Why does she still drop grain?

Question

I got a new horse last Oct. I have had a vet out twice to float her teeth and then check on them again. My mare is still dropping a large amount of grain. Are there other reasons to drop grain and what can I do about it?

She is very fit and in great shape otherwise. She is 15. I actually feed safechoice not straight grain.

Answer 1

Well maybe there is either something wrong with her teeth, or maybe its because she doesnt like the food! ! !

Answer 2

If she has not been treated well in the past and rushes to eat her grain try putting some rocks in her feed tub (large enough that she cannot swallow them) this will slow her down. Some horses are just plain messy eaters. My last horse was like this I bought a corner feed tub and mounted it at chest height. Having to stand in the corner to eat she will be more likely to drop food back in the dish rather than on the floor.  Some horses do not like pelleted feed, you may need to try her on a sweet feed of some sort and see of that helps. Horses that rush to eat pelleted feed can also choke on it because the pellets do not get chewed correctly and stick together when they get damp in the horses mouth. I have always fed sweet feed it is closer to what nature intended them to eat.

Answer 3

You might ask the vet, the next time he sees your mare, to check her throat to make sure that she doesn't have any obstruction that might be partially closing up her throat so that she can't swallow as well as she used to..Also, when a horse gets older, it seems that they tend to acquire a "lazy" lower lip, and get more careless about what falls out of it.  Does she share her feeder or pen at feeding time with anything else?  If so, she might just be trying to eat too fast and just be dropping the extra.  She may also have a tooth that actual hurts her when she chews on that side.  Have you asked her former owners if she did it when they had her and if so, when did she start and if they know what caused her to start doing it.

Answer 4

Perhaps, she is just a sloppy eater. Some horses will take their time, savoring every last bite. Other will practically inhale their food, chomping vigorously dropping perfect grain along the way.

Answer 5

Hmmm - if the Vet actually floated her teeth twice in 9 months - she had some issues.

Her previous owners really did nothing huh?

Does she eat the grain after she drops it - or just boot around looking for someone elses grain?

Try feeding her alone - where she will eventually relax and enjoy her food (my rescue mare took almost a year to relax). You could add a salt block to the bottom of her grain bucket or some carrot/apple pieces - this will force her to take smaller bites and pay more attention to her own food.

Congrats taking her in!!

Good Luck

Answer 6

Other than floating are her teeth in good condition?

Maybe she's just a sloppy eater...

Sometimes horses that have never had to worry about or compete for food will just be sloppy with it...

Maybe she likes eating off the ground, you could put a feed bucket underneath to catch the dropping grain so she doesn't eat dirt or rocks... OR you could feed her lower or just on the ground in a feed bucket...

Maybe she doesn't like the feed? Is grain the only thing she's dropping? Hay? Grass?

Answer 7

I'm voting for a combination of being a sloppy eater and in the past having to compete for food.  

They are creatures of habit, for sure.  If she grew accustomed to having to quickly wolf her food down, it will take a long time for her to learn she doesn't have to.

The other side of that coin, since she is dominant, would be "the faster I eat, the sooner I can run the others off theirs."  

Even if she is isolated now, the habit is firmly established from past behavior.

Answer 8

If her teeth were bad at any point in her life then it could have become habbit. We have a horse that started to chew sideways to keep from droping her grain because her teeth were to long. We got them done but she still eats like that. I also have a horse that dropes a lot of her grain. Nothing is wrong that is just the way she eats.

Answer 9

Some horses just drop food even though thier teeth are fine. Since you've had her teeth looked at, and she is in good shape otherwise, there is probably nothing to worry about.

Some horses are just pigs!

Answer 10

Some horses drop a lot of grain simply because they take too big a mouthful.  They do this to cram as much of it in there mouth a spossible before another horse can take it away, or to hurry up and eat theres so they can chase another horse off their grain to get at it.  Once they develop this habit it tends to stay with them even when they are kept by themselves.

Answer 11

I wonder if her teeth are sensitive and she might do better on senior feed which is easier to chew..both of my horses are on senior, and my vet prescribes it for horses who aren't even seniors since she feels it is superior to feeding grain.