Changing feeds - how?

[Gorgeous George]

Sorry this is a bit long winded so bear with me:
My new boy was fed 1 scoop of alfa a oil and 1 scoop of own brand h&p mix twice a day before I got him, I kept to the same feeds as I didn't want to upset him but cut it down to half a scoop of each twice a day as I'm not riding him as much. However, although he has settled in he has got bags of energy and carted me round the school today in canter

and my instructor felt it was probably due to the lush grass he now has and still too much feed.

So I have decided that I'd like to change him onto Dengie Hi-fi lite (in case the sugar is fizzing him up) and baileys lo-cal balancer to make sure he gets his vits and mins, so how do you go about swapping his feeds over (esp when you feed so little) and how long should you take to do it?

By the way he is a chunky 16.3 thoroughbred x who is doing light work 5 days out of 7, I wouldn't go so far as to say he is a good doer but he certainly maintains weight reasonably well (or so his previous owners told me).

Feeding for us first timers seems a complete minefield

and the people at the yard are so helpful but everyone feeds different things and some of the feeds have about 20 components. I just want to hack and school gently without George going off on one

Thanks again for your help.

p.s. Don't worry though I love my new boy dearly

esp when we met a big tractor on the road today and he didn't flinch

 

[PennyJ]

I've always just changed the feed, simple as that, with no ill effects.

 

[JAK]

I would tend to change it a handful at a time, over a period of a week or so. He's not having much & you're only changing chaff brands really & swapping the mix for a balancer. Should be fine.

Is he coming in at night? If so, presumably he has hay, so does he really need any feed at all? (Just a thought!)
If he does come in at night, maybe just give him a bit of balancer in a snak-a-ball or something, though he may not really even need this.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

If your horse or pony is turned out daily & looks fine you may wonder wether he needs a hard feed at all.

Grass can be very variable in nutritional content, so even if your horse is getting all the energy he needs from his field then he may be missing out on vital vitamins & minerals.

To ensure that your horse receives a full specification of vitamins & minerals you should feed him either a concentrated feed that is high in vitamins & minerals but low in calories such as Happy Dieter, a braod spectrum balancer such as Blue Chip Original or a broad spectrum vitamin & mineral suppliment such as Equivite Original in a double handfull or chaf

The above is credited to Elizabeth Wilkinson Equine Nutritionist
I hope this helps

 

[Gorgeous George]

Thanks, now concerned that I'm still feeding him too much, he goes out during the day for about 6hrs and has about 3 sections of hay a day in the stable and at the moment he gets ridden for no more than 1hr 5 days out of 7, mostly walking/trotting and some (manic!) cantering. This is what he looks like at the moment, I think he is about right, but I don't have much experience:

Thanks again

 

[RobinHood]

I think the hifi and baileys lo-cal would be a good starting point because he will be getting all the vitamins and minerals that he needs but hopefully without the manic behaviour!

I'm going to hold my hands up and admit that I would probably just swap his feeds straight over. To make yourself feel like you're doing it properly you could continue to give him a handful of his old mix for the first week or so.

 

[Walder]

i totaly agree - gorgeous_george i think you are spot on with low cal and hi fi - that is what i fed mne when she arrived - and i can strongly recomend it - it means you dont have to fiddle about with mineral and vitamin suplements - which to my thinking are the most confusing - with that diet you know hes getting what he needs and when you get to know him better you can then tailor his requirments to suit him and his temrement - good luck x

 

[Paint it Lucky]

I think that is a good choice of feed to change to, I would change over gradually, ie. slowly reduce his amount of current feed as you gradually introduce his new feed over a two week period. Changing suddenly can be got away with in some horses but it risks colic or at least intestinal upset and an under par horse for a few days as his bacterial hindgut population has to adapt to the new feed which takes time, so he won't get all the energy and goodness out of the food for several days.

 

[Orangehorse]

Just start off with taking away a handful of the old feed and adding a handful of the new and gradually alter the proportions over a week. You are not feeding large quanitities or anything very different, so it isn't going to matter too much.