Advice on feeding a thoroughbred

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julie.rockley

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Whilst my horse is stabled thru winter he has 2 Stubbs scoops of Alfa a Alfa beet (as suggested by feed guidance) in a separate bucket he has 2-3scoops of readi grass with soaked grass nuts. Hay 2x large slabs. For breakfast 1/2 scoop Alfa a mixed with Alfa beet.

As you can imagine there is a lot but he has ALL nite to eat. Now he is out during the nite and sharing a field, I try and feed him the same dinner and breakfast minus the grass nuts and readi grass.

My prob being he takes so long to eat ( his teeth have been checked) and he gets bored halfway thru and leaves the rest.

Can anyone suggest any feed that will keep his weight but not be as much for him to eat!!!! STUCK:confused:
 
The key is little and often with the hard feed, so 3 r 4 meals a day and if possible access to ad lib hay or haylage. There is no point feeding massive feeds as you said he gets bored or he can't digest it anyway as its just too much feed in one go. You could try adding micronised linseed or something like keyflow key plus which only requires small amounts to be fed.
 
Alfalfa, readigrass and grass nuts are all forage, ImmyS, so the small feed rules don't apply - you can feed as much as you want (though Alfa a is molassed, so I'd switch to an unmolassed version).

That said, there's no point feeding all that if the horse isn't eating it, and its a lot of alfalfa, which is high in calcium and protein - not ideal fed in high quantities.

I would agree with starting with ad lib haylage. I would then add unmolassed beet pulp and micronised linseed. From there, if you find that's not sufficient, you could also add oats (I'd avoid feeding more than 1kg of oats at a time due to the starch levels).
 
Unfortunately I can't feed adlib hay due to the other horse in the field, I've read a lot about baileys no4 or calm and condition ?
 
TwoStroke said:
Alfalfa, readigrass and grass nuts are all forage, ImmyS, so the small feed rules don't apply - you can feed as much as you want (though Alfa a is molassed, so I'd switch to an unmolassed version).

That said, there's no point feeding all that if the horse isn't eating it, and its a lot of alfalfa, which is high in calcium and protein - not ideal fed in high quantities.

I would agree with starting with ad lib haylage. I would then add unmolassed beet pulp and micronised linseed. From there, if you find that's not sufficient, you could also add oats (I'd avoid feeding more than 1kg of oats at a time due to the starch levels).
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I was referring to the Alfa a because of molasses etc.. Which won't be digested effectively.. Grass nuts, readigrass etc.. Obviously are digested in the hind gut.

OP never had much luck with calm and condition, baileys number 4 have helped in the past but do not like starch content. Does he have access to good grass? Without ad lib forage anything you feed will probably have little effect.
 
Could he not just have ad lib haylege when he's in over night so it won't effect the other horse? Adding oil too his feed is a way to get calories into him but in a smaller eating amount?
 
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