Chaff

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Gentle_Warrior

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I need to change horses chaff, he has dropped weight recently and dont want him loosing anymore, especially as the worst of winter is yet to come. Current feed is as follows

Morning
1/2 scoop Baileys Top Line
1 scoop Hi Fi Lite
1/2 scoop soaked speedi beet
4 tbl spoons linseed oil

Evening
1/2 scoop Baileys Top Line
1 scoop Hi Fi Lite
1/2 scoop soaked speedi beet

Hay
about a bale a day at present

Him
He is a chunky boned, 15.3hh Gelding Cob cross. His weight in Summer and Autumn was around 616kg which is an ideal weight, even vet said. He has dropped, which is to be expected to 585. But dont want him loosing any more, age is 20 (21 this May) teeth, feet and worming are all upto date and fine. His withers are nicely promentant, spine silightly raise but ok. I cant feel his ribs and he has a very nice thick coat, he seems to have mainly lost in neck and rear legs. No bum gutter either.

Living
he lives out 24/7 ruggless (First winter) . He is currently not being ridden due to weather and just general winter light conditions etc when he is it is hacking, obviously gently until he gets fit again !

In the summer he gets chaff and Baileys Lo-cal balancer along with linseed oil.

in the summer he can be prone to wieght gain which I manage with restricted grazing.

Which chaff would you use, was thinking the Alfa oil ?

I will rug, but would rather not, will use as a very last option. He generally looks very good, but nervous of the cold weather to come and more loss.

Thanks in advance
 
I've just changed my idxtb from Alfa-a to Alfa oil, was advised higher calorie as he's dropped some weight, so perhaps try this?

I'm yet to see if there is any improvement, only started him on it this week :o

Just so long as he doesn't loose any more weight!!

It may be better to rug if the weather becomes more extreme as it will stop him from using all extra calories staying warm? But then I have to rug as mine is a giant wuss :o
 
Thanks GG, it is our first winter naked, so first time had weight looss to deal with, normally desperately getting him to loose it, not put it on !!!

May well try the Alfa Oil.

Cheers
 
I am puzzled as to why you think Chaff will make a difference? Back in the day (about 100 years ago) chaff was fed by the handful and mixed into the feed to ensure that the horse chewed his food properly and therefore made better use of it. It wasn't considered a feed in itself.

Are you saying this is his first winter out without a rug? Unsure from your post. I am not one to advocate the indiscriminate overuse of rugs but if he has always had one in winter then at 20 years old that may be your answer. Maybe a medium weight at night would make all the difference so that his food would go to maintaining his weight rather than having to work so hard to keep him warm. Just some thoughts.
 
You say that you can't feel your horse's ribs. For me, that is not a horse who needs more food. If he looks less well than he did before then, for me, he was either far too fat, or he has simply lost muscle tone from having less work.

I have never owned a horse whose ribs I could not feel, and if I had it would have gone straight onto a restricted diet with extra exercise.

I understand that he is heavier built than my horses, but my 16.3 MW warmblood and my 17 hh LW warmblood both weighed only a few kilos more than your 15.3 cob.

What is wrong with letting him lose a little more weight now, as nature intended, so that you don't have to restrict him so much when the grass starts to grow again? Horses aren't biologically designed to be the same weight all year round.
 
ChristmasPTrees said:
You say that you can't feel your horse's ribs. For me, that is not a horse who needs more food. If he looks less well than he did before then, for me, he was either far too fat, or he has simply lost muscle tone from having less work.

I have never owned a horse whose ribs I could not feel, and if I had it would have gone straight onto a restricted diet with extra exercise.

I understand that he is heavier built than my horses, but my 16.3 MW warmblood and my 17 hh LW warmblood both weighed only a few kilos more than your 15.3 cob.

What is wrong with letting him lose a little more weight now, as nature intended, so that you don't have to restrict him so much when the grass starts to grow again? Horses aren't biologically designed to be the same weight all year round.
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Excellent advice.
 
I never noticed the fact you couldn't feel ribs, in this case he's probably fine. Ideally you should be able to feel ribs but not see.

I'm starting to be able to see ribs slightly on my boy, hence the chaff change and addition of conditioning cubes. He was already on a 16+ mix, chaff and sugarbeet, have added conditioning cubes and reduced amount of chaff, so he's not got food mountain at feed times.
 
How are you?

From what you say, doesn't sound like he's underweight at all, I am thinking he's losing muscle tone where you're not riding him at the moment. He has always been a lot fitter than you sometimes gave him credit for. Am guessing, as he's naked this year, he hasn't been clipped, and as I've seen him in the flesh, I know how wooly he can get, and would say, especially as its so mild at the moment, unless he is clipped, I wouldn't think he needs rugging, even at his age.
 
Would highly recommend Spillars conditioning chaff - my sister's tb has kept his weight this winter with just the chaff, a balancer and haylage where in previous years with different chaffs he's required hard feed as well
 
I am finding with my new boy, who is a cob with plenty of bone but not at all fat, that he seems to self-regulate feeding according to the weather. I'm a big fan of ad lib hay and am seeing more eaten when it's cold than when it is as mild as it has been for the last few days. He is out 24/7 but is rugged as he came to me having already been rugged for some weeks and therefore had no coat.
To get to the point, maybe you could try upping the amount of hay before changing feed? (Although a bale a day does sound as though it should last 24 hours!)
 
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