Assess his feed please

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SamanthaG

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13Yo ex racer, 16.1 fiar amount of bone, underweight and under condition 9 culd see his hips 12 days ago), we have wormed him and worm counted (poss not been wormed in 2 years) had his teeth floated (terrible state worst the dentist has ever seen not been done in at least 5 years) Got a chiropractor and farrier coming out, as poss twisted pelvis and doesn’t look shod correctly. So the poor chap is having a full MOT.

Now in the short time we have had him he looks loads better, his coat has a shine, his pot belly is almost gone and he is a very friendly chilled out chap.

Until his back saddle and feet have been looked at we wont be doing any work, I want his weight/condition up first, then we will start light lunging and hacking. So really he is resting at the moment.

So that’s a little of his history and I was hoping you could give me your thoughts on what he is being fed. Now with all the supplements/powders out there he could be on 1001 different things but I chose the ones I think will benefit him, its still quite a list though.

Ok here goes all split into two feeds

He has 1 ¼ Stubbs scoops a day of calm and condition
4 scoops of pink powder
2 scoops of cortaflex
1 ½ scoops of farriers formula
60ml flax oil
1 scoop garlic (loves the stuff so it encourages him to eat)
½ mug of natural horse supplements herbal gain (again loves it and meant to be good for building condition)
Liquorice from natural horse supplements (possibility of ulcers and meant to be good for that)
When working will prob put him on mag calm also.
A bucket of dampened down Alfa a oil at night time only and also if he is in for the day.
adlib haylage in the stable and field (often doesn’t eat it in the field so the grazing must be ok)

It looks a lot, but I don’t know weather its all needed or weather I am doubling up on some things? I know the alfa A oil and flax are both oils but he doesn’t always eat all the alfa a its just there to give him something extra to munch on to help get his weight up.
 
IMO and past exp with some fussy eaters i would suggest - mix the Alfa A Oil and the Calm & Condition together then split this in to am and pm feed. If he likes the C&C then he will eat the Alfa A if it is mixed with it (avoiding wastage of feed and also getting it into him). Be careful with the amount of garlic you are feeding (i understand correct me someone if i am wrong) but there are good and bad sides to garlic and more is infact worse than less. Couldnt you just find a balancer which would replace all of the supplements that you are giving him easier and cheaper surely. Approx how many scoops of the Alfa A makes up the bucket, he should be getting approx 4kgs a day for his size as a feed (not hay replacer) and 1 big round scoop is approx 400g, you need 1000g to make a kg so would need approx x 9 scoops to put weight on and maintain it. Please remember this is just my opinion and not absolute concrete - use it dont use it stuff.
 
Thanks, I would say approx 8 round scoops a day, Have tried mixing it with the calm and condition, whats what i did when we first had him and he wouldnt eat, I thaught it was the alfa a he didnt like so just fed the calm and condition then I decided to try it in a bucket on its own and hey presto he will eat it. I guess he doesnt like mixing his flavours lol. If he would eat the stuff mixed he would have to have the biggest bucket in the world as the calm and condition almost fill it once soaked I am always amaised at how much that stuff expands

The garlic I give is a small pink powder scoop full so about 1/3 of the daily recommended intake for his size.
 
Both my horses the ex racer and the cob neither of them liked any of the alfa's or the dengie's even the one with apple in, but the ex racer loved the mollichaff calmer which has lots of vits in incl some very imp ones like selenium and vit e and magnesium (you could try that) and the cob loves the happy hoof. Therefore you could try the alfa in nut form or by the cheapest bag of pasture mix or equiv and put 1/2 a handful in with the other mixed together and i bet you he eats it. Something in those cereals that they love. Nothing to lose better than wasting feed.
 
i just reread your post - as a horses stomach is so small and the C&C is so much (i thought the 1 1/4 was wet feed not dry) maybe it is just too much for him to eat in one meal, could you spread it out during the day in to smaller meals, easier to digest and more appetising?
 
I'd say the feed is about right but a bit too much on the supplement side of things.
A good balancer as mentioned would replace all of that. Keep the garlic and the farriers formula if you find it's working but again expensive and a food that gives good coat condition like Baileys outshine for instance will also be good for the hooves.
FF doesn't always work on all horses feet.
Otherwise high fibre diet which is also the best way to help the recovery of ulcers as they can be caused by a low fibre diet and stress.

Good luck sounds like he has landed on his feet finding you to look after him and bring him back to health, look forward to progress pic's.
 
I must of worded by post wrong, but he does eat all his feed, and its split into two meals a day, he has the amount of calm and condition recomended for his size. What I was really asking is does it sound ok? Or am I doubling on some things. His feet are very cracked so i would like to continue with the farriers formula, and the pink powder works wonders, but I am happy to save money and by a balancer but which one?
 
Sammii819 said:
I'd say the feed is about right but a bit too much on the supplement side of things.
A good balancer as mentioned would replace all of that. Keep the garlic and the farriers formula if you find it's working but again expensive and a food that gives good coat condition like Baileys outshine for instance will also be good for the hooves.
FF doesn't always work on all horses feet.
Otherwise high fibre diet which is also the best way to help the recovery of ulcers as they can be caused by a low fibre diet and stress.

Good luck sounds like he has landed on his feet finding you to look after him and bring him back to health, look forward to progress pic's.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will look into that feed, its too early to tell what is working for him and what isnt, eg the farriers formula will take months to show a difference. i dont mind spending the money on it if it works. But I guess only time will tell
 
Calm and condition did nothing for my poor doer so I switched to Bailey's #4 cubes.

He is also 16.1 (but WB) and had a bad back and poor feet and this was his weight gain diet, he is in "year 3" now and didn't drop an ounce over winter this year (v proud mum!):-

Twice daily feeds of
1 stubbs scoop baileys #4 soaked
1/2 stubbs scoop speedibeet
2 scoops pink powder
1/2 stubbs scoop alfa a oil
1/2 mug veg oil
1/2 mug stud balancer (never sure if there is enough vit e in pink powder to balance the oil, so put balancer in to be sure!)

OR skip the veg oil and balancer and do 1 mug outshine in each feed

Works a treat!
 
Baileys no4 sent my late tb mare bonkers! She really was a handful on it. She had a sensitive tummy and my vet said not to feed the no4 as even though it's not meant to be heating it still has cereals and starch in it.
I would reccommend Baileys Outshine or Saracen equijewel and feed that along side the cc, Alfa oil and pink powder. Both are amazing at putting on weight but are cereal free. :)
 
I would say that that is a huge amount of alfa A to be feeding. I used to give it to my TB but even a couple of scoops a day sent him a bit crackers so be careful with that.

Blue chip however worked wonders for him when I first got him (he too was very poor) and he looked fantastic on it, also he ate much much less hay when he was having blue chip (he was like a bottomless pit without the blue chip)

Howeverm he only really started to look his best once he got on some good grass, so maybe some grass nuts would help?
 
Thanks, once his weight is up and he is working I considered putting him on the molasses free Alfa A which is what the others get. At the mo though he is a bit of a plod my son leads him in from the field and he isn’t very big
 
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