Any Advice ?

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Rainbow321

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to cut a long story short I bought a mare a month ago today , in very poor condition .

She had no muscle and was so underweight you could feel all her backbone, and her hips were sunken in.

I just want some feeding advice to see if you would change anything


Currently :

Out 9 -5 on grass ( decent grass and a good amount)
As much hay as she can eat though she doesnt like it and picking at it, i've had to add haylege to help her eat it

One feed on a night - 2 scoops of mollychop, half a scoop of conditioning cubes and topspec cool balancer

Along with some biotin and joint oil.

And carrots daily


I'm not sure if i should feed her this twice a day though?

I would feed her on just haylage but can only find the large bales and with one horse it will just get wasted as it will go off too soon.


She is currently only lunged lightly a few times a week.
 
If she is not eating much hay you would be better off buying big bale haylage and wasting a small amount, it usually lasts a fair while in cooler weather if it is opened fully and fairly dry, than buying expensive feed.

I would not feed molichaff to any horse, the sugar content is so high you may as well feed pure molasses, I would probably go onto grassnuts or speedibeet as the main feed with a balancer or supplement with micronised linseed, you could give an unmolassed chop if you want to add more bulk, a high fibre diet with linseed for extra calories would be more beneficial for weight gain than one full of sugar and starch, I would split it into 2 or 3 feeds per day to get more into her without overloading her tummy.
 
Agree with all the above. There are lots of much better feeds that don't contain sugar/molasses. Micronised linseed is good for condition.
 
Oh Dear, she won't be happy , the chaff is her favourite part of the meal , she spits out the rest of it so she can enjoy her chaff and then goes back for the rest of it after !

Been out of the horse game for a good few years , so there's so many new feeds around I'm struggling to get my head around it .

So if I use the last of my mollichaff and don't buy anymore what unmollassed chops are there around that I can use as a filler ?
 
She probably likes it because it is so sweet, around 20% sugar, but just like us sweet sugary stuff is not really a base for a decent diet, there are a few unmolassed but she may not be so keen on them, try swapping onto something that will add to the diet, grassnuts are a better feed and most love them happily eating them soaked with nothing added.

Dengie do an unmolassed HiFi, I use Thunderbrooks which is a grass chop with no added molasses and my fussy one is happy to eat it, he turns his nose up at some feeds.
 
be positive said:
She probably likes it because it is so sweet, around 20% sugar, but just like us sweet sugary stuff is not really a base for a decent diet, there are a few unmolassed but she may not be so keen on them, try swapping onto something that will add to the diet, grassnuts are a better feed and most love them happily eating them soaked with nothing added.

Dengie do an unmolassed HiFi, I use Thunderbrooks which is a grass chop with no added molasses and my fussy one is happy to eat it, he turns his nose up at some feeds.
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I don't want to put her on something that's totally molasses free, as she's a real finicky eater and I don't think she'd touch it .

She won't even take polos or likit she's that fussy

She's on the apple molli which is 17-22% sugar ....

The Hifi original , or original with apple are 9% and 10% respectively , half the sugar of Molli , and I think I could probably get her onto the apple hifi.

I do want a chaff as a bulk , as she already gets conditioning cubes and her topspec balancer pellets , so want something to bulk it out .
 
Rainbow321 said:
I don't want to put her on something that's totally molasses free, as she's a real finicky eater .
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Why would you knowingly feed your horse sugar? It's terrible for them, including their feet. Some of the other feeds do cost a bit more money but they're so worth it. Agrobs is good and you can very slowly blend it in. There's also simple systems, Thunderbrooks and the new pink mash is meant to be good too. Coolstance copra is tasty. Even tiger oats are fine. I avoid alfalfa, as it can affect feet but some get on fine with it. Dengie are advertising a new feed which looks interesting. I won't use it as its 12% sugar but it's natural sugars at least from grass.
 
I'm sure you have already, but get her teeth checked as dental problems could be contributing to the poor condition and low hay consumption. I'd definitely put her on a minimum of two meals a day if you can. If she likes chaff type feeds then look at some of the grass chaffs such as Readigrass, Graze On etc. You could actually feed a tub of grass chaff in the stable overnight to up her fibre intake. I wouldn't feed a straw-based chaff because most of the fibre in straw is indigestible, so will fill her up without giving her much nutrition. If she fills up on sugar-coated straw then she will be less inclined to eat other foods. The fibre in feeds such as grass, beet etc is much more easily digested than that in straw.
 
