Adding a bit more condition...but no more fizz?!

joolie

joolie

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My 6 YO Welsh D has recently moved yards and had her workload upped a bit from 3/4 days a week to 5/6 - mixture of hacking, schooling (flat) and lunging. My instructor says she could do with a little more condition on her, more to help improve muscle and topline. I'm hoping to BD her later this year so need her fit and able to put on muscle in all the right places!

She has come out of winter a little lean perhaps. She is out during the day, in at night with ad lib hay. Feed wise she is just on Happy Hoof and Fast Fibre, a 'nominal' amount twice daily. She is a total ball of energy and definitely doesn't need any more! I am so rubbish at feeding, how can I add a little more to her condition? Didn't know whether to try something like Alfa-A Oil instead of the Happy Hoof and upping the Fast Fibre. I have access to haylage so providing this doesn't fizz her up I can substitue all or half of the hay for that.

Any advice gratefully received TIA :)
 
If she is prone to being fizzy I would be careful in increasing hard feed - you could look at adding oil or linseed to her existing diet, but to me the starting point would to be to add haylage to her diet.

My son's new pony came to us very lean, and was on hay in his previous home, but has steadily put weight on since being on haylage. The haylage has not changed his temperament so far, touch wood!

If the haylage does not help, then you could look at changing her hard feed….but bare in mind the grass will be coming through soon, so that should also help.
 
I would up the haylage first. Try this for 2 weeks and then look to see if you are finding the improvements you're after.
For 'cool energy', you could look at adding oil. Barley is quite low in the fizzy-scale if you're into feeding grains. Ideally you're wanting lots of fiber to keep things ticking over inside. Protein meals include things like copra (coconut, high in fiber) meal, soyabean meal ('full fat soya'), canola meal.. or you could look at adding a 'cool' pellet (I am not familiar with overseas packaging, as I'm in Australia!) which are easy to add to the feed.

Look at the roughage first. Is she getting 2% bw in roughage (including grass)? Then work from there :)
 
I would actually wait a bit before upping the feed too much. I don't know how you manage your horses, but if you're turning out then I imagine that she is soon going to be getting a lot more energy and weight through the grass. Admittedly with a decent workload she shouldn't be too at risk of laminitis, but you don't want her suddenly putting on a huge amount accidentally.
 
I've got a spooky excitable Arab and when I first got him in October he was a bit on the lean side.
He was only fed happy hoof and sugar beet alongside haylage in his previous home, when I got him I added sunflower oil (300ml per day!) to his feed, changed his happy hoof to alfa A and a month or so later I added allen and page calm and condition.
Now he looks amazing and he's in harder work than he ever has been. In his old home he was just schooled and lightly hacked out. I've hunted him twice in the past two months, hack out regularly and at quite. A fast pace (lots of speedy trot and canter), school at least twice a week and jump once or twice a week, and people have complemented me on how well he looks. His coat is so shiny which I put down to the sunflower oil and oils in the calm and condition, and he hasn't fizzed up any more and his spookiness has plateaued (or maybe slightly improved!). Oh and he lives out 24/7!
So bottom line is, I'd recommend calm and condition and adding sunflower oil (or oil of some kind; I've heard great things about linseed but that's expensive).
I used to feed my ex racer alfa A oil and that didn't fizz him up but put weight on nicely :)
 
I've a hunter who gets stupid if he's fed sugary feed. It's a bit of a catch 22 during the winter as he needs energy for a days hunting but I don't want him wired to the moon. When he's fed sugary or starchy feed he gets really bold and likes to buck out of excitement. Not little bucks either...

He was getting fed adlib hay with a scoop of beetpulp, some balancer and linseed oil. I noticed he was was dropping a bit of weight and I just wasn't quite happy with him so I asked other hunting people and was recommended equi-jewel. It really turned him inside out and just gave him the extra calories he needed. He put on a bit of weight and got his sparkle back. Turns out most feed it to their hunters to help them through the season - he'll be on it every winter now. It definitely worked for him - but kept him sane and manageable.
 
I use calm and condition on my boy plus omega oils. He's a tbx type. He's now looking good and gets ad lib haylage. I have heard good things about equijewel too, it just adds those extra calories. I'm thinking of putting him on this as his workload ups over the summer.
 
Thanks all for replies - sorry just catching up now! So far I am slowly increasing amount of haylage she has - she is out during the day 9-4 (currently with hay) and in at night. I've been looking at calm & condition but having heard mixed reviews I'm worried it'll fizz her up?! I may try introducing it very slowly alongside her normal feed. I'm going to keep a close eye on her week by week, it's not as if she is desperately skinny but just needs a little more on her. It is a funny time of year though with spring grass imminent and I don't want her turning into a total fruit loop!
 
joolie said:
My 6 YO Welsh D has recently moved yards and had her workload upped a bit from 3/4 days a week to 5/6 - mixture of hacking, schooling (flat) and lunging. My instructor says she could do with a little more condition on her, more to help improve muscle and topline. I'm hoping to BD her later this year so need her fit and able to put on muscle in all the right places!

She has come out of winter a little lean perhaps. She is out during the day, in at night with ad lib hay. Feed wise she is just on Happy Hoof and Fast Fibre, a 'nominal' amount twice daily. She is a total ball of energy and definitely doesn't need any more! I am so rubbish at feeding, how can I add a little more to her condition? Didn't know whether to try something like Alfa-A Oil instead of the Happy Hoof and upping the Fast Fibre. I have access to haylage so providing this doesn't fizz her up I can substitue all or half of the hay for that.

Any advice gratefully received TIA :)
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Personally I would not ask on here I would say contact Dodson and Horrel they have a helpline as they have Nutritional experts who can give you a tailored diet. They are the qualified ones for diet .
 
an oil bsed feed will addd extra calories without fizz. Baileys Outshine is excellent mine do well on it and they only need a mug or two a day.
 
id personally try a balancer. they help with condition. Baileys lo cal is good, I use Saracen essential or you can use Saracen re-leve, my horse loves the taste.

Equijewel is fab but can heat them up, however wont take long for the extra condition, I feed it to mine, 1 bag during end jan/feb time and his weight is spot on.

These feeds are low starch and sugars as mine had ulcers so good for them.

Ad lib hay if hes not getting that to, makes a difference.
 
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