Does anyone shred their own hay/haylage??

I think that to put on weight you need to feed him something in addition to haylage, no idea who came up with that idea, they should have a perfectly good set of choppers if rasped annually.
What is he getting to eat at the moment?
 
Lol I've had him on everything! Started with ready mash extra with Alfa oil 3 feeds a day that was in summer, then was advised to feed fast fibre but saw no benefit of that, then moved him on to equibeet with a high protein mix and mollichaff calmer, the equibeet sent him nuts so I swapped it for calm and condition and also tried a scoop of grass nuts and thirds in with that too, he gets corn oil and adlib haylage but he's quite stressy, he's a young stallion and is going for grading in spring so I'm desperate to get body on him. He's now on dengie happy tummy and top spec comprehensive and he's only been on it a week so I'm not seeing anything improving yet and if I'm honest looks more tucked up
 
When I first bought him I did post a thread on here for advise on best feed for him and didn't even get one reply lol. The lady who owns his sire feeds him D&H convalescent mix and she said his dad does great on that so I was tempted to try that next :-(
 
OK he has haylage ad lib, is he stabled 24/7?
What weight is he, are you using a weigh tape to monitor weight gain?

Do you weigh out his feed.
His diet seems to be a a bit erratic!.... oil? how much? minerals, where does he get them from......? I feel you need to think about this a bit more logically rather than dash from one thing to another.
Fast fibre is used for fat ponies, to slim them down by the way.
I assume you have had the teeth done [maybe every six months with younger animals] and a worming program [ask your vet ]
You can phone up the feed companies and ask for advice.
I am assuming he is getting some sort of work to build condition ..... T.B. yearling preparation for the sales includes at least an hour per day walking, in hand and / or on a walker, is he getting this sort of work.
A lot of people use Suregrow, I have used D&H Mare and Youngstock with success, but it is cereal based so he may get too excited.
Calm and Condition is for adult horses not growing youngstock.
 
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Ok he is 5 and is a part bred arab, he has turnout all day every day and is stabled on a night with lots of haylage. He is worked 3 -5 times a week depending on how bad weather is. His teeth were done when I bought him 6 months ago and were checked again a few week ago, he is up to date with worming. I have just been trying people's recommendations, he gets approx two table spoons of corn oil in each feed. He is in preparation for his spring grading at the minute and loose jumping, I have never had to worry about getting weight on anything before and usually am struggling to get weight off my horses so I'm struggling a bit with this one, I have just tried coligone this week to see if he had stomach complaints that maybe needing settling but the coligone hasn't made a difference. I also tried the freestep calmer in his feed and that didn't calm him at all
 
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A week isn't long enough to see a difference really. It might be worth a try swapping to hay as not all horses do well on haylage. If hay not an option, try a balancer like progressive earth pro balance, or forageplus balancer. Even something more mainstream like Blue Chip. Lysine is good for building up bulk and muscle.

Does he have haylage left in the morning? If not, feed more (or bulk out with hay or oat straw) until he has some left.

IF he is getting enough fibre/forage, he shouldn't really be struggling so something is not right, especially with the oil.

And the condition and shape you want will come from the riding/exercise.
 
lisa_dundee said:
Ok he is 5 and is a part bred arab, he has turnout all day every day and is stabled on a night with lots of haylage. He is worked 3 -5 times a week depending on how bad weather is. His teeth were done when I bought him 6 months ago and were checked again a few week ago, he is up to date with worming. I have just been trying people's recommendations, he gets approx two table spoons of corn oil in each feed. He is in preparation for his spring grading at the minute and loose jumping, I have never had to worry about getting weight on anything before and usually am struggling to get weight off my horses so I'm struggling a bit with this one, I have just tried coligone this week to see if he had stomach complaints that maybe needing settling but the coligone hasn't made a difference. I also tried the freestep calmer in his feed and that didn't calm him at all
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I can't stop laughing about the oil, sorry, if you want to use oil for conditioning I suggest you buy a sack of micronised linseed oil from Charnwood milling and start him off on 100gm, build up to 200 gms.
Weight out his haylage, is he actually ad lib, does he have some left in the morning, does he get a feed before he goes out, is he rugged?
OK 5 year old [rising six?] part bred arab horse, he could be about 465kg and assuming you want to get him to 485kg by spring he needs to put on 20kg over 20 weeks.
So you could weigh tape him every fortnight.
For my gelding, probably similar build but a bit smaller, he was getting:

500gms non molassed beet [has to be soaked], chaff, 30gms minerals, 100gms linseed per day and ad lib good quality hay [he ate a LOT of hay!!].
On this diet, he put on 5kg per week when he was underweight and not in work.
When he was getting 5 hours per week light work and out on good grass during the day, ad lib hay at night, he still was able to put one some weight, maybe 2kg per week.
You can buy a luggage scale to weigh the haylage, and the other ingredients. I agree about trying some hay as well as the haylage.

