Best low calorie but energy providing food?

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katie_and_toto

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Ok so Toto needs a little more energy but without making him put on weight. He doesn't need LOADS of energy, just a little more oomph :) Pasture Mix and stuff like that make him fizzy, and he's also a very good doer and puts weight on very easily.

Thanks for any suggestions :)
 
katie_and_toto said:
Ok so Toto needs a little more energy but without making him put on weight. He doesn't need LOADS of energy, just a little more oomph :) Pasture Mix and stuff like that make him fizzy, and he's also a very good doer and puts weight on very easily.

Thanks for any suggestions :)
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Theres no such thing as a food for more energy without putting on weight. Any diet that gives the horse more energy than it needs for day to day living will end up as fat. If the diet doesnt give sufficient energy for the horses daily needs then the horse will lose weight.

Fibre and oil based feeds will provide slow release energy but they will still make the horse fat if he doesnt use the energy up.
Cereals will provide quick release energy but their timing of feeding before exercise is important if the energy is to work at the correct time. They will also make the horse fat if the energy isnt used up.

So if his weight is ok now you shouldnt increase the energy level of the diet by any means as he will just get fat- that is unless you increase the workload to use up the extra energy you are feeding.
 
Sorry my answer was a bit brief! I suggested Lo-Cal as I assume your Horse isn't being fed anything at the moment other than maybe restricted grass. I feed Lo-Cal to mine with outshine just to balance his grass diet (hay in winter) and add shine to his coat. I'd funnily just been reading the back of a Lo-Cal bag and it said Horses kept on retricted turnout that are prone to weight gain are often 'lacklustre' and it recommends the feed to help with that. You feed very little of it so good for those prone to weight gain!
 
Moggyinmanolos said:
What do you feed him now?

Hi fibre cubes which are lami approved may give him a bit more omph, they give my mates mare a bit more go, and they are lo cal
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Well over the winter he had Fast Fibre and chaff, to keep his weight up over winter, and now he's having Hi-Fi Lite so he can have his Brewers Yeast and garlic and he has soaked hay at night in the stable, and is out during the day :)

Thanks for the suggestion :)
 
suzysparkle said:
Sorry my answer was a bit brief! I suggested Lo-Cal as I assume your Horse isn't being fed anything at the moment other than maybe restricted grass. I feed Lo-Cal to mine with outshine just to balance his grass diet (hay in winter) and add shine to his coat. I'd funnily just been reading the back of a Lo-Cal bag and it said Horses kept on retricted turnout that are prone to weight gain are often 'lacklustre' and it recommends the feed to help with that. You feed very little of it so good for those prone to weight gain!
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Well over the winter he had Fast Fibre and chaff, to keep his weight up over winter, and now he's just having Hi-Fi Lite so he can have his Brewers Yeast and garlic and he has soaked hay at night in the stable, and is out during the day :) He is an ideal weight at the moment, but we will be restricting his grazing by sectioning off some of his field soon so he doesn't get tubby! :)

Thanks for the suggestion, have heard that Lo-Cal is good so might give it a go! :)
 
I feed George hi-fi lite and baileys lo cal as he's such a good doer even for a strapping 16.3 lad and it seems to work really well for him, just the right amount of energy and it really made a difference to his hooves and coat too.
 
Another vote for Lo-cal - I only feed T once a day and therefore can't feed enough cubes to give him all his vit needs. I am now adding Saracen Equijewel on a nurtrionists advice as he is truly in medium work (6 days a week hard hacking or schooling not bimbling about). She recommended either that or Outshine to makes sure he has enough energy.
 
Lo cal doesnt provide an energy source though. It is a feed balancer- so will provide vits/mins and a small amount of protein. If the horse is lacking in any of the vits/mins it may therefore help it be healthier and therefore perkier but it will not provide energy in any quantity to give a horse more oomph.

Calories are the same thing as energy, just a different term. So you are already feeding a low calorie but energy giving food by feeding hi fi light. That has 8 mj/kg of energy (or calories)- so that is considered low energy/low calorie. Thats about as low an energy/calorie food as you can get.

i may be wrong but it appears people seem confused as to what calories/energy actually mean and what a balancer is/does??
 
I would say that your current diet is not supplying all the essential vits and mins that he needs and it is probably that which is making him a little lack lustre.