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Thinking on feeding horses has changed enormously in the past few years. Whilst 10 years ago many of us would be happy giving mollased feeds it's now thought that these increase the chance of horses getting laminitis, ulcers etc, and contribute to poor hoof and gut health in general.
I'd get vet advice on worming and overall health and a good equine dentist to look at her teeth.
I use thunderbrooks base mix and fast fibre, the base mix is all the vits and minerals plus some linseed, and the ff is unsugared fibre. Both a TB and tb/wb do very well on it.
 
i Carnt seen to find any of the other loca to me as rang most up today


Would the hifi original be ok as much less sugar ?

Also been advised to add some sugarbeet

As the chop is a filler

And the top spec is a small amount as a balanced so only other thing she is getting is half a scop of conditioning cubes
 
Hi fi original is just cheap straw, alfalfa and molasses. You couldn't pay me to feed it! There must be something better at your feed merchant! Can they not order something in?

Sugar beet is full of, well, sugar!!! Feed speedibeet or fast fibre instead.

What conditioning cubes are you feeding?
 
Bought some of the new dengie molasses free hoof care today to phase out the mollichop

It is heygates conditioning cubes , but going to use the last of those and get something else
 
I would feed twice a day and change her feed completely. My TB gets copra, micro linseed and kwikbeet. Very high fibre, calorie dense feed with low sugar/starch!
 
The problem is if horses are used to getting molassed feed they often turn there nose up at anything that's not for while, as the others have said I would get her weaned of the sugary stuff it's no good for them, I am also not a fan of hifi I feed graze on or readigrass it's just chopped dried grass not ever known a horse not to eat it, then I would feed any of the following unmolassed sugar beet, fast fibre or copra and add micronised linseed for an underweight horse at least 2 mug fulls a day, and at least 2 feeds a day is better than one big one.
 
ktj1891 said:
I would feed twice a day and change her feed completely. My TB gets copra, micro linseed and kwikbeet. Very high fibre, calorie dense feed with low sugar/starch!
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If your horse is as you describe in your opening post I don't think it is getting enough to eat nor the quality of the feed is good enough. I would also feed twice a day and if possible i would give a late night feed as well making it 3 feeds. i would feed copra, micro linseed and soaked dengie alfalfa pellets. I would also feed vit e oil at a reasonably high dose to try and improve the muscle wastage.
 
Just to clarify , my horses physique has doubled in the month I've had her

Though she was skin and bone when I got her , you can no longer feel her spine or see her hips

She has really filled out
 
My horse has filled out a lot , she needs some more weight but mainly needs muscle .

So I started off with

Grass 9 - 5 , & an Evening feed of Mollichop Apple , Heygates Conditioning Cube , Top Spec Cool Balancer and Biotin & Joint Oil + Hay

Now She Has...

Morning & Evening Feed
9 - 5 at grass , and on an evening she's getting mixed hay & haylage, as much as she wants to eat .

I am weaning out the mollichop and introducing the new dengie happy hoof food , that is molasses free and has biotin in it .

She still gets the Top Spec Cool Balancer, and a joint oil , she gets the heygates conditioning cubes but I'm looking to replace these .

Can anyone recommend a good conditioning cube , to replace the heygates ?
 
Alfalfa doesn't suit every horse, as others have said, but it's good quality protein which is important if she's going to be building muscle. If she were mine I would be feeding 3 feeds with mainly alfalfa and linseed in some form, possibly some grass chop or grass nuts, and a good quality forage balancer. Plus as you are doing as much haylage and good grass as you can persuade her to eat. You could give her a grest big trug of grass chaff at night with her hay if you don't want it in her bucket feed. Simple systems have a really helpful advice line, and if there isn't a feed merchant near you that sells it they will deliver free for a minimum order of about £80. My WB has the Greengold, top nosh and their balancer, which is mostly linseed, and that's all he needs in his bucket to keep him looking fantastic. Friends with TBs who struggle more to keep weight on also add grass nuts and/or lucie nuts. Other friends with natives who don't cope well with alfalfa are doing great on Thunderbrooks and agrobs, which I think tend to be more grass based.

Much better than all these molassed cereal based cubes and mixes in my view, but we all have our own ways of doing things!
 
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