☆☆ FUSSY FUR KIDS ☆☆
Changing diets, adding a new feed or supplement? Is your horse being fussy and doesn’t want to eat your new feed/supp?
This is quite normal behaviour, horses are creatures of habit and usually don’t like change.
Changes to taste, smell and even consistency of their feed can upset the apple cart.
Of course there is the exception to this, those horse’s that inhale absolutely anything no matter what it is haha.
Firstly, you should never make drastic changes to diet all of a sudden as this can upset the stomach and the stomach environment.
If starting a new diet, changing diets or simply adding a new feed or supplement you should do it gradually over a 2 weeks period.
If at any time in the change over your horse’s manure gets a bit runny then you should slow down the process even more.
When changing to a new diet you should slowly decrease their old feeds while slowly increasing the new.
Never just stop a feed/supplement or add a brand new one all of a sudden if you want to prevent any upset to their digestive system.
I do consults where I go out and meet fur kids and their parents and discuss diets, teach about diet requirements, check over and discuss any ailments or issues your horse may have and also help you come up with a healthy diet plan to suit your horses. (Please pm me if interested in a consult for more information).
A lot of the time I find owners have very over complicated diets, diets high in sugar/starch and feeding multiple feeds which have the same purpose. This is usually because they are overwhelmed with how much is on the market these days. Honestly I don’t blame horse owners for getting confused and over whelmed, going into a feed store these days is like entering a supermarket. 101 products essentially for the same thing with varying quality and cost.
One of the issues we may have when changing a diet especially if they were on a high sugar starch diet is that their horses don’t want to eat the new and improved “healthy” low sugar diet.
Its like feeding your kids McDonalds or KFC all the time then saying “Ok time to get healthy eat these vegetables instead”. How well do you think they are going to adjust?
Horses in general don’t like change so the smallest change in their diet can turn them off their daily routine. A lot of the time owners just add in full dose of a new feed/supp or completely change their diet and wonder why their horse doesn’t want any part of it.
Don’t give up, trust me in most cases once the horse get use to their new feed/supps they won’t eat feed without them.
Healthy diet doesn’t mean it can’t taste good, horses like us have their likes and dislikes and sometimes they just don’t like the taste of something. So if there is absolutely no way your horse is going to eat something after several weeks of trying all the tips and tricks then a better tasting substitute will be required.
A few little tips to try if you’re having a hard time convincing your beloved fur kid that the new diet/supp is for their own good you can try these.
Make sure to add something that has a strong taste/smell that may mask the flavour and smell of something that is bland or doesn’t taste the best.
For example powdered vitamin & mineral mixes generally don’t taste great, while they are usually healthier having no sugar/starch they do lack in taste. Adding a bit of copra, livamol, molasses (in moderation) can help with the transition. These are just some examples of strong smelling and tasty things horses generally like.
Another treat is to cut up some favourite treats very small such as carrots, apples or something else you know your horse loves and mix it in well with their feed.
While treats and additives may not all be great to feed daily it can help with the transition and you can slowly reduce them once they are eating the new feed/supp without hesitation.
One of my favourites and you can have some fun with this one is going to the supermarket and buy a couple different flavoured baby food pouches, apple sauce is another good one.
Spend some time squeezing some different flavours on your hand and find one your horse loves.
You can then mix your new supps in with the baby food before mixing it in with your chaff/feed. This helps to mask the smell/taste and also making it hard for your horse to sift it to the bottom and not eat it.
Years ago when I introduced Micrbeet to my horses diet none of them liked it and refused to eat it.
I started very small with only a spoonful and slowly increased, now my horses won’t eat their feed without it and love it. So be patient and experiment with some flavours to entice your fur kid onto their new healthy feed/supp.
Another tip with using the baby food or apple sauce trick is using them to get your horse use to being wormed. Fill a syringe with their favourite flavour and each day allow them to get use to you squeezing a little into their mouth. At first you will need to let them lick it off the end of the syringe but one they associate the syringe with yummy stuff coming out of it instead of horrible tasting wormer/medication they generally will get excited to see the syringe.
The dreaded day when you actually need to worm/medicate dip the end of the syringe in their favourite treat first and give it to them. Then follow it up with several days after back to just the syringe filled with the good tasting treat to train them to associate it with a good experience over a bad one.
So to sum it all up:
- Be patient, give your horse time to adapt to the new changes
- Make changes slowly, generally over a 2 week period. Longer if manure loosens.
- Add something tasty to mask the flavour/smell.
- Have some fun with your horse finding their chocolate (favourite flavours)
(Pictured: Cinders when she was 36 years old that loved anything that involved her eating treats and food).