had to really look at my training program to be sure that I wasn't over working them so that they had no power left for the rides.  One mare was from the early 1980's.  We were told (& I believed then) that I needed to ride hard every day.  Our typical week was Monday 10 miles/ Tuesday 5 miles + 1 hour dressage & jumping/ Wednesday 15 miles/ Thursday 10 miles/ Friday 2 hours dressage or jumping/ Saturday 20-25 miles/ Sunday "goof off in the field" or go swimming for 3 hours.  The poor mare never had a break!  I think they need the recovery time to rebuild muscles.  I was constantly tearing muscle down for her instead.  She finished a 100 mile race, but that was her only one.  She was so exhausted and thin afterwards!  I couldn't do that to her again. 

 
The other mare was competed in the early 1990's.  She was trained a little less and her performance was better.  She never did more than 50 milers (rider preference), so I'm not sure what her performance would have been like at 100 miles.  She learned to eat at rides over time, but she was far too nervous at the beginning.

It was actually amusing at ridecamps.  Here I was trying to hand feed a skinny mare, begging her to eat.  At the same time, Mike is fending off his well fleshed gelding's demand for "FOOD, NOW".  His horse was whickering and begging for more food all of the time we were camped while Rosie was ignoring grain & munching on hay.

Tell your friend best of luck!  (By the way, writing in all caps is liking shouting at a cocktail party - not good manners)

Linda Flemmer
Bruceton Mills, WV

-----Original Message-----
CELESTE MURRAY celestem@badgermining.co.za
MY RIDING PARTNER NEEDS SOME FEEDING INFO.
INFO:
MARE IS A TWELVE YEAR OLD ARABIAN AROUND 14.3hh.
PROBLEM:
SHE HAS A GOOD APPETITE OUT OF WORK AND IS A GOOD DOER ON THE RATION SHE GETS (THE RATION MENTIONED ABOVE)
THE MORE SHE GETS INTO HER TRAINING THE LESS SHE EATS, THIS INCLUDES HER CONSUMPTION OF TEFF (TIMOTHY THERE I THINK).