Advise on feed

[Kelly1982]

I have a 16.3hh 4yo warmblood who i am hoping to affilate in the next couple of months and i wondered what would be the best feed to give her.

She is on alpha-a (which i am changing to hi-fi lite) and pasture mix but i dont really like mix.

I want to get her something that will give her better condition but NOT put on weight as she has a big enough belly as it is LOL

Was thinking of topline but then was told this puts on weight??

Also dont want nothing that will blow her mind, she is hot headed enough.

Any ideas?? My old horse had something similar to EPSM so his diet was pretty straight forward and i didn't have all this choice.

 

[flyingfeet]

Allen & Page "Calm & Condition"

 

[miamibear]

I would suggest a diet of hifi lite and topspec balancer!! Thats all i feed mine and the change in him in 3 months is remarkable.

Its £30 a bag but does last a long time!!

It has nothing heating in it but builds muscle and will give her everything nutritionally she needs, the hifi will just be something to bulk it out with!

If you feel she needs more energy after this you can always add to it because it can be fed on its own or alongside a normal diet. But i doubt you will need to!!

Just make sure she gets good quality forage and you should find this works!

Nearly everyone on our yard is on it at the moment and all the horses look 100% better for it!!

Good luck hun.

P.S Could i suggest perhaps trying happy hoof, its laminitis approved - so doesnt have much sugar in it so no energy BUT it smells and tastes a lot better than the hifi lite!! Just an idea!

 

[Kelly1982]

Never thought about happy hoof before as i just thought it was for fat little ponies LOL does sound more appatising (sp) though.

How long does a bag of topspec last then and how much do you have to feed??

At the moment she is only getting one small scoop of mix as the grass is still really good but come winter this will be upped to 3 scoops a day and a bag lasts about 2 weeks.

 

[H's mum]

Hi Kelly
I've followed your posts with interest - but this post sort of forgets to include details of your other post in the lounge - which explains about the difficulties you've been having with your horse - I would strongly advise you to consider giving her a high fibre diet and cutting the sugars/starches on the head until you have figured out why she has started misbehaving - She's been through a lot of stress and pressure - with moving yards etc - it's enough to blow any youngsters mind
Kate x

 

[Kelly1982]

Hi Kate

I see what your saying about the hi fibre diet and thats why i was going to change the alpha-a to hi-fi lite and cut out the mix to nuts or something but i wanted something that would help her with her condition as well, do you think this is wrong then?? What would you suggest??

She was actually really good last night and i had the horse back that i brought. I changed her bit from a french link to a rubber snaffle so i am hoping that this has helped although i am well aware it could just be a one off.

You are right though i think being moved round has blown her mind a bit so dont want feed to add to that if i can help it thats why i mentioned that in the previous post.

 

[miamibear]

My horse gets 550grams of topspec a day and the bag is either 20 or 25kgs.

Either way it lasts me just over a month so about 5 weeks.

It sounds expensive but when you are feeding so little and it lasts so long its cost effective!

I found if you fed the reccomended amount from the back of the bag to ensure they were getting all the vitamins and minerals they needed you had to feed an awful lot which either sent them wappy or cost you a fortune.

Its a personal opinion really but i have never seen such dramatic results as i have seen with topspec! On all types of horses!

The happy hoof smells yummy and is moist, the hi fi smells not half as nice and is dry. Try both see what you think.

I agree with the calm and condition though its good but i will be adding it to Reds diet, only if he starts dropping though which i dont think he will. The topspec keeps the weight on through winter! It has stuff in it too that helps them get the most out of their forage so you have to feed less hard feed anyway!

Hope you get something sorted, its a mine field!!

 

[juliehannah58]

I can second TopSpec, it's fab stuff. My mare was sold to me as unridable, I tried all sorts of calmers with no success, then switched to a feed balancer (initially Blue Chip) and she changed. As an ex broodmare I found it difficult to get her 'shape' back without adding to her old saggy belly! But the balancers worked perfectly and made her a much more calm and civil horse to be around, her whole attitude changed (I don't think this is soley to do with feed but it defo helped!) and she was ready to work physically & mentally.

