conditioning feeds help please

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black_horse

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ok here is the background, 17hh hanovarian 7yo mare, medium workload, prone to weight loss and can get fizzy on high startch feeds. did not do well wiht baileys conditioning mix/cubes (blew her mind!), current weight = 658kg

currently she is on ad libitum hay, (no t/o till mud fever clears up), 1 x scoop saracen minty chaff per feed, 1 cup full of equijewel per feed, 1/2 scoop saracen releve, sugar beet, garlic, farriers formula and feedmark pro bio. (fed twice a day)

She was doing really well on the the saracen releve last year (original weigh 505kg! so put on 153kg since on it) but we are finding she is getting a little fizzy on the releve again so the tendency for the YM to decrease the amount of the mix she is fed.

I want to call upon HHO's experiences and views on the range of conditioning feeds about and the feed regime she is currently on. should i stick at it or play about it bit. was wondering about winenergy conditioning feeds?

cookies for getting this far
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I can highly recommend winergy equilibrium condition - I've had two on it all winter and they haven't dropped in weight at all. They had ad lib hay but nothing else special. It's not the cheapest of feeds and for a horse of your girls size you'll go through roughly a bag and a half each week but it is honestly worth it
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1 cup of equijewel is not very much. Re-leve is not a high starch feed but if even that is fizzing her up then you need to go lower again. You could drop the re-leve and increase the sugar beet (make sure unmollassed) and equijewel. A better chaff would be alfalfa.
 
I can not recommend the equivite body builder enough, it is very very expensive but is the only one that we have found the genuinely adds condition, but doesn't fizz them up.
 
I've used winergy condition in the past for my very fizzy mare and found it fantastic. She looked brilliant on it and didn't fizz up at all. I actually found it fairly economical to feed - once she was at a nice weight I cut it to 1kg a day and found she maintained weight beautifully on this.

Most other conditioning feeds send mine bonkers and then she actually seems to lose weight as she spends so much time behaving like a loon
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I tried several combinations of feeds and Baileys, D&H, Spillers Conditioning but have found the most success at putting weight on with Top Spec Comp Balancer and Outshine, speedibeet with a bit of Happy hoof. This combination despite costing £40 for a bag is actually saving me money (compared to forking out £12 - 15 every week on just conditioning foods plus supps, oil, linseed etc.

It also means tiny volume of food. This was a big issue for me as my boy hated ploughing through a bucket of food, he also hated lots of oil and alfafa-Oil. It also saves me petrol money going to the feed store every week. I know he is getting all the vits and mins and biotin and probiotics and protein he needs from the TopSpec and low starch, and high kcals from the Outshine from linseed/oil contect. He has actually put weight on and his coat looks fantastic. A big factir for me was also that I wanted no fizziness as I only ride once or twice a week.

Pleased with results as he is calm and happy and actually enjoying his food for a change, and coming out the back end of winter looking better than he has in the 7 months I have had him (He has been on this feed for 4 weeks now)

Other info - out 24/7 on 3 acres, adlib haylage (but very small appetite!)

A
 
she is a typical highly strung mare so her feeding regime is a bit of an artform. in the summer she lives out 24/7 and so can be fed alfa oil instead of the minty chaff. The chaff she is on at the moment is just for roughage due to digestive upsets (she has problems due to antibiotic use in the previous year) and is quite prone to scour (hence the pro biotic supplement). she does look good but she needs to be 700kg if not more for her size. i cannot really fault the feed she is on at the moment, she has continued to gain weight over the winter. however, i just dont feel it is as suitable for her now as it was back in august 08 when she went onto it. She was moved off alfa oil in the winter as she ceased to live out 24/7 and her behaviour changed slightly on it (too much oil in her diet maybe + lack of turnout and restricted exercise).

the winenergy feed, how much do you feed at day? ideally i would like to keep her on the equijewel (its a rice bran supplement) and is great at adding the necessary calories and oil in her diet.
 
Winergy reccomended me 3kgs a day for my 16.2hh - however I started on 2kgs then cut to 1kg after a month. She was being worked for 1-2hours a day at the time.

Its basically fibre so you can chuck it in a big bucket overnight if required.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I tried several combinations of feeds and Baileys, D&H, Spillers Conditioning but have found the most success at putting weight on with Top Spec Comp Balancer and Outshine, speedibeet with a bit of Happy hoof. This combination despite costing £40 for a bag is actually saving me money (compared to forking out £12 - 15 every week on just conditioning foods plus supps, oil, linseed etc.

