Balanced diet?

Saxon_Jasmine

Saxon_Jasmine

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I have been having a bit of a dilemma over what to feed my mare. She is a 15.1hh, 9yr old TB. She needs to gain a bit of weight and have some sparkle added to her performance. I currently feed Simple Systems and Pure Feeds Co but they don't seem to be doing the job. She has 8hrs of grazing a day and is on ad lib haylige

I'd like to feed a low starch, low sugar, high oil and high fibre diet. The problem is that there are so many feeds on the market I don't know which one is best!

From what I have researched I reckon Saracen EquiJewel and British Horse Feeds Fibrebeet seem a good mix. However I'm not sure if this is balanced enough?

The other feeds I like the sound of are:
Dengie Alfa A Oil
Speedi Beet
Badminton Alfaffa and oil
Badminton Tripple Top Up
Saracen Releve
Saracen Fibre Mix

Could someone please put me out of my misery and reccomemend a cost effective feed that fits the above requirements?

Thank you in advance.
 
You're already feeding ad lib forage, so you probably need to add in either oil or starch to up the energy levels of the feed. My three (all TB or cross) get, in addition to their forage, speedibeet and a handful of alfa A oil just as a carrier for their mineral supplements. They are all carrying a nice amount of weight. In the winter I will add in oats, although the two who are good doers will only get a small handful while the big skinny lad will get a jug-full (not very scientific, I know!). If you didn't want to use oats, you could try adding corn oil - some horses will eat it. I've thought a lot about low sugar diets too, but for mine who all seem to use their food well I don't worry too much about adding a little bit of sugar/ starch.
 
Hi

What Pure feeds do you feed? Iv had such success with their pure working, my mare is not a good doer and she looks amazing on it. I find the only thing that makes her drop weight is stress so I avoid this!!

Defo get her teeth checked, worming etc before you start messing around with different feeds I find it all gets a bit too complicated which is why I moved to a complete high fibre feed.
 
Hi,

Thank you for the advice. Yes she has had her teeth checked, is up to date with her worming and recently had a full check over by our vet. So now time to fiddle with the feeding..
 
I would personally have a look at Winergy feeds. (it's made by the same company as makes Spillers so is easy to get hold of but is a very different type of feed). Both my two are on it and look fantastic. It's kept a really good condition on both my two throughout a long drawn out virus and their temperament has improved ten fold. They have a series of feeds at different energy levels (more or less conditioning) which all have a starch level of about 3-5% and have very little to no cereal in them. I would phone their helpline as well as they're really good and what is on their packets doesn't always relate to the best quantity and feed for your horse. Hope this helps, feel free to PM me if you want any more info.
 
What do you currently feed her? Knowing this would help us to suss out what's going wrong concerning her diet.
For a fibre-based, high energy and balanced feed I love the Dengie range. You can feed 2-3kg each day of Alfa-A or Alfa-A Oil - based on alfalfa - which contains the equivalent of a medium energy feed which is released slowly so as not to encourage over-excitibility in your horse. Alfa-A Oil already contains soya oil for more energy and all you need to do is add a scoop or two of a broad spectrum vitamin & mineral supplement such as Dengie Classic, and you're good to go! Doing this also means that if you need to adjust her energy levels again, you can change the amount of Alfa-A or Alfa-A Oil fed without unbalancing her diet.
It might also be a good idea to add a digestive enhancer such as Dengie Yea-Sacc or NAF Pink Powder (which is also a feed balancer, thus killing two birds with one stone) which will make it easier for her to absorb the nutrients in her feed.

Good luck!
 
I think I'm either going to go for:

British horse feeds 'fibre beet' and TopSpec cool condition cubes

or
Alffa A Oil and fibre beet

I'm thinking about adding EquiJewel or Pink Powder but won't unless they are absolutly necessary.

What do you think?
 
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