Extra energy needed

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Gorgeous George

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George seems to have gone into laid back/chilled out mode
grin.gif
Problem is that when I ride him he seems to be lacking in energy, he's not lazy as such and he does his work but he almost seems to flag after a while! He seems absolutely fine in himself and he hasn't lost any weight, but I wondered if he needed a bit more energy in his feed (not too much mind!) At the moment he gets 2-3hrs turnout a day, adlib hay, and 2 feeds, each are 1.5 scoops of hi-fi lite and 1.5 mugs lo-cal balancer, he also gets his snack ball once a day with 5 handfuls of baileys working horse and pony cubes (no. 2) in it. He is 16.3 550kg and a reasonably good doer.

Thanks
 
Could it be fitness he is lacking rather than energy? Have you upped his workload (either in terms of length or difficulty)?
 
I haven't really upped his workload, although he hasn't been out for a couple of weeks due to flooding so maybe his fitness has dropped off a bit. Whilst he was in he was going on the horsewalker twice a day, 30mins each time, and then being ridden for 40mins-1hr 6 days a week mostly walk and trot with some cantering.
 
I have this problem all year round!!

I have to feed masses of everything to my mare but at the mo its worse with no grass. My youngster who is just back into work so he has this problem too I feed over the day
As much hay as physically poss
2 scoops D& H weight gain
2 scoops Alfa A
1 scoop (soaked) speedy beat
2 x handfuls of oats
carrots

out in the day and He has the work to justify this but he need to gain weight also atm
 
I agree on the fitness bit, we thought we needed extra energy in the feed last year but it was actually more of a fitness issue. The horse, while be ridden every day wasn't really doing much work, if you know what I mean. We fittened her up by introducing more canter work and most days she now gets at least 30 mins of cantering, and some galloping, included in a 1 hour or more ride..
 
Now I think about it, it probably is a fitness issue, although we've not been exercising for longer we have been doing more canter work, also since I fell I've been in the school more.
 
When I was at Hickstead we were lucky enough to meet the lovely Jo Bates.

We have very similar problems with stamina with George and she recommended getting Vitamin B12 from our vets and for a few days before a show giving it to him.

I plan to do this this season but when I got home I put him on red cell when he was working. A maintenance dose as a rule and up the dose before say a lesson. It definately seems to have helped him last a bit longer and the science does make sense to me to. (In lay terms - as that's all I'm capable of - B12 is supposed to help the blood carry more oxygen, hence helping him to take longer to get into oxygen debt).

Maybe try red cell?
 
The only problem with fitness is that now she is fit she's bursting out of her skin, the first 10mins of each day's riding is interesting to say the least. She does settle but is very forward going and explosive! She doesn't get turned out at the minute so you may not suffer this unfortunate side effect of fitness LOL..
 
I would try upping his calories just a little to help - as someone else said, the grass has nothing in it at the moment, and hi fi lite and low cal balancer are both quite low in energy terms. Worth a try - but do it gradually of course and not just before a dressage test or you will be cantering the whole thing!
 
[ QUOTE ]
When I was at Hickstead we were lucky enough to meet the lovely Jo Bates.

We have very similar problems with stamina with George and she recommended getting Vitamin B12 from our vets and for a few days before a show giving it to him.

I plan to do this this season but when I got home I put him on red cell when he was working. A maintenance dose as a rule and up the dose before say a lesson. It definately seems to have helped him last a bit longer and the science does make sense to me to. (In lay terms - as that's all I'm capable of - B12 is supposed to help the blood carry more oxygen, hence helping him to take longer to get into oxygen debt).

Maybe try red cell?

[/ QUOTE ]

Kossolian, a supplement by Day Son & Hewitt have B12 in; it is brilliant as a pick me up; perhaps try a tub of that before going down the vet route? Although I assume RC does the same job too.
 
Propell Plus does the same thing as red cell aswell. However, I wouldnt be feeding this unless hard feed was being fed in large amounts, or horse was competing. No need IMHO! Try upping his cubes to something a little more energy dense, I use either Spillers Slow release or Baileys endurance mix on my very good doer, and he looks fab on them and has enough enegy to do what I ask of him. Adding oil may help too?
 
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