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Firewell

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Hello,

Has anyone any experience of feeding ride and relax or calm and condition?

I usually feed baileys lo cal with fibre nuts and chaff but it's just gone up in price to £26 per bag. I love the lo-cal my horse looks fab but I don't really want to pay for something I may not need?!

I've emailed A&P and they have recommended R&R in the summer and C&C IF my horse needs it in the winter mixed with a molasses free chaff.

This range has prebiotics in it which I really like, my horse needs this as he is prone to loose droppings, it's one of the reasons I feed the lo cal.

How much do people find that they end up feeding? How many bags a month do you get through feeding a 16hh l/w horse?

Do your horses remain sensible on it?

My horse is fine on fibre nuts which seem to have not dissimilar ingredients appart from molasses. Do you think I would be better off just staying with the fibre nuts but adding a separate prebiotic?

My horse is in medium work and he does drop off every now and again so he does need something. He is quite sensitive to sugar and starch, he gets a runny bum easily.

I'm a bit frightened of stopping the lo-cal as he looks a picture but I don't know how much of that is just the yea-sacc in it, the work I've done and the rich grass he is on.

Thoughts?

Thanks :)
 
Oh also people who do feed the A&P barley and molasses free range, how do your horses look on it? Do you feel it's good value?

X
 
we have fed both and loved it, it does swell quite a bit so you don't need to put in as much as you would normally...the only thing we have found is that if you are leaving a feed out over night then putting water in it makes it too mushy and the horses dont like it, so we put water in a water bottle and tip it in before feeding.

I can't say how much we use as we were feeding all the liveries on it...as for staying sensible its great, we have all the babies into back on it, it keeps them conditioned without being silly. If you want more fizz and energy the power and performance is fantastic.

hope that helps a bit
 
Hi. I have to be the biggest A&P fan there is. My old boy (32) dropped a lot of weight toward the end of winter and went off his haylage. Was recommended Veteran Vitality barley and molasses free, and in 2 weeks he looked a different horse. He'll never be fed anything else! Nothing else added. A bag lasted him about a week but now hes fat again quantites have been cut down. Calm and condition has a few more calories and I could have fed this to start him off with, but it wasnt needed.
My 7yo is fed ride and relax and looks superb on it. He is quite a good doer so we've cut it down (with some chaff). He competes Be100 and is pretty fit.
 
Both mine are on C&C - I think it's great.

They are both poor do-ers, and I used to supplement them with Top-Spec balancer, I don't do this anymore, and they are both looking great. I definitely also noticed a calming influence on the younger one when I changed to C&C.

When the younger one was in work, I was feeding 2 scoops a day, so a sack would last around 8 days.

The younger one also has a runny bum, and I find the NAF Pink Powder helps enormously. I feed the Mollichaff calmer as a chaff as it doesn't have any Alfafa in it - that also helps.
 
I would check starch levels directly with A&P as I know I did for one of their feeds, can't remember which, and was shocked as to how high the starch content was compared to what I was feeding.
 
See if you can get one of the A&P reps out to do a weight & feed assesment. I had one the other week. The rep left me with 6 little sample bags of fast fibre and then I got couriered a whole (full size) bag as a free sample the next week!
I currently feed a mix of ride & relax and Hi-Fi but once the Hi-Fi runs out I'll be switching to fast fibre.
My mare seems to do well on it but it's early days yet, I've probably used about 1/2 bag of ride & relax so far.
Previous to feeding the R&R she had gone through a phase of not having any energy and has picked up recently. I can't say for certain whether that is due to switching feed.
They said if the R&R didn't give enough energy then try the hacking mix as that's the next one up.
Either way the R&R smells gorgeous!
 
I've fed both the calm and condition and power and performance and I really rate them. Started feeding them because horse developed a barley allergy but wish I had found them sooner as she looked great on them with the right amount of energy and it kept her condition ideal. She has had to retire now and as she is a good doer when not in work so hasn't needed a hard feed and I started feeding her spillers original balancer so she got all the right vits and minerals and her coat looks the best its ever done in 13 years of ownership, if you feed it alongside hard feed you only need to feed 250g for a 500kg horse a day which means for £25 for a 20kg bag you get 80 days of feed, full ration is 500g. If she were to come back to full competition work I'd prob then just add a scoop of P&P or C&C which again is relatively inexpensive as its about £10 a bag which is much cheaper than its competitiors. Its not so ideal feed if you are on a livery yard as it needs soaking for a few minutes and it just looks a bit horrid if you soak overnight for someone to put in in the morning- its the only drawback to the feed I found.
 
I don't feed commercial mixes as I can feed straights cheaper. But if I were to use a mix, I'd use C&C or Veteran Vitality. I cuurently use Fast Fibre with my minerals and herbs. I really rate A&P.
 
I fed Calm and Condition to Dougal and he went from strength to strength on it. He put on weight, looked fabulous and was totally sane. He had plenty of energy for quite a lot of work but never turned into a nutter on it.
 
I feed my cob from November to April. He gets half a scoop of high fi and half a scoop of fast fibre already mixed with water. He does really well on it, and seems to love it.
 