Teddyt is right, energy = calories and if you feed more energy and he does not use it it will only turn to fat. Lo-cal could help because it would supply vits and mins which could make him feel perkier - saying that any good vit/min supplement would do that.

Good doers in work are the most difficult to feed of any horse, I know, I have one and I have tweaked her diet into within an inch of its life, so you have my sympathy.
 
teddyt said:
Lo cal doesnt provide an energy source though. It is a feed balancer- so will provide vits/mins and a small amount of protein. If the horse is lacking in any of the vits/mins it may therefore help it be healthier and therefore perkier but it will not provide energy in any quantity to give a horse more oomph.

Calories are the same thing as energy, just a different term. So you are already feeding a low calorie but energy giving food by feeding hi fi light. That has 8 mj/kg of energy (or calories)- so that is considered low energy/low calorie. Thats about as low an energy/calorie food as you can get.

i may be wrong but it appears people seem confused as to what calories/energy actually mean and what a balancer is/does??
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Agree with Teddy here.

In your situation I would be feeding a small amount of happy hoof / safe & sound and combine it with propell plus (or one of the other alternatives e.g. red cell / enerG).

If that doesn't work the D&H do a product called performance concentrate.
 
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suzysparkle said:
I'd say Baileys Lo-Cal.
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I second this. It is a balancer however and will only provide vitamins and minerals. But it means you could feed a small amount of other hard feed to give energy without worrying that your horse isn't getting the correct amount of vitamins and minerals. Both of my good doer's are fed 2 cups of this and a handful of chaff everyday and they have plenty of energy.
 
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SirenaXVI said:
I would say that your current diet is not supplying all the essential vits and mins that he needs and it is probably that which is making him a little lack lustre.
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He gets Brewers Yeast, garlic and sorry I forgot to say he has a vit/min supplement it's in a white tub with a yellow lid but I can't remember what it's called :p He's just a chilled out dude :)
 
teddyt said:
Lo cal doesnt provide an energy source though. It is a feed balancer- so will provide vits/mins and a small amount of protein. If the horse is lacking in any of the vits/mins it may therefore help it be healthier and therefore perkier but it will not provide energy in any quantity to give a horse more oomph.

Calories are the same thing as energy, just a different term. So you are already feeding a low calorie but energy giving food by feeding hi fi light. That has 8 mj/kg of energy (or calories)- so that is considered low energy/low calorie. Thats about as low an energy/calorie food as you can get.
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I was just asking for suggestions, that's all. I will contact some feed companies and ask for advice, we won't just go and buy whatever is suggested straight away :) Thanks for your input though
 
My good doer is on A&P slim and healthy and has tons of energy at the moment - what I found made him more energetic was not food but his level of fitness - he has been doing a lot of longer distance rides (10-15 miles) and faster work and has transformed from being steady into very lively indeed!
 
SO1 said:
My good doer is on A&P slim and healthy and has tons of energy at the moment - what I found made him more energetic was not food but his level of fitness - he has been doing a lot of longer distance rides (10-15 miles) and faster work and has transformed from being steady into very lively indeed!
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Thanks for the suggestion :) I was just looking at the Slim & Healthy and also the Hacking Mix by A&P, will send them an e-mail and see what they think :)

Yeah Toto is quite fit, he's steady but enthusiastic about work at home, he's not majorly lazy, just sometimes is a bit 'oh do I HAVE to?' :p Can't give him loads more energy though as he can be a bit silly at shows and stuff! :p
 
With regards to the confusion over Lo-Cal as an energy source, I can say that actually getting a nutrionist out to see your horse and discuss totally your requirements is the best way. I have a good nutrition knowledge from my degree but getting the nutritionist to see my horse helped massively. T does not take hard feed well, it makes him hyper and as he is a good doer and fed minimally the Lo-Cal with Equijewel is making sure he get slow release energy and all his vit requirements. It amazes me that people are so obsessed with feed lots of additives when feed companies are very good these days at providing feeds that when fed correctly do not necessitate (sp) this. At work we feed the recommended ration of hard feed and there are no extras added, save for Equijewel for the yearlings in prep and occaisionally milk pellets for a poor mare.
 
The trouble is though that in a lot of cases people who have good doers are unable to feed the recommended amounts of feed without their horses weight ballooning, hence the need for a feed balancer/vit supplement to supply the missing nutrients.
 
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