Advice Feeding a 3 y/o

Zephyr03

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Hi :)

My new horse is due to arrive on Friday (just a little bit excited!) and Im currently deliberating what feed to put her on...she has just turned 3 and will be out 24/7....whilst she has already been lightly backed and hacked :eek:I don't feel this has been done correctly and so will be going back to basics with lots of ground work over the summer months eventually rebacking her with some gradual walk hacks before turning her out for winter ready for professional breaking when she's rising 4, so she won't be in work as such. She's exceptionally slender right now and looking slightly worse for wear (poor coat etc), so I'm wanting to make sure she's getting the correct feed/supplements for her needs, not just filling her with empty cr@p! Would love some thoughts/advice please as I'm used to my old mare who was a completely different ball game entirely! Thank you:)
 
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windand rain

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Alfalfa, linseed and good grass keep her warm but not hot and turn her away until she grows up. Alfalfa and linseed are good sources of calcium, protein and calories without a lot of carbs and sugars
 

soloequestrian

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I use this page to calculate requirements https://nrc88.nas.edu/nrh/, for minerals more than energy/protein but you could use that facility too for a new horse. I actually feed ad lib forage (grass or haylage) with a small hard feed of Fast Fibre and oats to carry the minerals once per day. Pro-mineral from Progressive Earth pretty much fits my mineral requirements (having had a forage analysis done a few years ago). This has suited my youngster (now 5, had her since 6 months) and my old guys too.
 
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ycbm

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You sound like a super owner, and she's fallen on her feet with you, whatever you feed her.

One of mine was three last year in a similar amount of work as you are planning. I fed him only enough Spillers Speedy Mash as was needed to get him to eat the minerals he needs because my land is so high in iron and magnesium, about 300g a day.
 

TPO

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When I got my horse at age 2 I had planned for his diet to be grass, hay (yard rules that they were in overnight year round) and a small soaked feed as a carrier for a mineral supplement like Pro Earth.

However he arrived in shocking condition direct from the stud (long story!) and it was apparent he'd need a bit of a boost feed wise. He was extremely underweight and had big event lines on his very overgrown hooves which trimmer said were due to malnutrition. His teeth were also worn away below the gum line; the EDT put it down to eating tree bark and soil. It was 12 June yet he still had that long fine poor winter coat that was matted to the skin on his stomach, he had mud fever and rain scald. Surprisingly his worm count was clear.

I posted on here and went with the recommendation of Spillers Gro n Win youngstock balancer with soaked grass nuts, micronised linseed and chaff along with turn out on grass and adlib hay.

Ultimately I used two bags of the stud balancer before switching back to Pro Earth supplement.

These days I feed Keyflow Pink Mash, micronised linseed and dengie meadow chaff. If they need extra I feed grass nuts and increase the linseed. I also feed a vit/min supp.

My boy arrived around the same time as yours will so I'll post some photos of his progress to give you hope!

This was Chip when he arrived June 2014

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Getting some grass...

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2 months later (August 2014)
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Then 6mths later in December 2014- this was him wintering out too
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This is him now 5yrs later
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