Ex racers & weight

Mine last November (ish)

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Last weekend

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She also had a month in hospital from end of November to end of December so she came out looking pretty much like she did in the first photo and then was on box rest and at rehab until end of March. So I would say that she has put the condition on between April and now.
 
I tried loads of different feeds as she was really fussy, and then a racehorse trainer advised me to give her something called Readymash Extra by Rowen and Barbary. I initially fed mine about three quarters of a round stubbs scoop with the same amount of water on (you have to add water) - leave for 5 minutes then mix in a handful of Alfa A Original. She wasn't keen at first, so I added some molasses but she then ate it quite happily without the molasses - she loves it and my veteran ex-racer has moved onto it as well.
Some people on here have said that it gave their horses the wildshites, but neither of mine have had any problems with that! Good luck!
 
Ok cool. I'm just wondering if less is more IYSWIM? At the moment mine gets 1 scoop C&C, ½ scoop barley rings, ½ scoop topline cubes, ¼ chaff and ¼ lo cal twice a day. But she has been on this for a month with no visible improvement. I am just wondering if I should just give 1 x C&C and 1 x barley rings instead? She also gets a glug of oil in each feed as well.

ETA: I take photo's of her every week to compare so would know if she was putting it on.
 
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I found that C&C did absolutely nothing for my lad might be worth looking into other feeds that put weight on. I found Dodson and horrell build up mix really helped him get from skinny ribs to a normal size.
 
It just seems that ReadyMash is basically fibre so as I have ½ a bin of Fast Fibre in the feed room from the winter perhaps that would do the same job?
The other thing I was looking at was sugarbeet with barley rings and grass nuts?
 
I think you're right - less might be more. the readymash swells considerably when it's soaked which is why I only add a handful of chaff to it.
I would forget Calm and Condition - all it really is is chaff and sugarbeet - I tried her on that when I first got her and it was a complete waste of money. The readymash is a bit more expensive than other feeds - I think about £13 a sack, but it lasts my two TBs for just over a fortnight....in fact it's probably three weeks, so it works out about £2 - £3 per week per horse...
 
Do you think FastFibre would do the same as I already add oil to her feed? Just that I have ½ bins of all the above and am loathe to go and buy more food until it's run out - plus I've run out of bins!
 
Hi EKW, thanks. Unfortunately I will be back to work full time tomorrow so will only be able to feed 2 meals a day, would 2 scoops a meal be OK? Also could I feed these with readymash/sugarbeet/fast fibre?
 
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Dr Green works every time, forget feeding anything with cerals and just plough fibre into them, possibly with added oil if needed. But seriously IMO Dr Green is the single best thing for getting weight on.
 
her routine is this:
out 9am to 7pm on good grazing, in at night with 1 ½ slices of haylage (large bale) with the above mentioned feed.

As she can't go out 24/7 (not enough land) would grass nuts be a good idea?
 
I'd say 1.5 scoops twice a day as they can only eat so much before the rest goes to waste. If you are slightly put off by the name - Racehorse Cubes then go for the Bailey's Topline Conditioning Cubes - almost exactly the same only the Racehorse Cubes have 0.5% more protein in them than the Topline Cubes :D
 
Ah in that case I'm not sure they will work, she is already on the Bailey's topline cubes!

I will put a pic up but please don't shout at me I know she is skinny hence the thread!

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I feed mine grass nuts but they don't really add condition, if you want condition then copra meal is the wonder feed.
 
Dizzle said:
I feed mine grass nuts but they don't really add condition, if you want condition then copra meal is the wonder feed.
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Copra Meal is coconut based. Some horses love it, others hate it. I can't even get my shetlands to eat it let alone the TB's! So I can't say whether it works or not only that I have a nearly full bag of the stuff that I have no use for after spending 2 months trying to track some down!
 
I'm as far from Surrey as you can get - I'm in Scotland lol! If you go into your local feed merchant they should be able to order it in for you. I can't remember the name it trades under now though.
 
fibre and plenty of it! plenty of haylage and grass like you are doing. some nice big feeds of fast fibre (or similar) and unmollased high fibre chaff. alfa or hifi. a balancer of some kind. i found soya oil good also.
Im not a fan of high conditioning feeds, never did mines guts any good. always very gassy and uncomfortable and bloomin loopy sometimes!
 
LOL! Not just a quick drive up the road then. :rolleyes:

Do you think when I go to the feed merchant next if I get readymash and copra and give her ¾ of each for breakfast and dinner with her lo cal it might get some weight on her?
 
I can join in on this post .. I bought my mare in august and she was so underweight and condition.. It didn't help tha winter was coming round the corner..

I can't find any pictures of what he was like when I first got her but here she is during the winter time ..

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And then this is her on Saturday -
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she still has more muscle, topline to come but I'm so pleased with her weight at the moment.

She's 6 and she's fed a full flat scoop of Allen and page calm and condition and a full flat scoop of alpha a oil garlic carrots .. But in the winter she also had alphabeet aswell but we've not long had her on the alpha a oil but I swear by it!

It's really suited her and she's
looking the best she's ever looked.. It's taken us since august to get her like this but in febuary time she got absess in her neck so was put on anti biotics she lost more weight and went down to 425kgs and last time I used the weigh tape she was about 510 but think she's more then that now.

Sorry I go on about my horse lol ;)
 
Hi BBH, just had a quick scan through the posts so sorry if i have missed the answer but how long have you had your ex-racer? It does take a little time for them to put condition on and a bit of patience can be required. I've had my boy 6 months now and he has just got to the point when i can't see his ribs and is in lovely condition.
He is on Dr Green 24/7, and the following twice a day: A&P CC (1 scoop), Alfalfa (1 scoop) and a gulg of soya oil. I have to admit that at one point i thought about changing it all as i didnt think i was getting a quick enough result. But a learned friend said that once he truely settles and i see him lying down in the field the weight will appear. About 4 months in i noticed that he was now lying down in the field and having a mid-morning snooze and hey presto the condition started to pile on.
Also i assume the usuals have been done: worming (not just egg count), teeth, back, feet etc?
Good luck :)

Also
 
Hi dab yes all checks have been done and she had a course of the 5 day panacur wormer. I've had her since 1st April. She's always been chilled and lies down in HER stable
 
Sorry on phone so can't edit! She lies down in her stable, none of the horses lie down in the field as it is on a steep hill!
Also when she came she would only eat. Small meal but now tucks into her food quite happily.
 
Sorry on phone so can't edit! She lies down in her stable, none of the horses lie down in the field as it is on a steep hill!
Also when she came she would only eat a small meal but now tucks into her food quite happily. Another thing is when she came she occasionally wind sucked but now has completely stopped, she was scoped for ulcers but none were found.
 
My TB ex racer mare is on ready mash extra too. Have used the ready mash in the past for my other horses but the extra has added soya oil and milk powder in it. It was recommended by someone who shows horses and they also said Sumo Muscle Builder was good as well ( expensive, but good). I have since recommended Rowan and Barbary feeds to other people over the years, especially to those who have veterans ( as two of my horses are, including the ex racer).
 
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