Conditioning feed

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monica987

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I have been recommended Blue chip. I need some feed that will help bulk up my NF as he is loosing muscle, He is doing the same amount of work and working better than ever before however he is loosing condition as he sweats and then is hard to keep him warm (we cannot clip him out as he is a wimp!) I will be giving him a blanket before xmas hopefully. SO back to the original question, what feed? He is on 1 chaf, 1 nuts and 1 sugarbeat atm. and lives in with TO every day.
Thanx
 
Does the calm and condition make the horse calmer/more docile etc as mine is very laid back already and a lazy sod
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blue chip is a nutrient dense balancer and will not "bulk up" a feed, it will however, add essential micro-nutrients and contains yeast, which can help stabliise the gut and help it work more efficientley.
are worming and teeth upto date?
if he is sweating as badly as you say, add some electrolyte to his feed, and get him clipped, a blanket or a trace will be fine.
as for feed, are you feeding a normal oat straw based mollassed chaf?? if so i suggest you change to an alafalfa based chaff, much more nutritious and higher in protien, which is needed for growth and repair of muscle tissue, dengie's alfa a oil is a very good choice. it may also be a good idea to switch from basic pony nuts to a conditioning cube, as they will be higher in calories, keep up with the beet, and feed as much hay as he will eat.
 
D and H Buid up is brilliant with alpha A oil.
Think it is a lot cheaper than Blue chip as well. Could you clip him more so he doesn't sweat? This is what caused Major to lose so much condition once hnter clipped and very well rugged he was sooo much better.
 
No, the 'calm' just means it is designed to be slow release energy so your horse doesn't get the sudden burst of energy and fizz associated with some other high energy feeds.
 
He is getting a blanket in the next week or so. He has a trace now. He only sweats badly when hunting or intense schooling (two or 3 times a week) and hacks....so basicly all the time. Hmmm
Teeth and worming are up to date. He is not loosing weight etc just his muscle seems to be lacking whereas it wasnt a few weeks ago, even though he is getting more work and better work.
 
Build up helps to build up muscles and isn't too expensive we used it on R.
Ahh right maybe he will be better then?
 
be very careful with Blue Chip - it sent my calm and sane youngster mad. within 3 days of starting it he was un handleable - at 17'2 a nightmare. I took him off it and 3 days later he was sane and calm. tried 3 times with the same effect so I know it was the blue Chip. Try putting him on Linseed it will add condition without adding stupidity
 
I have both my NF's on blue chip lami lite and I am very pleased with the results. One is the completely laid back, extremely good doer sort you can feed anything to without it making him silly or whatever. The other is an entirely different kettle of fish who is incredibly sensitive to his feed. He can't have beet whether unmolassed or not, happy hoof sends him round the bend the only nuts I have found he can tolerate are the spillers hi fibre ones. The blue chip is fine with him, and you can see I have trouble finding things he can eat lol. My laid back good doer does very well on spillers response instant energy mix with chaff and the blue chip. On the other hand I know of other Foresters who have gone too laid back when theyve been on blue chip, similar sounding types to yours who don't hold their condition well. I think it's excellent stuff and it lasts for ages. If it works on him, you will be very pleased with the results.

PS I'd clip everything off except the legs if he was mine and just rug him up to the nines if he's a big cissy boy about being cold.
 
I think it depends on the horse or pony as I fed my boy A & P Calm and Condition and he was horrible and very stressy on it so he's now on Baileys No.1 with Alpha Oil and just loves his feeds and is a happy boy.
 
I'm convinced alfafa-based feeds help muscle them up - I can't give scientific proof, but just observation of my own horses who always seem to look better on alfafa. You could swap your chaff for a alfafa-based one, or you could try something like AlfaBeet or a similar alfafa/beet product. You could combine that with the Blue Chip as well if you want.

Adding some oil will also add lots of calories and give good coat shine. You can add your own oil, or feed something like Alfa A Oil.
 
High fibre is always best way to go as keeps the rest of the gut healthy and so hel;ps with absorbsion of anything else you give them!! Alfa Beet and oil is a fab combination as Thistle has mentioned, as the Alfa Beet is an effective replacment to the reduced amount of succulents horses get through the winter due to loosin good quality grazing.
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When i got my colt he was a complete hack rack,and it was the start of the winter.I fed him on show mix by balanced horse feeds and the results were amazing.It is a slow releasing energy feed so didnt send him loopy either.I would really recommend it.
 
Baileys Top Line Cubes (no.4) has been brilliant for one of mine, a slim TB x. He'll never be fat that's for sure but he's been the "fatest" he's ever been on this. He's been on Equilibra, Rowen & Barbury and Build Up in the past but this is definately the best. He also eats it all - he'd always get bored after a month or so with other stuff. He competes easily off it.

Soya oil is also excellent
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