Fast Fibre or Speedi Beet or something else?

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suzyqet

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Right, its that time of year again when I need to think about conditioning feeds for my big girl.

Last winter, was her first winter out 24/7 and although she was much less stressed, more manageable and seemed happier in herself, she dropped WAY too much weight for my likeing.

So, this year, I am going to change her diet and feed conditioning feeds. She has already started to drop the weight so is now on good quality grass (and lots of it) and is rugged in a 180 g rug.

I am thinking, Top Spec Cool Conditioning Cubes (on order, will be here Friday), Spillers Conditioning Fibre and either Fast Fibre or Speedi Beet. I was thinking about Calm & Condition but it is cereal based apparently and have to really limit her cereal intake (none if I can help it).

I cant feed her sugar beet as it sends her loopy (way too much sugar).

She is 17.2hh, DWB x ID x TB and is now retired.

So, any recommendations please?

Thanks to all.
 
whilst I like fast fibre, it is not a conditioning feed. it is quite low in calories and you would probably have to feed huge amounts of it to be of any benefit really. I fed mine over summer on it because our grass was so poor and eneded up having to go on sugar beet as he was getting thinner and thinner . he is normally quite a good doer and doesnt have anything other than grass in summer, and a balancer. speedi beet is more conditioning and if you want to stay cereal free, grass nuts are quite useful and good for putting on weight. you could always try adding some oil as well if she will eat it.
 
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My Arab is on Spillers Conditioning Fibre which I can't sing enough praises for!! I have recently added in Fast Fibre and I also feed this to my cob mare with Falcon Fibre Care.

I find it so easy to use, as it only takes 60s to soak in cold water!!

Its not markets as a conditioning feed but then neither is sugar beet. The conditioning fibre will help him keep condition, and the fast fibre will encourage his hidd gut to work to its full potential allowing him to get the most out of his feed, the fact that your feeding a 'wet' food mimics the horses natural diet as in the wild (I love that word!!) every thing they eat is succulent.

You may not need anything else with the Cond Fibre & Fast Fibre but if you do could try Falcon feeds: Equitona conditioner Mix

www.falconequinefeeds.co.uk

It says its has lower starch and higher fibre levels than traditional conditioners.

HTH :)
 
For mine that are going to winter out, there is no way they will be in rugs yet, it may be wet, but it is not cold, start rugging to soon you are losing the battle from the beginning, rugging flattens the hair and stops it being able to do its job. If your rug is too thin when flattening the hair, the horse cannot use their natural protection to keep warm and so burn fat. Remember this is still autumn and still September.

Secondly, fibre is your best friend, horses are very efficent at keeping themselves warm if they have enough fibre in their gut to keep them warm. If there is enough in your grass she should not be dropping weight. Alpha A and sugar beet (speedi beet, alpha beet) split into 3 feeds. It is no good pumping a load of feed in one or two feeds, as they will only digest so much and the rest will come out, so it needs to be split into smaller feeds. Keep Blocks are a good idea, if time is too short to give extra feeds. Keep an eye on the grass, one of our fields looks very green, however walk it, and there is not much there very thin stringy grass in patches.

Thirdly, and most importantly is what on a condition score chart does she come out of winter like, too many people have their horses far to fat these days, just been to see one tonight, rugged as raining and to be honest it could winter out on the fields its on, rugless and still probably this side of overweight in the spring.
 
At the end of winter last year, she was probably on the lower scale of a condition score 3. She normally sits comfortably around 5/6. She is a mw/hw mare with 9.5 inches of bone. She is a big girl. 17.2hh !
Up until recently and through the whole summer she has sat around 5, but already she is dropping the weight.
She does suffer from the cold badly and drops weight more or less overnight if she is cold. Hence the rug went on last night.
At the moment, I would say she's boardering on 5 going into 4 condition score wise.
She has now started very slightly to sink in behind the rib cage and when you run your hand over her back and ribs, her bones can be felt very easily. Too easily in fact. You cant see her ribs at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it wont be long before you can if I dont act quickly.
I have had her 14 years and she has never been as low in weight as she is now. She is normally around 695 k on a weigh tape, but already she is down to 630 k.
Her teeth, vaccs and worming etc are all up to date.
I am pretty sure it is just a case of getting the feed balance right and the right rug on at the right time. Temps here are dropping as low as 4 or 5 overnight and rising to 16 during the day, so she has the rug on overnight when it is cold, and off during the day when it is warmer.
I never had a problem with her weight when she was stabled overnight, but instead, I had 11/12 years of turning up to a stressed out mare who had been box walking most of the night (she can actually canter a circle in a 12 x 14 stable) and on some occassions she had even taken the stable door off by throwing herself at it. She has got better with age, and was much better if last in at night when it was dark, and out before anything else in the morning, again, whilst still dark.
Since being out, she has turned into a totally different horse. So chilled and relaxed all the time. 2 years ago I could not have led her in a standard headcollar without her freaking out and taking flight. Now, I could lead her from a piece of string if I wanted.
As I said earlier, she is much happier being out 24/7 but I need to feed her right.
Oh, almost forgot, she has NAF general purpose supplement daily too and have just introduced oil into her feed which she will eat happily.

