Mollichaff Veteran 12.5kg – High Fibre Forage Mix for Senior Horses & Ponies

Mollichaff Veteran – 12.5kg

Veteran is a soft, short-chop forage mix rather than a straw chaff, built for the older horse whose teeth have stopped coping with a haynet. Dried grass and alfalfa go in alongside the straw, with soya and linseed oil for condition, and the chop length is the point — a horse that quids long forage can usually still manage this.

It is fortified, with vitamins and minerals, mint and nettle blended through, and at 7.8–9% protein and 9 MJ/kg it carries more than the plain chaffs. Mollichaff are specific that it should replace no more than 30% of the total forage allocation, so it is a partial forage replacer, not a hay substitute.

Performance & Benefits

• Soft short chop, manageable for horses that quid or drop long forage.
• Dried grass and alfalfa alongside straw, giving 7.8–9% protein against 4–6.5% in the plain chaffs.
• Soya oil and linseed oil to 4.5% total oil, with linseed supplying omega 3 for skin and coat.
• Mint to stimulate a flagging appetite and nettle for antioxidant support.
• Vitamins, minerals and limestone blended in, so it contributes more than bulk.
• Low starch at 1.5%, which matters in an older horse with a compromised gut.

Suitable For

• Senior horses and ponies that can no longer chew long forage properly.
• Youngstock needing an easily managed forage source.
• Fussy feeders and horses recovering condition after illness.
• Use as a partial forage replacer, up to 30% of the total forage allocation.
• Not suitable as a low-sugar feed for a laminitic or PPID veteran at 10.5–15% sugar, and many older horses are PPID — Mollichaff HoofKind Complete or Mollichaff Light Molasses Free are the ones to feed there.

Feeding

• Fed from a bucket to complement a hard feed: 0.25kg daily for the smallest ponies rising to 1.75kg daily for horses over 16.2hh.
• Fed as a partial forage replacer: up to 1.5kg daily for the smallest ponies rising to up to 3.0kg daily for horses over 16.2hh.
• Mollichaff state Veteran should replace no more than 30% of the horse's total forage allocation, because it supplies key vitamins and minerals.
• Split the daily amount across two or more feeds, and damp it if your horse finds that easier to chew.
• Introduce gradually over 7–10 days and keep clean fresh water available at all times.

Composition & Analysis

• Composition: straw, grass, molasses, alfalfa, mint, soya oil, linseed oil, limestone, vitamins and minerals, nettle, salt.
• Typical analysis: energy 9 MJ/kg. Protein 7.8–9%. Fibre 23%. Oil 4.5%. Starch 1.5%. Sugar 10.5–15%.
• Bag size 12.5kg.
• Mollichaff publish no ash, calcium or sodium figure for Veteran and give no inclusion rates for the mint, nettle or the vitamin and mineral premix, so none is stated here.
• Our previous copy credited Veteran with added biotin and gave single-point protein, ash, calcium and sodium figures. Mollichaff declare no biotin in Veteran — the 15mg biotin figure belongs to Mollichaff HoofKind Complete — and publish protein as a range. Their figures are the ones above.

Care & Caution

• At 10.5–15% sugar Veteran is molassed and is not a low-sugar feed. Older horses are the group most likely to have undiagnosed PPID, so test before assuming an aged horse can take it.
• Veteran carries its own vitamin and mineral supplement. Check the totals before feeding a separate senior balancer alongside it.
• Fibre is not a substitute for dental care. A horse quidding long forage needs the vet or dental technician as well as a change of feed.