I am a finicky eater. Conrad is a finicky eater. And ever since Eli’s surgery, he, too, has been a finicky eater.
Perhaps his ability to taste has changed, now that he is without a bad tooth and ginormous ball of mucopurulent snot trapped in his sinus. Perhaps he tastes more, or just differently. Add to that my quest for electrolytes he will ingest (he likes his other supplements), and I now have a horse who is less than enthused about gobbling his grain ration. Lately he’s been eating about half, then eating all of his hay, then maybe going back to the grain after, or maybe not.
I have a solution: less grain, more hay (I pay extra for the extra). Eli LOVES hay. And grass, of course. He’ll happily munch on hay any time it’s in front of him, even if he’s already been doing so for a few hours. We pretty much just have coastal bermuda at $7 a bale for the small square bales in this area, although alfalfa is also available but I’m not interested in feeding that daily to Eli. Timothy would be fantastic, but it is difficult to get in this area, and much more expensive to have delivered (from out of state, last I checked). However, Eli has been pretty much fine eating the coastal bermuda his whole time at KBF *knock on wood* so we’re going with what we got.
Excellent Courage feature: he literally eats anything. Plus I feed him so little grain that ANYTHING looks good. Definitely appreciate that when I read things like this.
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That is a most excellent feature, especially in a TB.
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Thats how Ries was for ever and I could never keep weight on. Finally we hit the plateau where he is fat and LEAVES HAY (after playing with it of course). If two years ago Ries saw him today he would slap him lol
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So far Eli’s weight hasn’t suffered but if he starts to drop pounds then it’s back to the drawing board
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my mare is a pretty fantastic eater, tho we have some tbs at the barn that definitely aren’t… and it’s always a little worrisome when they leave food behind.. seems like you’ve found a good balance for Eli tho!
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So true about it being worrisome … but he eats ALL his hay all the time so in his case I think he’s just expressing a preference.
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Can’t blame him for being particular! It runs in the family 😉
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Too true 🙂
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I do not understand this problem. Cosmo inhales anything I put in a bucket in front of him.
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Cosmo eats like an actual horse 😉
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