Bringing back into work - excitable but trying to feed up! Help!

[JackDaniels1]

Just started bringing one of the mares back into work (she came back off loan looking v poor/underweight but has put on quite a bit now). Went on a hack today and all she seems to want to do is canter everywhere. Now I don't know whether this is down to too much energy feed or whether she is just excited to be back in work/back out hacking. She is meant to just be walking on hacks as not fit but she was so eager today i let her trot for a little. Her head was shaking up and down and chomping on the bit wanting to go.

Her routine at the mo is that she now lives out 24/7 with good shelter. She is rugged up accordingly to weather. She is on ad lib haylage both day and night, not much grass at all, she gets two feeds per day. Morning: 1/4 scoop Bailey's conditioning cubes, 1 scoop sugarbeet plus a handful of chaff. Night is the same. Both feeds have supermarket oil in them.

She has put on a lot of weight now so maybe doesn't feed all the feed i am giving her but then again i dont want to cut it back and find that she is loosing weight.

Any advice would be great

 

[teddyt]

Her head was shaking up and down and chomping on the bit wanting to go.

Stating the obvious but make sure her teeth are ok, the bit is suitable for her mouth and her saddle fits.

As for feeding i would cut out the conditioning cubes and just stick to fibre- so increase the chaff. Which chaff is it? If its heavily mollassed i would change to a better quality one with less molassess. Is the sugar beet mollassed? If so, switch to unmollassed

Fibre provides slow release energy so minimises excitability that you may get from sugary and starchy feeds (e.g. mollassed chaffs, mollassed sugar beet and conditioning cubes)

 

[KatB]

Agree with the above. Baileys topline cubes are quite starchy, so would exasperate fizziness if the horse is that way inclined I really rate Winergy low energy, as my mare has been on it since Feb, looks fantastic (soooo shiny!) is a lot less "flighty" and has controlled energy. If not winergy I would put her on Top Spec chaff as it is unmollased, with topspec and cool condition cubes they work really well without fizzing

 

[JackDaniels1]

Ah maybe that's where i'm going wrong.

Her chaff is just a cheap chaff, pegasus. I thought about switching to Alfa A Oil but wasnt sure if she'd need this what with the ad lib haylage?

The sugar beet is sugar beet shreds, shall i switch to speedibeet?

 

[JackDaniels1]

Yes her teeth have been done recently.

 

[teddyt]

There is no need to switch if the shreds are unmollassed- check the bag or ring the manufacturer. If you swap to alfa a oil you would be able to ditch the additional oil. As to feeding it alongside haylage- it depends on her weight. if her weight is ok then you dont need to feed additional hard feed. if she still needs to gain weight or needs more than haylage to maintain weight then yes, feed the alfa a oil as well.

Basically a horse will gain weight if fed more energy than it needs for everyday living and lose weight if it has insufficient energy in its diet. Fibre is a better source of energy for the horse because that is what the horses digstive system is designed to digest. Sometimes though you have to provide more energy than haylage or hay can provide- hence the hard feed. But still stick to fibre and oil if you can and minimise starch and sugar. alfa a oil will provide more energy than haylage if more energy is needed.