Worrier + picky eater + gut

[Blazergoose]

Building on some previous posts that discussed all of the above but trying not to hijack with my own situation and questions.

Brilliant WB mare. Owned since weanling and now 9, at same knowledgeable home. Sweet and talented under saddle at home. Has excellent pasture, 3 other mare buddies, middle of pecking order, lovely hay, quality feed, lots of turn out and clean fresh water, large clean stalls, regular routine, dewormed 2x/yr (little to no worm load) … etc.

VERY suspicious of anything different in feed. Snorts, blows, sniffs, rejects. Will eat her usual feed (RB, bit of textured F&F) including wet beetpulp and is able to find and leave behind the 6 pellets of digestive support that I tried to mix in or reject all food as polluted.

Have tried various digestive support products all with great reputations and pre/pro biotics that are the ones touted to be the best, and she will ignore all food anywhere near these.
The pickier she gets, the less she takes in digestive support that is needed for her hind gut. Tends to lose weight then.

She is a worrier and frets easily. Hence I don’t get her offsite much anymore as her gut was a problem afterwards. Getting offsite is only a next step after her gut is resolved … this is the priority but I can’t get her to eat what’s good for her.
The marginal success I’ve had is to feed their regular feed together with her and her friends (that don’t need these supplements and don’t have her delicate tummy) at a common hay feeder so she has feed competition and notices that the others don’t die from moms recipe. But most times she just walks away and lets them have it.

Help! I feel like I’ve tried every sneaky option. Likes; apples (never apple sauce), carrots, bananas. Dislikes; any form of digestive product (except Tums). Swelled warm haycubes (tim/alf) are marginally acceptable.

Greatly appreciate input.

[walkinthewalk]

It would be funny if she didn’t need what you’re trying to give her:)

My thought is to find a good quality product in powder form and syringe it down her. It’s a PITA, I had to syring something down one of my horses 2X/daily for three years, so I know how exasperating it is:(

It has to be powder. NOT meal form as meal form won’t shake up/mix up in a syringe. I used a 50:50 mix of water and pure apple juice:)

[Marla_100]

I take a fat carrot and cut into 3-4 pcs. Take a phillips head screwdriver and hollow out a tunnel into carrot pc. Insert pill or whatever. Horse doesn’t smell it or see it and you feed it by hand. It helps if you have a competing horse wanting the carrots also.

[No1]

Have you tried the KER products? Like Equishure (I forget the name of the other one). One of mine is also a very picky eater. Sifts out pellets he doesn’t like and even somehow sifts out powders he doesn’t like. The Equishure kind of sticks to the grain and I guess he doesn’t notice it, because he’s been eating it for months. Even when he was getting 4 scoops of it a day.

[Blazergoose]

Walkin - thanks for suggestion although I haven’t seen powdered forms, mostly pellets, and liquid would be ideal. Yes syringe is definitely another option.
Marla - thanks, hadn’t thought of hollow carrot but need to try. She likes carrots … so far. (5 pounds of carrots to get in a few pellets)
No1 - I feed KER (Brooks Feeds) but haven’t tried Equisure.

I am amassing quite a selection of rejected products but will definitely try this too. If rejected, I wonder if I can still blender it fine enough to mix with water and syringe as an alternate option if also rejected. Feeling awful for this mare, so all input is very appreciated.

[PNWjumper]

I have several products that I am a die hard believer in for ulcers. But two are powders (which even my picky horses have been okay with, but can present more of a problem for some pickier horses), so for the palatable and easy to feed, my suggestions are Apple Cider Vinegar (1 oz on grain twice a day), which my super picky horses have loved. And Ulcer Eraser (which is dried cabbage, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax, and chia seeds - it looks like granola).

[Blazergoose]

PNW - thank you; what are the 2 hind gut powders you found good? At least I can syringe those. I will look up info on Ulcer Eraser
I use apple cider vinegar lots, but never in feed as I thought another likely rejection - but I’ll give it a try!
Just got the above mentioned Equishure today to try mixed with water and syringed.

[MyKindaFlower]

OP, have you tried Succeed? Smells like oatmeal cookies and has done wonders for my mare. She went from multiple colicky episodes per year (with at least one per year requiring IV fluids and hours of vet care) to only a couple minor episodes over the last three years. My Gracie-Lynn LOVES the taste. I started her on 2 months of the the VF paste and it took only one dose for her to be waiting for her morning tube of the stuff. Went with the regular formula granules after that.

[sascha]

Sucralfate to fix the problem and THEN support supplements once she is hoovering her food like it’s her job.

I have btdt and it’s (mind the pun) gut-wrenching. It took what seemed forever* to get my mare eating what she needed. Once I did, the only times her guts revolted (she went off her feed) were for stressful situations (leaving the property overnight, being sedated, etc.) I learned to dose her before, and after (during as well if for a several day clinic) with Sucralfate and that has kept her eating like the proverbial horse and not one of these real-life horses that turns nose up at everything.

In terms of supplements that are not un-palatable - 60cc aloe vera GEL* and Biotic-8 are what Madam Picky did not turn up her nose at and what she still gets on a daily basis.

*Forever because I was messing around with omeprazole which did squat for her

**ymmv, but I had more success with the gel than the juice including on several that were only receiving aloe for their treatment of suspected unhappy guts. I start with giving it orally and then switch to putting it in Feed after a week or 2 to fix the problem and THEN support supplements once she is hoovering her food like it’s her job.