This is the condition score chart I have been using fyi.

http://www.wikihow.com/Condition-Score-a-Horse

Thanks to all for taking the time to reply so far.
 
Remember that Top Spec Cool Condition cubes are not balanced and designed to be fed with their balancer or a broad spectrum vit/min supplement. If you would like a cereal free, balanced cube then I can not recommend Spiller Slow Release Cubes highly enough. They are slightly lower in calories but coupled with Alfa A Oil or Readi Grass and Speedibeet, should be conditioning enough. Plus as the above diet is cereal free and high in fibre, you CAN feed as much as you like! The 2kg rule only applies to cereal based feeds. Saying that, small regular feeds work much better than one large feed at putting weight on your horse.

Remember to provide adlib hay or haylage in the field if possible as this will help keep your horse warm.
 
SmartieBean09 said:
Remember that Top Spec Cool Condition cubes are not balanced and designed to be fed with their balancer or a broad spectrum vit/min supplement. If you would like a cereal free, balanced cube then I can not recommend Spiller Slow Release Cubes highly enough. They are slightly lower in calories but coupled with Alfa A Oil or Readi Grass and Speedibeet, should be conditioning enough. Plus as the above diet is cereal free and high in fibre, you CAN feed as much as you like! The 2kg rule only applies to cereal based feeds. Saying that, small regular feeds work much better than one large feed at putting weight on your horse.

Remember to provide adlib hay or haylage in the field if possible as this will help keep your horse warm.
Click to expand...

Thank you.

She is getting vit/min supplement daily and when all the grass in the field has gone (there is lots of it at the moment and it is really good quality) there will be round bales of hay put in the field for them to eat ad lib.
Also, when they come into the winter field, they will be given haynets in the field shelter morning and night for them to munch on if they wish.
 
Sound like she desperately needs bulk fibre. Bigger horses especially, thrive on plenty of hay.

BUT one thing I can recomend is Soya bean meal. A couple of oldies on our yard have recently been put on it and the difference it has made to both of them is remarkable in just a short space of time. you could literally see a difference within a week. Just a scoop a day with her feed should do it...
 
CBFan said:
Sound like she desperately needs bulk fibre. Bigger horses especially, thrive on plenty of hay.

BUT one thing I can recomend is Soya bean meal. A couple of oldies on our yard have recently been put on it and the difference it has made to both of them is remarkable in just a short space of time. you could literally see a difference within a week. Just a scoop a day with her feed should do it...
Click to expand...

ooh, soya bean meal. Not heard of that one. Off to do a google search now. Thanks.
 
Right, have just googled soya bean meal, but not much comes up.
Is there a manufacturer for it?
What I have found all seems to be along the lines of does it or does it not need cooking or how unmanageable their horses became?

hmmm, need to have a good think on this one.

I did have a horse before who was really poor when I got him, I fed him soaked Baileys No 1 and was fantastic! Unfortunately it is 100% cereal meal so cant use it on my mare. Blast!!!
 
I feed calm and condition and its brilliant Have done it with a couple of horses My arab Syd had stress lami last year and I have gone into feeding issues in depth Hes been wonderful on it. He was so skinny when I got him and hes come on in leaps and bounds Its good for topline as well I also feed some pure fibre cubes which can either be soaked or given as a treat Can get u the name if u need it tomorrow Also a local riding school supplies me with pure yeasac which helps them to digest 30% more of the goodness in their food
 
thanks sydneysmum.

C&C is cereal based unfortunately, so cant feed it to her. I use that on one of the liveries, but she would go loopy on it.
 
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