Fattening food

Clodagh

Clodagh

Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
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17 August 2005
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For a wobbly toothed oldie. I have a companion pony here who is old and not great with hay. I have kept him looking OK all winter with meadow hay, nuts and beet. He has been away for a week and come back a hat rack, probably stress more than neglect. What would you recommened? What is calm and condition like? Or do I just stick with what he is on? The grass is slowly coming through.
Also not on meadow hay now but a coarser type. I don't supply his hay or food, his owner does, but I would prefer having something with not too many ribs outside my bedroom window, so am happy to top up.
 
I like Calm and Condition. Also, have a look at the Rowan Barberry range. The Solution Mash really helped my old girl when she was recovering from illness.

Don't forget good old oil too. My girl loathes linseed so we make do with veggie oil but it really does help and makes her coat nice and shiny too. :)

My dentally challenged mare really loves Dengie Hi Fi Senior. It's much softer than hay or traditional chaffs and she can have a big trug of it instead of a haynet.
 
Thank you. Oil is a good one, I used to chuck it down the hunters back in the day but had rather forgotten about it.
I will go and get some hi fi senior and C&C on Monday. He is turned out with another pony, who gets vitually nothing to eat and is as fat as a little pig, so it has to be something he really likes and eats before she does. He is boss.
 
I swear by calm and condition.

It put lovely condition on my boy and he had the shiniest coat!

Perhaps it even made him feel too good.. but I loved him like that! One happy, bright eyed and bushy tailed boy for sure :)
 
Mine is doing well on soaked grass nuts. I like the Rowen Barbary mash but since he's been on Prascend he won't eat it, I presume he's had a Cushing's test fairly recently.
 
Another one for micronised linseed - although both of mine love copra and it is fabulous for putting on weight (which sadly neither of mine need!)
 
I have also had a lot of success with calm & condition or copra with micronised linseed. With an older underweight horse I would also be tempted to feed 3/4 smaller meals a day as opposed to two larger feeds.
 
Ditto the oil and linseed. We used to feed my old toothless pony soaked stud nuts and high fibre cubes. He looked amazing when we were able to get 3 meals into him a day. He couldn't eat hay.
 
My Cushings oldie is on Alpha A molasses free, grass nuts, linseed and rolled oats (plus Pro Hoof balancer but that's more because I took her shoes off). She's holding her weight really well on this :).
 
Copra is brilliant stuff, the only thing that gets my section A looking like a section A

Some horses wont eat it though (smells like Bounty bars) if you want to do a palatability check I could post you a bit, just let me know
 
If Lami risk Calm and Condition is not suitable. Other weight gain feeds are :

Saracen Releve
Solution Mash
Equijewel
Fast Fibre
Vitality Lite
Mine gained weight on Topspec fibre plus cubes and senior lite balancer
 
Thnk you all. I was working all day so my Mum went off to the feed shop with a list...and came back with fast fibre and cod liver oil! Anyway, he likes the FF, haven't given him the CLO. He is now on 4 feeds a day, as I assume he shouldn't have more than a scoop a time?
The last one will be soon as he is very spooky and his fat field mate will woff it down if he doesn't come down straight away. I don't mind him looking slightly poor now, he will soon be fat, but he looked dire. He looks better already as he is not tucked up.
 
micronised linseed has more of the good fats and whole than oil, easily digestible too as horses don't have a gall bladder so oil is harder to digest. Agrobs do an oldie mash too and their pre-alpin cobs soak and expand a great deal so you can soak and feed in a bucket. but grass pellets are good too - after all grass is whats the best for condition so if you can get pellets and soak even better mixed in with linseed or barley.
 
tallyho! said:
micronised linseed has more of the good fats and whole than oil, easily digestible too as horses don't have a gall bladder so oil is harder to digest. Agrobs do an oldie mash too and their pre-alpin cobs soak and expand a great deal so you can soak and feed in a bucket. but grass pellets are good too - after all grass is whats the best for condition so if you can get pellets and soak even better mixed in with linseed or barley.
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Oh for the days when Simple systems were in the next village! Thank you.
 
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