Got a horse from an auction he had never had his teeth done vet said they were the worst she’s ever seen. It’s been about two months and the horse still quids hay seems to not have issues with the grain. Any suggestions to stop this or at least curb it a little. I find slobber hay balls all over stall and it’s a huge mess and waste plus he’s obviously not eating all his hay… With this nasty winter coming upon us I worry he may drop weight fast… Would soaking hay help? Any suggestions or experiences welcome. Thanks!
You can’t stop him from quidding and its not hurting anything.
But he needs forage/fiber somehow. I would be soaking and feeding either bagged chaffe hay, or hay pellets, and a complete feed (senior feed) that is designed to be the horse’s sole ration of feed.
I have an older horse (30+ years old) and he has barely any teeth left. He eats soaked alfalfa cubes 2 to 3 times a day as well as senior grain wet down and he’s doing great! He’s been living on this the last several years and he is in great weight. I still give him a token flake of hay at night to nibble on and he has hay when outside, but it is clearly the wet food that he lives on.
Look for “complete feed”.
Most senior feed is that, balanced to cover fiber needs also.
Other feeds are not, you are supposed to feed them with hay or pasture.
We got a horse out of a bad place, about mid 20’s of age and he was terrible about quidding, even senior feed he wasted half of it.
He would take a bite and dunk it in the water trough.
We were cleaning the 8’ trough about once every month or two and it was still very clean.
With him, we had to clean it every week and the bottom was full of soaked senior feed and hay.
BUT, he did get enough soft, leafy alfalfa and senior feed in to bloom quickly and got fat and shiny fast.
Give him time, he may not be so messy once his needs are not so dire any more, once he doesn’t has to worry about his food so much and he gains weight.
Good luck that this will work for him and you.
I’d guess that if his teeth were that bad, they are better now but still not good. You can’t take a terrible mouth and make it perfect in one go-round (if at all). If he is quidding he either has a sore spot that he’s jamming chewed hay in, or he’s still having trouble chewing.
I’d just make sure that he can chew adequately so he isn’t at risk for a choke or impaction. If he can’t chew the hay well I’d switch to soaked cubes or pellets.
I’ve found that the finer hays reduce quidding. Soaking hay will not reduce quidding.
As said before, senior feed is ideal, but read labels. It takes less of the better Senior feeds to keep weight and condition in a horse.
And his teeth may need to be done again.
What did your vet mean by worst she’s ever seen? Usually when there’s massive hooks or similar, it will take the vet a few visits to get the teeth back down to normal. When did she tell you she needed to come back for the next visit? It’s likely the teeth aren’t fully fixed yet.
Unfortunately soaking doesn’t fix quidding - that would be too convenient for us, sigh. I’d go to your local feed store & price out some alternatives like dengie or cubes.
[QUOTE=arapaloosa_lady;7868233]
What did your vet mean by worst she’s ever seen? Usually when there’s massive hooks or similar, it will take the vet a few visits to get the teeth back down to normal. When did she tell you she needed to come back for the next visit? It’s likely the teeth aren’t fully fixed yet.
Unfortunately soaking doesn’t fix quidding - that would be too convenient for us, sigh. I’d go to your local feed store & price out some alternatives like dengie or cubes.[/QUOTE]
They were super sharp and he had sores maybe I just need to give it more time. He’s a good weight now. Eats purina strategy just fine no issues other than a tad bit of food aggression. Thanks for the input! Btw he’s only 8 years old… Vet will return 6 months for recheck
Did your vet do a power float or did he/she use a rasp?
Find a dental specialist, the best you can. My young horse quid for almost two years, sometimes very badly, she saw vet every couple months but nothing made any huge difference. She has diastema’s, which are gaps between bottom of her cheek teeth and they are painful and can cause quidding, they were made wider but that made no difference. In March this year she saw a specialist and in one session he stopped her quidding straight away. She couldn’t grind her teeth together properly thats why she quid, they were wrong angle/shape. Not saying your horse will have the same problem but its worth getting a second opinion from someone very good. No reason for an 8yr old to quid with no explanation as to why.
I had another Belgian rescue (starved) who was quidding because his teeth were rounded and smooth, like marbles. The vet said there was nothing she could do to fix the problem, it was often seen in draft breeds, so feed him soaked hay/alfalfa cubes and soaked grain (senior feed). Also be sure to use soaked beet pellets if hay/alfalfa cubes aren’t available. Also (due to the draft digestive system being so poor at times) add a cup (increase to 2 cups gradually) of Corn Oil (or Soybean oil) for vitamin E and fats to each feeding, 3 times per day. The draft was less than 1 body score. Amazing he could even get in the trailer for the 8 hour trip to my place. 5 months later, he was very healthy and looked great. The right food did the job! The lady at the rescue (can you guess who?) claimed she never saw any chewed up hay balls around his feeding station or the pasture. REALLY??? That kind of thing is hard to miss if you are paying any kind of attention. :mad:
Was the horse quidding before the float? It is very unusual for any horse other than a old timer to quid. Youngsters sometimes will due to the shedding process. I’ve seen a middle aged horse quid because a hairline fracture of it’s mandible. A fractured tooth or loose tooth can make them quid but simply due to sharpness would be unusual.
It will take some time and likely another float or two. My older horse did very well with pelleted hay since his teeth were in pretty bad shape for the last couple of years for him.
Quidding is actually the horse’s intelligent way of getting the nutrients he needs from the hay if he can’t grind down the roughage. Think of the alternative: he tries to chew it up, can’t, and so then swallows balls of forage that haven’t been nearly processed enough in the mouth, leading to choke.
Plenty of folks think it’s a bad sign, but if the horse’s teeth have otherwise been attended to, it’s a non-issue. Many an old, gummy horse quids: they can get the leaves masticated, but can’t process the stems so they suck on them, get what they need nutrient-wise, and spit out the quid. As others have mentioned, in a younger horse (you didn’t specify age), having had bad teeth for a long period can mean months, even years, before the horse feels comfortable chewing normally.
So long as he’s on a good quality senior feed, you can add soaked hay stretcher pellets or alafala cubes/pellets to help supplement the forage part. But worry not about the quidding.
[QUOTE=Cherry;7868430]
Did your vet do a power float or did he/she use a rasp?[/QUOTE]
Power float. I usually use an equine dentist but he wasn’t available and this horse desperately needed his teeth done. He came from an auction. He’s a good horse had a gnarly sunburn not sure as to why he was at an auction. He is only 8 years old. Choke is a concern of mine I’ve been wetting his pellets just in case. I did
Notice he doesn’t quid nearly as bad when I feed alfalfa. It’s mainly with the grass hay.
And yes he has been quidding since I brought him home chalked it up to his teeth bein super sharp.
[QUOTE=Thisbudsforyou;7868932]
And yes he has been quidding since I brought him home chalked it up to his teeth bein super sharp.[/QUOTE]
I would have him rechecked. Quidding due to sharpness?!
Something else is going on.
[QUOTE=Toothgrinder;7868959]
I would have him rechecked. Quidding due to sharpness?!
Something else is going on.[/QUOTE]
When I said sharp I meant they were making sores in his mouth and it hurt To chew due to his teeth wearing uneven and making sharp points again I don’t know anything about this horse was jus making an assumption.
