Do i need to feed my boy?

RubyFrench

RubyFrench

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Hi everyone, after loaning horses for various periods throughout my teens, last friday I brought home my very own horse!! (hoorah!) but I am struggling to decide what to do about his food as I have never really needed to think about it before as the loan horses owner would sort it out for me!

Anyway, he's a 15.1 dutch x (this is a bit vague but his passport is dutch and this is all it describes him as!) although it does have a stamp on one page from the gypsy cob & drum horse association (nederlands) in it. He has probably been out of work for about 10 weeks now, because of last owner having little time for him and then he's had this week with me to chill and settle at the new yard, and then of course it snowed! But as of today I am going to start introducing him to work again. He will only ever be used for hacking, so my aim is not to get him super duper fit and muscley, but at the moment he has lost all of his muscle tone, especially around his rump.

The last owner didn't religiously give him hay, he barely came in from his field ever, but when he did she would give him a small feed to 'treat' him as he didn't really like the stable. He is now on grass livery with me, and I'm feeding him hay but do I need to introduce any kind of feed? I seem to be the only one on the yard who isn't feeding, my friend feeds her 3 (1 yearling, 1 oldie and 1 mare not in work) with grass pellets, and even the big cob I had on loan last year had a stubbs scoop of hifi lite every day, all year round..

Any suggestions would be great, thank you :)
 
Depends; is he overweight? the right weight? you could condition score him. If he looks and feels fine and can do the work you plan on doing with him then why bother spending money? Just make sure he has plenty of fibre from grass/hay.
 
If he can live with just hay then why start giving him a hard feed. obviously if he starts to lose weight when in work then you may want to start giving him a small feed but you will fnid a majority of horses will be able to survive fine on ad lib hay :-)
 
Not all horses need hard feed, many do fine on grass and maybe hay in winter, it really depends on how he's looking. As humans we think every animal needs feeds, I'm guilty of that myself! I'm no expert but the general rule if he looks okay is not to feed in anticipation of a workload increase or in anticipation of him possibly losing weight, but rather to increase the workload, and keep a close eye on him and increase feed if he starts to lose weight. So if needed you could just start off with a small feed of fast fibre or high fibre cubes or a feed balancer. the feed companies have telephone helplines which are generally pretty good. Don't be guilt-tripped into feeding him if he looks okay, learn to condition score you'll find details of how to on the Internet.
Anyway fab news that you have your own horse now ...how exciting!!!
 
I think once you've started working him again you should see if he's loosing weight and make the decision then. You could give him something like a balancer so that you know he's getting all his vitamins and minerals.
 
Unless in really good condition, I would give him one feed per day, not in a field with others as it will cause fighting. You need to check him over thoroughly every day, for cuts, lost shoes and general health.
Ask a knowledgeable person for their opinion on his current condition, you may need to keep , or build up his condition, on with hard feed.
Give ad lib hay, that deals with his forage.
But he needs minerals if he is going to work, ie be ridden, you could start off with Fast Fibre which is fed as a mash and will provide minerals for light work. Make sure he is not fed in the field with others, as this could cause fighting.
Start off with regular walking for 20 mins and build up to 40 mins over six weeks, including a few trots, then he is ready for schooling, which is a good thing to do as he needs to learn his aids to make him obedient and make every ride enjoyable.
 
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feed for the work your doing ,as hes not working at the minute then only feed if he needs condition. you could always give him something like topspec balancer if you really feel you must ,but adlib hay or haylage is most important!.xx
 
Thankyou everyone :)
I took him in the school today for about 15-20 mins just to see what he would be like, and as all of the hacking routes start off on the roads so if he were to play up I would rather him do it in a contained environment! And he was absolutely good as gold!! The farmer was shooting too and he wasn't bothered! Very impressed with him :)

Miss L Toe I found your advise particularly helpful Thankyou! I may look into giving him some minerals, I didn't really want anything that would provide energy so that sounds perfect!
 
would this help?? this was him on friday when i brought him home.

photo.jpg
 
From the picture he looks lean to me. I would want him to muscle up so this may require extra feed. Is give ad lib hay and if he looks like he is not muscling up or is losing weight at all I would give a Lo cal feel such as a balancer and a chaff like hi fi lite. You could feed him a wedge of haylage as his feed if you want to give him something else after riding.
 
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