How long to wait for a pony to eat?

[Twisting]

I have a 19 year old pony gelding with PPID and IR. He has been eating Teff hay for the last year but we are finally out of last years hay and are on to this year’s crop. It’s clean and smells lovely, no mold or dust. Pony hates it. He ate around it when we were transitioning and today in 8 hours he has eaten maybe 2 pounds. How long do I wait him out before other measures have to be taken, and what could those other measures be?

Timothy and Orchard are a no go, stuff around here has too much sugar and he won’t eat soaked hay.
Tried teff pellets, hates them
Tried beet pulp, hates it.
There is some grazing but our fall grass is basically poison for him.

What do you feed a pony who refuses to eat the only foods that won’t kill him…

[clanter]

have you tired Standlee TEFF pellets?

We feed Teff hay and also use the teff pellets as a supplement for the oldest mare

[Twisting]

He’s got about half a pound of the Stanlee pellet sitting in his feed bucket right now. If you take his word for it they might as well be rocks.

[NaturallyHappy]

Mine has similar opinions regarding food. I have found he LOVES SmartCarb (or is it CarbSmart) from Standlee. He can have our Orchardgrass hay. It comes in under 10% NSC as tested. He won’t touch Teff or alfalfa pellets.

[clanter]

@Twisting

He’s got about half a pound of the Stanlee pellet sitting in his feed bucket right now. If you take his word for it they might as well be rocks.

add water, that is how we are getting the older mare to increase hydrant during these excessive heat days

adding water. let set for 15 to 20 minutes the pellets turn into a mash

We have been feeding Teff hay for about five years, never have had any issues with aby of the horses, miniatures or goats not wanting to eat it

[NaturallyHappy]

I tried adding water to Teff pellets. Nope. The Smart Carb is alfalfa teff, and beet pulp in a very soft pellet that does not need to be soaked. He loves it. He does not like alfalfa, beet pulp or teff alone. Go figure.

[Twisting]

He won’t eat it wet either, doesn’t like soaked feeds. I tried replenimash with him the other day and he gave it one sniff and then tried to call animal control on me for abuse. Pretty sure he hates beet pulp because it is wet.

[Twisting]

I will swing by the store tomorrow and pick up some smartcarb. Maybe I can use it as a top dressing to trick him into eating his broccoli. Thank you for the suggestion.

[cayuse]

Would Triple Crown Safe Starch or TC Grass Forage be an option? Or Standlee bagged chopped timothy? Those are all fairly low NSC. My picky old IR pony will eat those OK.

[Twisting]

So it turns out the answer might be 14 hours. Went out there and he had eaten all the teff pellets in his bowl and was begrudgingly eating his hay. Stopped as soon as he saw me and pretended he wasn’t, but we both know the truth. I slipped a few more pellets in the bowl and gave him a pat.

This pony is going to stress me into an early grave. Little jerk got me through cancer during the covid pandemic with my sanity intact, so I owe him the best life I can give him.

[trubandloki]

Glad he gave in. Darn it.

It sounds like you are trying everything.

On the hard food you can always try adding something like applesauce. Yes, it likely has more sugar than he should have long term, but if he will eat it you get him started eating then gradually reduce the amount of applesauce (or whatever you are using).

My horses seem to do the same thing every year with the new hay. I would think new hay would be more yummy, but they act like it is not edible.
Since mine are easy keepers, I ignore their hay strike and they eventually decide this hay is edible. Next summer, this hay that was not edible when I first fed it will be the best thing ever and that new hay will be not edible. Horses are weird.

[Twisting]

Hay was cleaned up this morning and breakfast was appropriately appreciated. Crisis averted. Thank you guys for your input and for holding my hand through my worried mom moment.