Diet for pony on weight watchers . . . . .

thenervouscob

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I've spent hours & hours poring over various feeds to try & give my welsh cob a nice balanced diet & would appreciate any advice.

We had a scare last week, when she turned towards me she had a hobble & with it being this time of year I had a melt down thinking she was footy/laminitis despite being in a small paddock & never having it before, so cue vet etc, turns out shes lame on her offside fore. But regardless, I need to sort out a low calorie feed which supports feet (thinking of going barefoot if poss) respiratory (SPAOD) & gut.

Looking at everything ingredients wise, how does this sound?
A supplement including garlic, oregano & cinnamon - proved to help the body process sugars/insulin better & also aid respiratory issues
Spillers lite & lean balancer - low starch, low sugar, magnesium, muscle support, zinc, copper with general vits & mins - just for general well being
Dodson & Horrell safe & sound chaff - low sugar, low starch, low cal, high fibre, MSM, biotin, yeast, antioxidants - for hoof support & metabolism

I've also seen Top Spec lite but can't find many details on the ingredients.

Thanks!
 

ester

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I would never feed garlic to a horse, unfortunately when I last looked there werent many respiratory supplements without it.
The recent advice on cinnamon has changed for metabolic stuff although a few people do still use it.
equimins adv. complete is my preference for a pelleted balancer but the spillers one at least ticks the no iron box :)
If feeding a balancer I wouldn't feed that chaff as you are doubling up on ingredients. What you choose as a carrier probably depends how fussy yours is, mine is fussy! So he gets agrobs.

I add additional magnesium as I have high calcium grazing and mine is likely metabolic.
 

Pearlsasinger

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Definitely no garlic, it destroys the healthy gut bacteria and is an irritant.

I would avoid the chaff as well. We use Agrobs haycobs as a carrier.
 

thenervouscob

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I would never feed garlic to a horse, unfortunately when I last looked there werent many respiratory supplements without it.
The recent advice on cinnamon has changed for metabolic stuff although a few people do still use it.
equimins adv. complete is my preference for a pelleted balancer but the spillers one at least ticks the no iron box :)
If feeding a balancer I wouldn't feed that chaff as you are doubling up on ingredients. What you choose as a carrier probably depends how fussy yours is, mine is fussy! So he gets agrobs.

I add additional magnesium as I have high calcium grazing and mine is likely metabolic.

Ooh thats interesting - I'd always heard garlic was good & is cinnamon not as recommended as before? See this is why I ask as I dont want to get the wrong stuff :( The lite & lean would be ok then? I won't get the chaff in cat case. She eats fast fibre - would that be a suitable carrier for the light & lean?

Definitely no garlic, it destroys the healthy gut bacteria and is an irritant.

I would avoid the chaff as well. We use Agrobs haycobs as a carrier.

It's the first I've heard of garlic being no good but then I havent done a good food revamp in a long time! I'll steer clear then.
 

ester

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I'm not sure about the other spec on the light and lean as it came out after I was balancer shopping. I do know a lot of people who find the equimins a good pellet, you also feed a lot less by quantity than other pellets.

If you are feeding a pelleted balancer you don't need a carrier for that bit just feed the pellets, that is more for any other supplement you want to give, however Fast fibre I would consider fine, some would say not due to the nutritionally improved straw.

cinnamon 'Cinnamon is no longer routinely recommended. While it can improve insulin sensitivity in other species, we’re not seeing an obvious improvement in insulin sensitivity indices in horses.' Dr Kellon

Hilton herbs freeway doesn't contain garlic and there are others.
 

Leo Walker

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I feed the powdered equimins in pink mash. It has 0.5% sugar and less than 3% starch and a tiny bit swells up loads so hides supplements easily, mine gets it at half rations. I like the fact the everything seems to do well on the pink mash and increasingly it is looking like gut health has a part to play in laminitis, although its early days for any research yet.
 

tristar

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I'm not sure about the other spec on the light and lean as it came out after I was balancer shopping. I do know a lot of people who find the equimins a good pellet, you also feed a lot less by quantity than other pellets.

If you are feeding a pelleted balancer you don't need a carrier for that bit just feed the pellets, that is more for any other supplement you want to give, however Fast fibre I would consider fine, some would say not due to the nutritionally improved straw.

cinnamon 'Cinnamon is no longer routinely recommended. While it can improve insulin sensitivity in other species, we’re not seeing an obvious improvement in insulin sensitivity indices in horses.' Dr Kellon

Hilton herbs freeway doesn't contain garlic and there are others.
since i started to give everyone a dollop of fast fibre morning and night, plus other stuff i can say they have never been better, why i have no clue
 

Goldenstar

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I never give horses garlic it’s really bad from them .
I give my fatties the forage plus winter performance balancer in a little bran with a small amount of micronised linseed .
I use the winter balancer because of the restricted grazing .
I then use top chop lite, poor quality but clean hay and Timothy haylege depending on the horse .
 

bubsqueaks

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I use Equimins pellet balancer as can feed alone & know everything is covered except for salt.
TBH its my personal belief that a vast majority of horse feeds & supplements other than a vit/min one are not based on proper research but a money spinning gain, so I believe money is better spent on getting your hay & pasture analysed as this forms the bulk of the horses diet & the bulk of the sugar they are consuming.
 
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Goldenstar

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I think it’s important to consider supplements when feeding horses on restricted diets as they may need nutritional support more than other horses .
I like the forage plus one because I know they work well for foot growth which is vital for Fatties and have been developed with supporting horses on forage based diets .
The winter supplements are the best for horses on restricted grazing .
 
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