Do you think this is too much feed?

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mudmonkey17

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My 17yr old horse is worked 5-6 times a week hacking, schooling, lessons and some competitions at weekends. He drops weight easier now he is older but generally a good doer.

He is not overweight at present and quite a few people including trainer, vet, farrier and saddle fitter all say what good shape he is in.

He is currently fed half a round scoop of topspec topchop lite and quarter of a scoop (before soaking) of veteran vitality morning and night. Also has cup of spillers lite balancer in nighttime feed along with joint supplement.

Woman who has been riding my horse the odd time is saying i feed him far too much so am paranoid now.

He gets a small net at night, which sometimes has some left in a morning and he out from around 8am to 6pm with the odd night out when weather good.

Thanks for reading
 
I agree for a horse that size it's not much. My 15.3hh good doer used to be worked twice daily 4-6 days on about 1 round scoop of cool mix but my 16.1 eventer gets 3 Stubbs scoops mix, one alfa a light and one of oats each day!!!!!

They're all different!!
 
If your horse is in good condition & has sufficient energy for what you are asking him to do without 'excessive exhuberance' then you must be feeding him correctly. You can't generalise amounts when feeding, different horses need different amounts & sometimes a totally different feed from another horse doing exactly the same work.

IF IT AINT BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!

Let that woman ride your horse but you're in charge of his feed....end of! :)
 
It doesn't sound too much and from what you say, it doesn't look too much either as anyone who matters is saying he looks good.

In terms of person saying he is fat, they can either continue to ride and keep their opinion to themselves or get their own horse to manage. Either way, have confidence in yourself.
 
I have a cob that works hard and gets 1scoop of Hifi light... And a DWB who does no work and gets 4 large corn based feeds a day ... And guess which is the fat one:)
 
Is she commenting on the size of the feed before or after soaking? I feed calm and condition, half a stubbs scoop with some chop and the feed looks huge after soaking, weighs a ton too, but obviously its mainly water!

If she is commenting on a pre prepared feed, I can see why she might have said it but she is wrong :)
 
My field ornament gets more feed than that! Surely the best indicator is the fact that he is in great shape and he does the work that you want him to do. Dont' change what obviously works for him just because someone else disagrees!
 
Thanks for all the replies has made me feel much better. Don't want to change his feed when he looks so good on it. The veteran vitality does swell loads once soaked so looks more in bucket. I make it quite sloppy aswell as he a fussy drinker in stable.
 
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