Re temperament, he is a young arab stallion and more likely to be a bit of a handful than not, calmers don't seem to be having much effect, I am not really surprised.
 
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He always has haylage left and it is very dry so almost like hay anyway, his shape isn't bad it's just he's lean and tucks up and never stops moving, he stands in his stable pacing on the spot, he never stops fidgeting and gets really lathered up when you travel him
 
lisa_dundee said:
He always has haylage left and it is very dry so almost like hay anyway, his shape isn't bad it's just he's lean and tucks up and never stops moving, he stands in his stable pacing on the spot, he never stops fidgeting and gets really lathered up when you travel him
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OK he is stressed, he is losing condition because he is not resting, this is a different matter.
Will need to think about it, what facilities do you have does he have company at all times or never has company?
Would he be better kept out 24/7?
It may be essential to stick to a fairly rigid routine with him as any deviation can cause stress.
 
I rather like him, he has a nice kind eye, but he is not underweight in my opinion he just need regular schooling to build his shape.
Others may have a different opinion, can you find a photo of a similar type but one which to you looks to be in show condition?
Is there any particular reason for keeping him entire, given the problems this can cause for his management?
I don't want to sound judgemental, but is he really outstanding of his type?
 
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He is happy turned out where the mares are in his sight, when I bring him in and he can no longer see the mares he stresses, it's not really an option to leave him out as he has no shelter in his field and he's such a softy and very fine and he would be cold, I could take him to my mums yard but the problem there is even though he is happier stabled there as it's very busy, he would have no turnout and I hate the thought of this for him so it would be an absolute last resort moving him to my mums, I would also struggle to work him from there as my husband bobs home in his dinner hour three days a week to watch my 12 month old little girl to allow me to work him.
 
MrsD123 said:
I rather like him, he has a nice kind eye, but he is not underweight in my opinion he just need regular schooling to build his shape.
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Thankyou, no he's not underweight he is just lean and this was the feedback I got from a show I took him to at weekend. He needs more bulk on him. At weekends I take him over to my mums as she has massie hills round her area and I get him walking up the hills and also use my Pessoa every week sometimes twice a week.
 
MrsD123 said:
I rather like him, he has a nice kind eye, but he is not underweight in my opinion he just need regular schooling to build his shape.
Others may have a different opinion, can you find a photo of a similar type but one which to you looks to be in show condition?
Is there any particular reason for keeping him entire, given the problems this can cause for his management?
I don't want to sound judgemental, but is he really outstanding of his type?
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Yes he was bought to breed for his movement and his conformation, he is an excellent cross for our mares and he would only be gelded if he failed his grading, his temperament is lovely, and I have only had him 6 months so not a long time at all really on the grand scale of things and still lots more I can trial and change, I can't find any pics but if you were stood at the side of him you would see what I mean
 
lisa_dundee said:
He is happy turned out where the mares are in his sight, when I bring him in and he can no longer see the mares he stresses, it's not really an option to leave him out as he has no shelter in his field and he's such a softy and very fine and he would be cold, I could take him to my mums yard but the problem there is even though he is happier stabled there as it's very busy, he would have no turnout and I hate the thought of this for him so it would be an absolute last resort moving him to my mums, I would also struggle to work him from there as my husband bobs home in his dinner hour three days a week to watch my 12 month old little girl to allow me to work him.
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If he has to be stabled at night he will need a companion, is he on his own?
If so it is unfair on him and you can easily end up with a stable vice, it sounds as though he is on the verge of it.
 
MrsD123 said:
I rather like him, he has a nice kind eye, but he is not underweight in my opinion he just need regular schooling to build his shape.
Others may have a different opinion, can you find a photo of a similar type but one which to you looks to be in show condition?
Is there any particular reason for keeping him entire, given the problems this can cause for his management?
I don't want to sound judgemental, but is he really outstanding of his type?
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MrsD123 said:
If he has to be stabled at night he will need a companion, is he on his own?
If so it is unfair on him and you can easily end up with a stable vice, it sounds as though he is on the verge of it.
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Yes he is stabled on his own on a night but I have left a section A mare in three stables down from him and he was just the same, I could try and borrow a gelding for a few nights and see if that makes a difference but really thinking of taking a companion on for him needs to be a last resort and I wouldn't want to be in a position where he marries up to it and then I can't do anything with him unless his companion comes along too. I'm not dismissing the idea I'm just trying to think of anything else that can be tried before hand.
 
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