Fast Fibre replacements....

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Otis and Lucie

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Hi all,
Looking to "try" and save some pennies on my nags monthly food bill.
Currently she's costing me nearly £90, which consists of:
5/6 bags of Fast Fibre
2 bags of D & H fibre beet
1 bag of micronised linseed.
The madam in question is a 17.2 sport horse, stresses weight off in the blink of an eye.
Comes up in "protein lumps" when fed alfalfa, is positively vile when fed too much starch,barley & sugar.
Was just wondering if there are any alternatives that I could maybe feed madam instead of the fast fibre?
 
If you are looking for something conditioning what about Copra? I've just swapped from fast fibre to copra for my 17hh TB who drops condition. It's high oil but low starch, you could certainly feed alot lot less that you are currently feeding of fast fibre so maybe worth a look? The fast fibre won't be adding much except bulk to your horses diet so assuming your horse is on hay or grass you could probably ditch it for something more calorifc that you could feed less of.

I feed it as a mash like fast fibre to mix his supplements and nuts in, my horse loves it!
 
£90 flippin heck! How about grass nuts (red bag from SS) & speedi beet? Hate to ask ad lib hay? Turn out? Teeth? If she stresses can her routine be changed?
 
I like speedi beet, seem to need far less than when I used fast fibre, got a bit more energy/calories in it than fast fibre, but not sugary
 
Fast fibre is a hay replacer so actually not the high in DE (I think around 7?) :) I would second the Copra and speedi beet or look at adding a mug full of linseed to each meal as that is great for weight gain.
 
Wow! 5/6 bags? I complain about about my 16.3 getting through one bag every 10 ten days in winter. And that's all he gets with supplements on top! Why fibre beet and fast Fibre? Could she not just have 1 type of feed and then give ad lib hay? If you're doing loads of work what about hi fi mollasses free as a base and using power and performance? But to be getting through that much feed and losing weight still I'd get teeth and worms checked? If that's all ok and she's just a stress head, what about a calmer if keeping her in a routine doesn't work?
 
That is one hell of a lot of food you are feeding. I have a 16.2hh TB who when on Fast Fibre went through one bag every six weeks - nothing else apart from the linseed. Are you sure there isn't some underlying issue?

Speedibeet might be the way to go, and Spillers high fibre cubes are also very good and can be soaked to make a mash as well if your horse prefers wet feeds.

I would be tempted to cut the feed right down and feed more forage.
 
I'd go for speedibeet and maybe some yea sacc to make the most of the fibre she is getting and more hay.
 
Sugarbeet, meadow chaff and stay with the Linseed - add yeast to her diet - has Lysine in it - a very important amino acid. Try to source products that aren't in fancy packaging - eg pretty printed labels and the like - they had a lot of money to the contents.

Have you tried boiling barley - makes it more fattening rather than heating.
 
I'd ditch the fibre beet of already feeding that amount of fast fibre. Have you tried Baileys no 1? I feed a scoop of that mixed up with a big scoop of fibre beet (then soaked together) which makes up enough for 4 big scoops wet. Topped up with hifi original- this makes three big feeds a day for him and he's never looked better. He's about 16.2 so bit smaller than yours but he sounds a similar type in that he's easily stressed, drops weight within hours and is a monster on loads of cereals and starch
 
Another vote for switching form Fast Fibre to Speedibeet. Fast Fibre is a low DE feed which mainly consists of straw designed to feed to fatties, not horses in need of condition.I would go for Speedibeet, linseed & a complete balancer either in pellet form, or the cheaper option is a powdered Vit/min supplement.
 
Hi all, thanks ever so much for all your suggestions, I'm really grateful.
Think I'll try the copra meal for starters then the baileys conditioning if that doesn't work.
To reply to some of your questions, "grott-bag" is on 93% pure magnesium already as a calmer, she's not in work at the minute, she's already getting a large mug and a half of linseed meal a day, 2 large haynets a night with as much hay I can cram in (normally equates to about 1/2-3/4 of a small bale).
She's out in the field during the day between 9-12 hrs and in at night.
She was wormed last month & the reason for the fast fibre was because I was playing around with her diet as she was so awful to handle and thought with her intolerances that I'd start off with the "barefoot" diet. The past 9 months is the most chilled out she's been in the year I've been her "servant" it's just costing me an arm and a leg.
She's a highly strung madam anyway that worries about anything and everything, so I suspect she'll always be hard to keep weight on.
Thanks again for all your replies. :o)
 
Beetpulp, grass nuts, linseed, ERS pellets, readigrass/justgrass and feed blocks would be my recommendatons as its all things Ive used to put weight on my oldie who is cereal intolerant and barefoot :)
 
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