Current Condition and Winter Feeding Plan

[Henry.Col]

Hi

Just a few pictures of Henrys current condition (comments very welcome, but please be kind, only had him 2 months and he was a bag O' bones!) Would be interested to hear what people think weight wise? He is starting to get a real shine to his coat and a sparkle in his eye!

For winter feeding I was going to do a combination of barley/cool mix/baileys number 1/beet pulp. But I am very open to advice!! He will have as much turn out as possible and haylage. I have a feeling he will be quite a cold horse so want to keep as much weight on him as possible!

Alice

 

[Ladylina83]

Well what do you feed him on now ?

I have often found just adding speedibeet to the normal stuff works fine

 

[TGM]

He looks lovely!

Why do you want to feed a mixture of mix, barley and Baileys No 1? Why not choose the most appropriate one for his condition, workload and temperament, and just feed that alongside the beet (and of course plenty of good quality hay/haylage). If you choose to just give the mix you won't need to supplement with vit/mins if fed at recommended levels - with the barley and the No 1 you should really add a vit/min supplement or balancer as well.

 

[Firewell]

It sounds quite complicated what you are feeding!

We have just rehomed an ex-racer through a charity and I asked the charities we went to what they fed their TB's to keep weight on.

HERO's recommend a high protein diet. They said either D&H stud mix or build up mix (3-4 scoops per day) with blue chip pro and mixed with a double handful of Alfa and 2 squirts of linseed oil.

The other charity Moorcroft were totally different and recommended D&H high fibre nuts as you can feed as much as you like and they are safe (ie low in starch and sugar), plus ad lib hay.

The TB's looked amazing in both places so both methods worked. I personally use the high fibre route with my TB and I find as long as I feed enough of it then my horse stays very well.

The only thing I would say with your current feeding regime is that your ration is unbalanced feeding the cool mix and then adding the straights. You should feed either/or. Either stick to the barley and wheat and feed a balancer with a bit of chaff and s'beet OR use the recommended amount of a good conditioning mix or cube with chaff and s'beet.

 

[**Vanner**]

Agree with switching to full rations of a mix ~ conditioning or otherwise.

Personally i think he looks fab.

As an alternative what about a balancer and appropriate add on much as top spec plus cool condition that would help bring up his topline along with work.

 

[pennybun]

He looks well, similar to my boy. A couple of years ago I was feeding a very complicated package of mix, fibre, supplements etc etc and decided to make a change. I feed an all in one feed now, Winergy Equilibrium Condition and have been very happy with it. Last winter I just increased the amount, feeding less during the summer and he has kept weight on--another cold boy, but her lookes well now and I feel more confident going into the winter.

 

[MyBoyChe]

My 12 yr old TB does very well on a high fibre diet. He has HIFI lite + hi fibre nuts split into 3 meals and ad lib hay. If we get a really long cold spell I add A+P Fast Fibre to bulk it out. Sugar and cereals go straight to his head and as he is in very light work he doesnt need loads of high energy stuff. The last 2 winters he has held his condition very well.

 

[Mince Pie]

My cob will be on Alpha A Oil, Spiller's instant energy mix and speedibeet. Not sure about the mare yet but will figure that out when the time comes.

 

[KatB]

Just feed the recommended amount of whatever feed you decide, and you'll be grand What you are planning sounds very complicated!! His weight looks good, so depending on work/what you're feeding now, I would look at finding a high oil, low grain conditioning cube, and go from there. If you want to feed Bailey's, get their racehorse cubes, as they're the same as the topline cubes, but cheaper. I've had excellent reports on Hickstead's range, and feed the Paddock cubes and mix to my mare, which maintaisn her without making her silly. Their condition cubes are EXCELLENT, and very competitive.