Oh also people who do feed the A&P barley and molasses free range, how do your horses look on it? Do you feel it's good value?

X

I changed my horse over to their Fast Fibre and Veteran Vitality (even though he is not a veteran) last winter and I wish I had done it years ago. Digestion problems he had on and off for the last five years dissapeared and he put weight on and held it all winter without having to feed him huge amounts. He has a nicely glossy coat and has energy but is much less spooky.

Really big fan of A&P :D
 
C&C turned my usually sweet and occasionally sharp mare into a death trap. She stressed weight off rather than gaining anything, and was like a ticking time bomb to ride..

Each horse is different of course, but I wont be feeding it again :eek:
 
C&C has alfalfa in it so i can't feed it (she has a loopy reaction to it)
i did once before i realised what the ingredients were - and it ended up in £600 worth of damage to my truck as she was high as a kite and double barreled it as i lead her past it :o
(this is normally a v sane laid back horse - she just has a severe reaction to alfalfa!)
but i sewar by their power and performance - she's on a scoop a day for stamina and energy and i really rate it :)
 
C&C turned my usually sweet and occasionally sharp mare into a death trap. She stressed weight off rather than gaining anything, and was like a ticking time bomb to ride..

Each horse is different of course, but I wont be feeding it again :eek:

can she normally be fed alfalfa?? if not - or if you've not tried it on her - then that may be your answer ;)
 
Thank you :) ..She's a learning curve is my mare :o

sounds v much like mine lol! first few months i had her i thought i'd bought a nutter - had her on HiFi and could bearly stay on - bag ran out - within a few days she was back to the horse i tried lol! i'd not tried any alfalfa products since then - forgot to look at the ingredients of C&C when i merrily put her on it this winter :o

tbh - i find baileys No4 (topline conditioning cubes) is the best for mine if she needs a conditioning feed :) no loopiness in sight :)
 
I feed my boy C&C. He dropped weight over winter and i was really struggling to get it back on him. I was recommended rolled barley but this sent him craaazy!! I heard a lot of positive feedback about C&C so stuck my lad on it and he is doing amazinly well on it. Putting weight on nicely but keeping him sane! He is also on veteran vitality and with these together he is starting to look great!

Oh and i go through a bag of C&C roughly every 2 weeks. maybe just under. Thats for a 25yr old 17hh wbxtb. Feeding him for a horse in medium work.
 
Thanks so much for your replies!

Maybe A&P have changed the CC recipe as they assured me it has no Alfa in it and only 12% starch..

I didn't buy the CC anyway as I don't think he needs it yet.

I brought the fast fibre and the ride and relax. I thought i'd start out feeding mainly the fast fibre with a bit of R&R mixed in and then increase the R&R if need be. They are fully supplemented with vits and mins and biotics so no supplement needed :D.

I'm a bit nervous as I'm a die hard nuts, chaff and balancer girl but 2 bags of A&P cost £18 compared to the £50 I was going to spend!

When I got to the yard I opened the bags and the feed smells and looks devine, I was quite tempted to sneak some of the R&R home and have it as cereal lol.

Let's see if it works, fingers crossed!
:)
 
C&C works well for my 36yo poor doer, use about 2 bags a month. He loves it and it certainly goes a long way.
 
A&P are local to us (ie 2 miles away!) so we like to support them. We used to use quiet mix, (not sure if it was A&P) but I wouldn't use it again as they were always bloated. Put D onto RandR and he changed shape completely into a much more slender shape (even though he was eating more) and had more of the right energy. Not fizz at all.
We also used CandC on our old pony. He was so naughty he couldn't have anything that would make him fizzy but would drop weight and it was absolutely perfect for him. :)
 
I use C&C for my poor doer, who is also colicky. He is looking really good on it. I tried Baileys Outshine and balancer, and Blue Chip original but they disrupted his tummy, he is very sensitive to cereal and oil. So the C&C works well for him. He has FibreGy and beet.

FDC
 
I use C&C for my TB and FF for my cob, love their feeds.

On a side note do you not need to feed a balancer with these? My 2 are on lo cal but if I don't need it then I won't buy any more when this bag runs out!

Eve what is Fast Fibre like? Is it a good substitute for chaff or is it an additional?
Rosie x (FDC)
 
C&C made my mare into a complete nightmare. The change was massive and I had to take her off it within 10 days or I was going to just fall of her all the time. I wouldnt try it again esp on a slightly sharp TB like mine. My mare is now on A&P quiet cubes and chaff and is looking really good and the nuts are really cheap (about £7 a bag which is only a tiny bit more expensive than my local tack shops cheapy nuts)

I do love allen and page though and have just started one of my fatties on the fast fibre. She adores it!! To the other post....I think fast fibre is like chaff but is a complete feed so you dont have to feed anything else with it. My ponies really, really, really like it!!

I would 100% recommend getting a proper A&P rep out to come and meet you and your horse. I have and she is amazing and puts up with my odd box sharp pony and just couldnt of been any more helpful.
 
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