Blue chip - is it as good as the site says?

[millyspaniel]

My 4yr TB mare is out 24/7 there is little grass and shes fed ad lib hay as well as 2 feeds per day, these feeds consisit of
2 large round scoops d&h build up mix, 1 large round scoop sugarbeet and 4 handfuls (small ish ones) of dengie. She is ridden approx 4/5 times per week, hacking and a bit of jumping and schooling. She is a poor doer and although shes okay she still could do with abit more weight on her. Shes rugged up HW neck cover.
Wouod the blue chip balancer put weight and condition on her and how much would i need to feed or is there another product that works aswell for less money?

 

[Puppy]

When you say that she is fed 2 large scoops of mix etc, do you mean per feed, or her two feeds put together?

 

[millyspaniel]

Sorry - per feed

 

[Puppy]

Ah, right

Well 2 large scoops of mix, per feed, is *far* too much for a horse to digest at once, so you are wasting your money and possibly risking her health by feeding that much at once.

First off, I would change her hay to haylage, as that better quality forage should make a great difference.

If she truly does have ab lib hay(lage), and she is consuming a reasonable amount, then there is little need to feed chaff in her hard feed (unless you suspect ulcers say...)

Not only would I ease her onto haylage instead of hay, but I would change to Spillers conditioning mix - but at no more than 2kg, twice a day, (assuming you are only available to only feed twice a day, if you can break it down to a greater number of feeds then that is all the more ideal) and see how she does.

If she is still lacking condition, then I would ease back on the hard feed a little and introduce topspec, which I think is a really good balancer.

It is also worth questioning if your yard's worming routine is effective, and also, you say that she is wearing a HW rug - is that the right weight for her? Only I have a horse who is terribly sensitive to being over rugged/too warm, and that makes her drop condition more than anything.

 

[kerilli]

i used to use Blue Chip, but i have used Baileys Stud Balancer for years and i think it is as good, and it's far cheaper.
for e.g. my tb mare (has lived out before and kept condition on fine), on ad lib hay, gets 1 cup of BSB 2x daily, + chaff, readigrass, and alfabeet. so, the BSB is the only 'hard feed' as such that she gets. hope that helps.

 

[treena]

try looking at a website called coolstance. there feed called copra meal is fantastic. check it out. x

 

[teddyt]

Personally i think blue chip is over priced. It is not a weight gain product. Although it may help a horse utilise its feed better, Brewers Yeast is much cheaper!

What you need to do is weigh what you are feeding. Remember that one scoop of soaked sugar beet is more than 80% water, so although it is a large volume the feed value is quite small. You need to weigh the dry weight of sugar beet. Also, 4 handfuls of chaff will weigh only a few grammes, so again, not contributing much, especially as the horse is already getting plenty of fibre from hay.

Once you know how much you are feeding of each feed you can work out whether by switching to a different feed(s) you can provide more energy. For gaining weight you should aim to feed 3% of your horses body weight in feed (hay and hard feed) per day.

E.g. One round scoop of alfa a oil weighs about 400g and is 12.5mj/kg DE, so fairly high. This would be a good base. I dont know what the DE of build up mix is but compare it to others so you get the most amount of energy per kg of feed. For example, Badminton conditioning nuggets are very good and at 13.5 mj/kg they are high energy.

You basically need to work what feeds will give you the most energy, without having to feed bucket loads of feed. I would keep unmollassed sugar beet as part of the diet because it is very good for the digestive system. Then in addition high oil feeds would be worth looking into because you get approx 2 1/2 times more energy per kg compared to cereals, so you can keep feeds smaller.

Examples of high oil feeds-
Alfa a oil
Coolstance copra meal
Badminton triple top up

Carry on with ad lib hay or haylage too.

Hope this is clear and isnt too confusing!

 

[millyspaniel]

Okay am confused now!!
So i should change the alfa a to the alfa a oil - how many handfuls per feed?
sugar beet i am feeding - 1 large round scoop - is this too much per feed?
build up mix - 2 large scoops per feed is too much? what shall i cut it down to per feed or should i change it to a higher energy feed?
sorry i havent had a poor doer out 24/7 before!

PS she has been wormed regulary since she was a foal, i have all her records

she has a low trace clip and wears a HW which seems to suit her well, she is always toasty never sweaty,
She shares 3 acres (currently) with 2 welshies sec a, and a yearling coblet, i drop 1 bale of hay in the morning and half bale of hay around 5ish at night.
Are they getting enough hay? shall i increase it??
sorry for all the questions!

 

[HollyP]

I am feeding BlueChip and im on my second bag, I was previously feeding her 1 scoop of high fibre cubes, 1 scoop mollichaf oil one (smells lovely-prob not best for horse but it £5!) and pink powder....no she is on bluechip i give her the amount it says on the packaging (3 mugs) and a scoop of mollichaff as its getting cold she is getting about 1/2 scoop of sugarbeet! looking v good and is in warm rugs (but still in a medium turnout!)

oh and my mare has really calmed down ... i hadnt really noticed much of a difference on the first bag but now into my second i really can! and its not too expensive as im no longer feeding nuts....sugarbeet seems to last forever!

she is also on steamed hay and haylage!