ADVICE PLEASE! What should I feed?

I

ILikeThemHairy

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 May 2006
Messages
136
Location
Cardiff
Visit site
So... UPDATE: I am getting the new horse! He's an 18 year old 14.3 WPB coloured horse who has lived out all of his life and has struggled to keep weight on (when strip grazed with a herd of 45). When in a grazing field with 4 / 5 others (non strip grazed) he puts weight back on fairly quickly.

Now though, I will be stabling him over the winter. He will be used lightly a couple of days a week for chilled hacks and light schooling. Just fun stuff :) nothing too crazy.

So here is the question... Do I feed him just hay as a hardy-ish Welshie? Or suppliment with pony cubes and some chaff? Or should I be feeding him something like a Senior Conditioning Mix? Any advice is welcome! x

Oh and he will be let out for a run around the field a few hours a day (between 5 - 9 hours a day)
 
Last edited:
I would perhaps just feed a basic hay chaff with either a general supplement or a suitable balancer and then if he needs anything else then build up from there. Good hay should maintain him well though.
 
What is his weight like at the moment? If he is less stressed and holding more weight that otherwise would be then just a low cal chaff like Dengie hi Fi and I find Allen and page fast fibre is fab, its fully balanced and provides loads of fibre
 
Great, thanks all. He is looking well at the moment, he's been on the 'fat field' for the last 2 months so looking great, probably the best ive seen him since he was 7 (I've known him a loooong time!!) so probably doesnt need more weight. Just maintaining it really! Does sound like lovely, purse friendly feeding too (always a winner!!)
 
I'm not sure I would drop from weight gaining feed to none at all, also you would need to give some sort of balancer to give the levels of vit and mins they need unless you have good quality grazing, and with our wet summer I think that's unlikely
 
feed according to work start of with hay and small quantity of pony nuts or cool mix, buy a weight tape and use it every few weeks, if you are working him hard increase consentrates gradually
 
You don't feed soley on work. tempermant, breed, height, age etc should all be considered and if he is known to drop weight then I would be cautious about cutting hard feed out, I would however feed a low sugar and starch feed and build up if needed
 
If I read your OP correctly, he's not on any hard feed atm, so I would start him off on ad-lib hay, monitoring his weight weekly and if he does drop weight, which seems unlikely, give him dried grass chaff such as Graze-on or Readigrass. If he still needs a bit extra, mix the chaff with soaked grassnuts.
 
Great, thanks all. He is looking well at the moment, he's been on the 'fat field' for the last 2 months so looking great, probably the best ive seen him since he was 7 (I've known him a loooong time!!) so probably doesnt need more weight. Just maintaining it really! Does sound like lovely, purse friendly feeding too (always a winner!!)
- this says that he is currently on hard feed
 
I would feed him plenty of hay plus bucket feeds of something like Dengie hi Fi unmolassed, plus a vit and mineral supplement like Feedmark's Benevit. This is what I give mine - it is non heating, but ensures they are getting all the nutrition they need. Steer clear of mixes, conditioning cubes etc as these tend to be quite heating
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top