Another feed question...Sorry... feeding for stamina

Angua2

Angua2

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Gosh it seems to be the morning for feed questions.

I currently feed my 16.1hh TB mare
mollichop
Economy cubes
Sugarbeet
vits & mins
carrots
12kg haylage

She has been in light to medium work, but I have noticed while she appears to have bags of energy and has good condition she doesn't seem to have any stamina.

I did think this could be a fitness issue, but then I also thought it could be a feed issue, so an now in a catch 22 position where I want to address the fitness but need to ensure that she has enough "petrol in the tank" to cope with the work load

I have spent the morning looking at different manufacturers websites and have found it very confusing. To make matters a little more complicated my girl is very itchy and this seems to be made worse by alfalfa.

so any pointers would be really appreicated
 
switch to an endurance mix as this is what they are designed for and I found it did just increase stamina on my horse and didn't encourage any silly behaviour - I use saracen's version but baileys do one as well
 
I don't think you understand what the word stamina means.

If you go for a 1 mile run once a week, then expect to be able to run 10 miles one day, you will fail because you need to build up your work level until you become fitter and stronger and maintain a run for longer periods of time.

You can't "feed for stamina". Stamina is something that comes with the correct fitness work. If you said your horse had no energy and was losing weight because of the hard work she does, then by all means buy some feed that contains more calories, but you say she is fat and has bags of energy, so what you are feeding her obviously more than fulfills her needs.

You say she is only in light to medium work, yet you expect her to have great stamina ? sorry but it doesn't work that way.
 
You can feed for stamina. mixes and cubes tend to be higher in starch and offer a more 'instant' form of energy, great if you need sparkle or a bit of ooomph.

fibre and oil based feeds offer more slow releasing energy which is longer lasting and avoids peaks and troughs in their blood sugar. like the difference between blue smarties and pasta. which one does a marathon runner eat?

if you like feeding mixes and cubes, like toomanyhorses26 said, just switch to an endurance/slow release one.

if that doesn't work look at the winergy feeds, all based on fibre and oil so good for improved stamina.

either way, as you said, will need to be used alongside your fittening regime to see the best results but i think you're right to be thinking about it now.
 
I had the same prob with P... she had bags of energy but after her initial burts there was nothing in the tank. Winergy low worked ok but local supplier was £15 a bag so I swapped her too a dried grass type chaff and Allen and Page Power and Performance cubes, they worked a treat and now we have a steadier level of useful energy and she is maintaining weight well, even though she is out 24/7 and only on one small feed a day - definately worth looking into.
 
Exactly what I meant - should have explained myself for some people better. My horse is out of racing and was used as a flat horse for some of this so is used to short bursts of speed and like you say had nothingin the tank after about 20 minutes of schooling so put him onto spillers instant energy which was too much and then switched again to the endurnace mix which has been perfect for him - enough spark but no unwanted behaviour!!! I am have tried to get him onto a more fibre based diet but he is pretty fussy and would eat the winergy on the feed trial but wouldn't touch it when it actually became a live buyable product (strange animal!) I would still expect a horse in light work to have stamina - not to obviously the extent of an eventer etc . The ponies I use to teach do extended periods of low level exercise most of the time eg lead reins,children under 10 ,1/2 hour hacking routes but we also use some of the larger ones for ouradults lessons and its the ponies that are still going strong and far less sweaty at the end of the lessons not the horses. I believe that stamina is ultimately a physical property but you can feed to give the best stamina possible out of your animal . Like the example you gave you wouldn'texpect an olympic runner to run a marathon on a chocloate bar would you??
 
Yeah, sounds like it! P is greatly improved on the P&P, she tend's to heat up on too high a starch or sugar level, but on just conditioning feed she is very flat. The P&P keeps her nicely inbetween! Using it on D too and it's working very well with him, give the Allen and Page people a ring, they also do an Endurance mix that might suit..

Good luck!
 
Fibre and Oil are the best things for maintained energy
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TMH & S... Thankyou, I am amazed you understood me at the end of the day.

I am definatly going to give that endurance mix a try ( i am not sure that the supplier has the Allen and page product) and hopefully with a defined fittening I should see an improvement

we will get to canter for a cure in May!
 
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Fibre and Oil are the best things for maintained energy
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I agree and after looking at the products mentioned these are the biggest features in them
 
Just to say, I love the Baileys endurnce mix, but it is ££. I now feed the allen and page feeds (currently on calm and condition, is one step below the P+P) as it is lower in starch and cheaper, and my horse looks excellent on it.
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