Blimin TB, feed ideas possibly needed!!

Firewell

Firewell

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My TB was FAT on the spring, summer and autumn grass. He looked a picture.

However now he is coming in at night, he is in from 4.30pm untill 7 am when he is ridden for an hour/2 hours and then turned out.

He's having 'adlib' hay, by adlib I mean I give him two massive haynets and he tears the hay out, eats a tiny bit and drops the rest on the floor. I'm pretty sure I end up throwing away more hay then he is eating!

In the field there is still lots of grass, he has a luxury 4/5 acre paddock to himself (horses are next to his field) so theres always lots of grass but the nutritional value is dropping now. No point putting hay out as he won't touch it because of the grass.

I'm soaking his hay because we had a very dry spring/summer here in the SE and its a tad dusty. I only dunk it for a few minutes though to keep the feed value as much as I can. He is just not that interested in eating it though. Its like he's not that hungry. He was on haylage last year but it gave him a runny bum so I'd rather keep him on hay.

Feed wise he's on fibre nuts, hifi and lo cal balancer. I will not feed him conditioning feeds as he goes really obnoxious on them and thinks he's gods gift, same with alfa a oil.

My first port of call I think is to up the amount of fibre nuts he's having to 3kg and hifi and add some kwik beet. Hopefully that will give him more fibre and make up for the fact he's bored by his hay.

If I do this though is there any point in feeding the balancer?? Or should I keep him on the balancer because it has a higher nutritional profile than the nuts so is good for him? Or should I get something like pink powder? Or does he need the protein in the balancer now the grass has gone? Or should I take out the balancer and swap the hifi to alfa a lite as it has more protein?!

So confuzzling!!! If he ate all his blimin hay I wouldnt have to worry about these things..

Thoughts??

P.s He has had his teeth done every 6 months by qualified EDT, wormed ect ect :) :).

Picture of me and the main man in question out hacking at the weekend :D :-

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The main thing the balancer will give him that the nuts probably won't is the probiotic yeast which might help him make the most of the food he gets (although as he has been on the balancer for a while and he is on a fibre diet he might not really need it). If you wanted to drop the balancer but still give a probiotic then you could consider feeding Yea-Sacc which has the probiotic bit without the vit/mins (which are already being provided by the nuts). You might want to check the ingredients of the nuts to check they don't actually contain a probiotic yeast already, as some compound feeds do have them.

Is there no way you can get some nicer hay that you don't need to soak? What types of haylage have you tried? Something like Horsehage High Fibre might be less likely to give him the runs than bog standard big bale haylage.
 
Can you leave him out 24/7? I think I'd prefer he was eating low-quality grass all night rather than nothing at all.

I would keep the balancer unless you're feeding a feed that has all the essentials in and you're also feeding the recommended amount.

I've just started feeding topspec cool condition to my poor-doer. Have you tried that one? A lot of the conditioning feeds say barley-free but aren't actually cereal-free which might be why he was getting obnoxious.
 
Can you not mix hay and haylage, agree with TGM on the Horsehage High Fibre one. My Tb changed from Lo Cal to Performance Balancer and the difference in her is fantastic, might be worth talking to Baileys.....
 
well he's not eating nothing, he has hay all night if he wants it. He wouldn't be good out at night in the winter, he hates the mud and gets bad mud fever if i'm not careful, besides he would be all on his lone, he gallops around if i'm late getting him in as it is :(.

Havent thought of cool and condition nuts tbh, suppose I could try them with the balancer.

The performance balancer didnt make your horse too perky did it heidi? What do you feed it with? Yes I could get some horsehage blue and give him a section of that with his hay.

All the hay round here is not amazing. Its meadow hay so its not the really rough, coarse stuff, its just a bit dusty hence why I soak it. Its not like he doesnt like it.. he's just not one of those horses who would eat untill he pops!
 
Read the bags carefully - for example, A&P Calm and condition isn't cereal-free but topspec cool condition is! (Nothing wrong with feeding cereals if you want to but if he's been an eejit on conditioning feeds before that might explain why...).
 
I have similar problems with my TB he is a fatty in the summer but drops weight around this time of year and is stressy which doesn't help. He is also an idiot if I feed him anything with too much energy in it but I have found he goes really well on calm and condition. :) Seems to help him keep his weight on and doesn't send him mad!!
 
Have you tried not soaking his hay?

My boy really dislikes wet hay. he will eat less than half the normal amount when fed wet hay.

I am in the south east too and while I understand your concerns about dust, if you shake the sections out and preferably feed off the floor, the risks associated with dust should be minimised.

Failing that Speedi beet is great for providing bulk fibre. I would keep feeding the balancer if you are happy with it as a means of supplying a balanced ration of vits and mins. you can't really swap it with alfa a as that isn't a balanced diet. you could however swap it with a powder supplement but I can't see any reason for you needing to do this.

Another good source of fibre would be to leave him with a tub of graze -on or similar as a partial hay replacer.
 
Thanks.
Maybe i'll drop the balancer and nuts and just try the calm and condition, how much starch does that have? I suppose he could have a sccop of that with his chaff, bit more simple.
 
Thanks CB, yes I could try the dried grass as well couldn't I?! Maybe with the balancer and kwik beet and knock the nuts on the head? hmmmm
 
I would agree on trying different haylage, my sec a has soaked hay as he's lami prone and he won't eat half as much as when he has it dry, don't think he likes it at all but i have to be cruel to be kind.

I've found ad lib haylage the best thing for keeping weight on :)
 
If you really don't want to try haylage, then you could experiment with steaming the hay rather than soaking it, to see if it is more palatable then.

As you have found a combination of bucket feed that works for him, I wouldn't want to change it too much. You have recognised that it is not eating enough forage which is causing the problem, so best to tackle it from that angle!
 
Have you tried not soaking the hay like the others have already suggested.
My TB will NOT with flashing lights and bells aka over her dead body eat soaked hayof any sort. Doesn't matter if you have just waved a hosepipe in its general direction she will not touch it, same goes if it has been rained on. I even tried steaming it and she made it perfectly clear that it is inedible. Runny bum or no it is haylage all the way here
 
We've been on A&P C&C and Alfalfa A for nearly 8 months, but have now given up on it, don't get me wrong he looked good but not as good as he should have done on that much feed.

Changed to D&H Buildup cubes and Molichop Bloom, here's what i have noticed;

1. Still calm no fizz
2. Picking up 2/3rd the amount of droppings: C&C went straight through him
3. Finally putting down a good covering which is a bonus going into winter.

PS He is out 24/7 on 2 acres of medium grazing.
 
Top spec conditioning cubes are really good for my TB. He's utterly vile & obnoxious on every conditioning feed I've tried & also cannot cope with alfalfa. Also spillers slow release cubes suit him as well.
 
Havens Slobbermash. I have my TB mare on this, easy to digest keeps her calm but maintains weight. It is fantastic we have never looked back. You feed it on its own soaked for 15 mins so in winter it is a nice warm feed. It has improved my TB's feet, coat and temperement. My vet put her on it after recurring colic. Cant praise it enough. Look on the internet on Havens website.
 
When you had him on haylage last year did you try the NAF haylage balancer? My friends horse is a poor doer and not greedy, so she feeds haylage and it makes him loose. She put him on the NAF haylage balance last year and it made a real difference.
 
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