Energy Supplements?

katiieking

katiieking

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I have a 16.2 10yr old Mare who jumps 1.10m very competitively.

However, she lacks energy, so during the summer season, she is being fed 4 scoops of 14% mix a day before. It's too much for my liking, but it's the only thing that gives her that 'oomph' that she needs!

I would much prefer to cut down on feed and up her supplements? Has anyone found any good energy supplements or feeds?
 
One big feed immediately before might not support her in quite the way she needs?

Obviously it is "horses for courses" (pun definitely intended). But we find one lad who needs to be on competition level mix pretty much constantly with NAF Ener-G in the 4 days leading up to a show - and throughout if it is multi day. But another lad who if you give him so much as a whiff of anything energy giving will so straospheric.

You might need to feed a higher enegery feed more constantly, or at least for more days before a show. One off feeds like that do carry a risk that the gut bacteria are not adjusted and could put you at a colic risk. Alternatively you could try swapping to a more enegry rich chaff like Alpha oil.

If you are not already, have you thought about limiting turnout daily and keeping her in all together 24 hours before a show? We found that made a big difference to our lad in need of spark. (and the mad one we leave out!)
 
Try the Spillers Instant response energy mix: http://www.spillers-feeds.com/products/response-competition-feeds/instant-energy-mix/

I have only recently started using it with my horse, he is on bag four although hes only getting a handful at the moment as he's in very light work due to an injury.

I was feeding it twice a day a Stubbs scoop split between two feeds. I found it very beneficial. He is 16 yrs 17.1hh WB gelding weighing in at around 690KG and relatively laid back. His problem is that he works but is very tired afterwards, at shows in between classes he is almost comatose, and nearly always falls asleep after 20-30 mns light schooling in the menage. I got him fairly fit before he got injured and he was doing really well on this feed and was perky, and forward going.

Its designed for laid back comp horses so suits him great. THey do a slow release which is ideal for not laid back horses. I spoke to the Spillers nutrionist and she said any competition feed needs to be fed daily, you can maybe give a little more the day before.
 
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katiieking said:
I have a 16.2 10yr old Mare who jumps 1.10m very competitively.

However, she lacks energy, so during the summer season, she is being fed 4 scoops of 14% mix a day before. It's too much for my liking, but it's the only thing that gives her that 'oomph' that she needs!

I would much prefer to cut down on feed and up her supplements? Has anyone found any good energy supplements or feeds?
Click to expand...

I don't really understand your starting point. What is the digestible energy of her current raton (bucket feed plus hay/haylage)? For her size she's probably going to need around 18-19 MCal per day (maybe up to around 20 MCal, you don't say how much she weighs). The 14% - is that the protein value in the hard feed? It doesn't really tell you that much unless there is a separate lysine figure which is indicative of quality protein, rather than crude protein. Weigh out your 4 scoops of mix and do the maths.

Your starting point probably should be to establish how much digestible energy she gets on her current diet - if it is expressed in MJ, multiply that figure by 0.239 to get MCal.
 
Are you feeding the 4 scoops in one feed, or spread out? If you're feeding 4 scoops of mix in one feed the horse may have hind gut acidosis, which would certainly affect performance.
 
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