Horse refuses sweet feed after 5 years

[wade3504]

Does anyone have any idea why a my gelding would suddenly not want sweet feed anymore but he will eat pellets. He's had sweet feed ever since I got him at eight months old and he's going on six now and suddenly wants pellets. Could there be a health reason for this? He is not acting diffterent in any other way just wants different feed.

Amanda

 

[KenBen]

Could he be having teeth problems Amanda? You may need to file the sharp edges off his teeth. They usually spill a lot of feed when the teeth are sharp. I have never seen a horse refuse feed with molasses in it unless they have a problem

Ken

 

[chandab]

I have never seen a horse refuse feed with molasses in it unless they have a problem

Ken

I've only seen it once...

When I had my mare at the vet hospital for colic surgery another horse was in there for something else (long stay) and he wouldn't eat sweet feed; he had only ever had plain whole oats and refused the sweet feed. My mare refused the plain whole oats and demanded sweet feed.

 

[Jess P]

Last year my mare was getting pellets until she foundered in April. Then she would only eat sweet feed.

On saturday she started refusing the new brand of sweetfeed I have been introducing to everyone. She had been getting this for over a month along with the old kind. She foundered again on Saturday.

 

[Roselawn Estates]

Could the feed maybe be too old? My friend's mare wouldn't touch anything that was too soggy and 'old'. She had to keep buying new bags of feed every few weeks.

 

[KenBen]

Last year my mare was getting pellets until she foundered in April. Then she would only eat sweet feed.

On saturday she started refusing the new brand of sweetfeed I have been introducing to everyone. She had been getting this for over a month along with the old kind. She foundered again on Saturday.

I find that sweetfeed left too long will go bad when the weather is warm like in the summer. You will see a greys mould on it.

Ken

 

[wade3504]

I'll have his teeth checked to see if that is it, but I am sure it's not old or bad feed. The bag was less than a week old from me buying it and the feed store I get it from is always getting in new. My other two horses are eating it as usual with no problems. He just came back from a training barn a couple of weeks ago and he started eating it when he got back, but then started picking out his chopped hay and left the sweet feed.

Amanda

 

[Miniequine]

[SIZE=10pt]The only time my horses turned their[/SIZE]

nose to sweet feed, it was an ulcer issue.

Maybe the stress of training has upset his belly??

Sandy

 

[wade3504]

[SIZE=10pt]The only time my horses turned their[/SIZE]

nose to sweet feed, it was an ulcer issue.

Maybe the stress of training has upset his belly??

Sandy

Are there any other signs of ulcers. Besides wanting different feed he's the same as usual.

Amanda