Cob feed sugestions.

[SamanthaToby]

Hi all, need some advice. I am feeding my 15hh tradional cob hay he is 550g an is having 9kg of hay a day an then 2 kg of spillers daily fiber an pony cubes at nigh and a hay ball.
He has only been on the hard feed since xmas. The last month he has been so fizzy an I put it down to him being in off the field an the weather but i go on him today in the paddock and he will walk fine but cat leaps when you ask for trot. He for to the point where we cant hack out as he will not walk he trots an sticks his bum out an he used to be bomb proof. It's not his back as he does this when I lunge him.
I'm after some reassurance more than anything.
He had just come back into light work this last 2 weeks i thought that would calm him down.

 

[Pinkvboots]

If his weight is good cut the hard feed right back and maybe lunge for 10 minutes before you ride to get rid of some energy.

 

[SamanthaToby]

If his weight is good cut the hard feed right back and maybe lunge for 10 minutes before you ride to get rid of some energy.

His weight is ok atm but I dont want him going any lower wich is why I put him on the hard feed. We have 8 or so weeks till we back turned out

 

[cobgoblin]

I would just cut out the hard feed and give more hay.

 

[be positive]

If he is not getting any turnout, sorry but your posts are not really clear, then no wonder he is messing about when you ride, unless he is getting a hour minimum of good exercise every day he will be fresh and that will show by being jumpy, getting his back up or generally playing up, he needs the hard feed cut out, his hay should be adlib, not restricted, and he needs to have some proper exercise every day until he can go back out in the field, if the yard stops turnout the owner has two options they either move to somewhere else or they make do and give the horse less feed and more work.

 

[sbloom]

Turnout definitely helpful, and think through anything else that mentally could be triggering him. I would cut out any bagged feed unless it's iron free and below 10% combined starch and sugar. Feed a vitamin/mineral supplement, iron free, with a handful of low calorie chaff.

Next is physical comfort, just because a horse behaves similarly on the lunge etc doesn't mean it's not pain related, so I would get him and the saddle checked, in that order. If he's sticking his bum out he's moving in really poor posture which is either indicative of his general way of going at the moment, or at best indicates he's going to cause himself more problems.

In an ideal world I'd want one person, or a team, to look at him who understand physical therapies and posture, and can look at him holistically rather than just trying to find sore spots and treat them.

 

[Cob Life]

The cob I ride gets fizzy on too much hard feed, he gets half a scoop of dengie hi fi light (cause he's fat) and 1/4 scoop speedi beet, he's on,y fed this in winter and in hard work loses weight on it.

I'd increase hay, work load and turnout and decrease hard feed.

 

[L&M]

Up the forage, turnout and exercise, and cut out all hard feed - my normally placid cob becomes a real handful if restricted in his turnout and given hard feed.......