TopSpec, £30 (can order off website for FREE delivery to your door) for a sack, my mare is 16.1hh medium weight ID X TB and I used to feed 3 mugs a day, lasted about 6 weeks

 

[Rambo]

Bo went onto calm and condition for a while last winter after he started to lose a bit of weight. He was also very on top of himself at the time so we thought it might help in that department too. It certainly helped with the condition side of things, but it's harder to guage the other aspect lol! I think your girl will calm in time...it's all very new at the moment and she's also testing you out. It's taken 12 months to see every aspect of Bo's personality (hopefully

), in all seasons of the year.

What I would suggest is only make any changes very slowly, one at a time, and give them time to take effect

 

[Kelly1982]

Hi Rambo

Im not really changing her food coz of her attitude (although i dont really want to add to that) i just want to change it so she is getting everything she needs and looks in tip top condition.

She is not by all means skinny and manky looking, i just want her to be on something that will help her develop.

Am i making any sense or are people thinking i'm nuts and should leave her be

 

[Rambo]

To be honest, from the piccies you posted the other day, she looks in pretty good shape at the moment. She's obviously not feeling too bad either if she has all this excess energy lol! I wouldn't change anything unless she started to lose condition or you sepcifically wanted to try and calm her down a bit

Did you find out what she was being fed before you had her ?

 

[fairhill]

I would try taking her off the pasture mix as it can be very heating for some horses. I used to feed mine on HiFi lite and spillers hi-fibre cubes and he never lost condition, and always had plenty of energy. He was very sensitive to sugar in his diet, and even having a small bit of sugar beet, or molassed mollichop made a huge difference with his behaviour.

 

[vicijp]

The only way you will improve condition (by this I take it you mean muscle and shape) without making a horse fat is to increase the work. Do plenty of stamina building work to muscle her up, easiest is hillwork, and increase the feed accordingly.

 

[Pidge]

Agree with the others re the top spec feed balancer, Pidge has been on it since I got him and the improvement is fantastic! It costs just under £30 for a 20kg bag, and fed at 500g a day last 40 days so isn't that expensive. Plus there is no need for other supplements as it provides all they need, including for the feet, no more farriers formula.

 

[_daisy_]

Kelly,
Chantin was on yearling cubes and pasture mix. Shes was like your mare. Spoke to my vet who said i was causing as many problems as i was trying to fix.
Chantin had the yearling cubes to keep weight on but it was sending her hypo and caused her to stress even more than she does normally.
Took her off all her feed bar a handful of alfa a lite. I cant believe how she has held her weight.
Why not try taking her off her mix and putting her on alfa a lite? worth a try and its not going to cost you anything. You can always then add feed if she needs to gain weight

 

[aran]

if she is fat enough and hot headed why not feed happy hoof (fantastic stuff - i have fed it to all my competition horses), a min vit supplement and add some veg oil for condition, shine and slow release energy.
The topline and muscle will come from work.
Keep her diet fibre based and simple - you can always add to it if you need to. Don't feed a mix, balancer, nut unless you need to - most horses can do a competitive work load on adlib fibre and vits and mins. its also a lot cheaper and more natural

 

[MagicMelon]

What about upping her oil levels which yes can add weight but if your working her properly, it should help build topline. So you could swap her hi-fi for Alfa A Oil instead? Or simply add oil to her exsisting diet.

 

[Caritas]

Top spec feed balancer every time, i use this for my warmblood who can be sharp along with spillers slow release energy mix and dengie lite and he is not fizzy atall on it. Good luck

 

[Fiona]

Spillers Readigrass is a grass chaff which is supposed to have the same energy value as a competition mix, but all fiber and no starch which means no fizziness. All ours get this incl a 5yo TB, and have a cool mix added in varying quantities (though no more than a small scoop three times daily in the worst of the winter). They are well covered and not silly on this. The readigrass needs to be ell damped, but it smells gorgeous, even better than grass.
ALso good for young horses as good levels of calcium etc.
Fiona