It also means tiny volume of food. This was a big issue for me as my boy hated ploughing through a bucket of food, he also hated lots of oil and alfafa-Oil. It also saves me petrol money going to the feed store every week. I know he is getting all the vits and mins and biotin and probiotics and protein he needs from the TopSpec and low starch, and high kcals from the Outshine from linseed/oil contect. He has actually put weight on and his coat looks fantastic. A big factir for me was also that I wanted no fizziness as I only ride once or twice a week.

Pleased with results as he is calm and happy and actually enjoying his food for a change, and coming out the back end of winter looking better than he has in the 7 months I have had him (He has been on this feed for 4 weeks now)

Other info - out 24/7 on 3 acres, adlib haylage (but very small appetite!)

A

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may i ask what breed/type of horse he is and the workload? my horse is quite a poor doer in the past, and in the past was almost impossible to feed, almost resulting to force feeding her as she simply wouldnt eat. however she has now learnt she loves eatting and is never happier.

would maybe implementing haylege in the diet as well as hay help? though in the past she can get a lil scoury on haylege.

argh such a mine field
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[ QUOTE ]
Winergy reccomended me 3kgs a day for my 16.2hh - however I started on 2kgs then cut to 1kg after a month. She was being worked for 1-2hours a day at the time.

Its basically fibre so you can chuck it in a big bucket overnight if required.

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thats why im attracted to it, as horses have evolved to live off fibre, i was thinking along the lines more fibre = more condition. how much roughly does a bag cost?

do you feed that singularly or with other products? whats the DE of it?
 
 
I found that ReLeve started to fizz up my lad if I fed him much of it, he was ok on 3/4of a scoop a day but above that I started having problems.

I've been really impressed with Top Spec Cool Condition cubes, they don't seem to fizz him up at all & he loves them. I feed them with TS Comprehensive Balancer & Simple Systems Lucienuts & he's looking really good - good topline, good muscle, plenty of energy & stamina but calm & relaxed. As a big plus his normally terrible feet are better than they've ever been so I'm saving money as I don't need a hoof supplement!
 
I have a Dutch warmblood mare who is of similar temperament to yours and I find the most succesfull way to keep weight and condition on her is a high fibre diet with as much haylage as she can eat.

She has a big bucket of ready grass mixed with some safe and sound and high fibre nuts am with carrotts in the field with a slice of hay ( No grass at the moment) and the same in the evening plus as much haylage as she can eat. I do give her a vitamin supplement. She is not working very hard at the moment but has plenty of energy and the shiniest black coat you have ever seen! Keep it simple.

My mare is not a particulary fussy eater and does always eat up, but only if she is left in peace and that is the key for her. She wont eat if too much activity is going on around her.
 
TGM = thanks very much!
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here is a cookie and a red nose for you
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Winenergy seems to be the winner so far...i cant get copra feeds in where i work (i work in a tack shop so with the staff discount get my feed their also)
 
He is a TBx 16.1hh 12 yr old, high withers, TB feet.

For what its worth, I like the sound of Winergy (and have used it wtih my last horse with success) but I knew my boy just wouldnt eat that amount of food in a bucket (I could only split it between 2 feeds a day).

Good luck with finding a solution - its hard work....
 
i used winergy for about 2 months it was very good but i found it very expensive and was unable to sustain buying it long term, i have switch to alfa a, fast fibre and calm and condition and my very hyper fizzy tb mare is calm as anything a changed horse, everyone down my yard has noticed the difference the calm and condition has made.

good luck its a minefield out there
 
i found winergy too expensive. my boy is really hard to keep weight on and is in hard work hunting once a week. he;s currently on:
1.5-2.5kg TopSpec CoolCondition cubes
1.5-2.5kg Saracen Re-Leve (which really shouldn't make them fizzy as it's got no cereals at all in it and it's low levels of starch are from fibre only sources - although it does have peas in so that might be it) - mine is v sensitive to cereals but seems ok on this
1kg Bailey's Outshine (tried Equijewel in the past, but Outshine is even more conditioning)
500grams (full rations) TopSpec Comprehensive Feed Balancer so i know he's getting all the vits and mins he needs

He's also on Fenugreek just started reently as it's meant to be good for fussy eaters.

I struggle to get him eat enough - the above amount of feed is split into 2 feeds and the ranges are because he doesn't always eat it all. Depends on how much work he's done as if he's worked hard his appetite is less. He gets hay overnight in the field and is out 24/7 on ok grazing. If I have time to feed him a 3rd meal then he gets Alfa-A Oil and speedibeet/soaked alfalfa pellets.
 
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