Feed Advice for Extra OOMPH!

[el_Snowflakes]

Hello,

Looking for some advice regarding feeding my horse.

18 year old BW mare in good condition/ all round health, shes a good doer so I normally don't have to worry about feeding her however as her workload has increased slightly her weight is well controlled but I feel she needs more energy/stamina/sparkle. She is laid back by nature and not a spooky/flighty sort.

I currently feed once per day = 3 mugs of low cal balancer & 1 stubbs scoop of just grass per day.
turned out for 7 hours approx per day
plenty hay in hay bar overnight.

She is ridden 5/6 days a week, for about around 1hr/1.5hrs (hacking, schooling, occasional jumping, occasional shows/competitions)

have emailed feed companies for advice but any reviews/advice gratefully received

 

[Sebastian]

Oats?

 

[el_Snowflakes]

Oats?

Thankyou Sebastian

I'm unsure how to add oats to the diet. Whether I can add a small amount to the current feed & if they need soaked ect?

 

[Sebastian]

No, oats do not need to be soaked, although it's one of those weird yes/no things with no clear 100% answer. Here is some info

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?189775-Another-soaked-oats-question

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horse-care/feeding/all-about-oats/

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-nutrition/how-prepare-oats-94176/

 

[pec]

To be honest i wouldn't waste my money. We had (well still have) an Irish Draught with a tiny bit of thoroughbred who was as close to bomb-proof as you could get. He hacked, jumped, showed (riding club horse), did dressage and even went on a few endurance pleasure rides. But my wife always complained that he was lazy, his favorite gait was halt but he was an absolute star. We tried red cell, naked oats, tiger oats by the bucket load he loved it all but it made no difference. In the end we accepted that this was him and we would enjoy him. He is retired now at 28 and keeps our welsh cobs company in the field. We did manage to get real spark into him at one show (they were blowing up a bouncy castle at the side of the ring and that did spark him up for the day).
If you transfer it to human terms can you think of any food that will make you run faster, other than drugs (I class caffeine as a drug).
I think oats has a reputation for being rocket fuel if it is used on already excitable horses by giving them an excess of energy. We use a mix from our local feed manufactures that includes both oats and barley and we feed it to all our welsh cobs, stallion, brood-mares and youngstock, and we don't think it makes them any more or less active. One of our more whizzy mares is a real good doer and is fed hi-fi light and sugar beet.
I think excitability is more nature than nurture, so my advice is enjoy what you have got.

 

[BethanT]

Oats?

Aparantly oats aren't the best for an energy boost and is a bit of a myth that they are. Was talking to a lady on my yard who was manager in a farm and country store for years and so knows her feed pretty well, and the best things for energy can sometimes just be a bog standard pony mix if it has peas in it (and something else but I can't remeber). Peas have a high sugar content, and I used to ride a KWPN mare who if was on a mix with peas would be unrideable, but with cubes was a saint. Barley is also good for energy.

Also there is a mare on my yard who is fed oats and it doesn't seem to make any difference to her :/ I could be wrong though as I always used to thinks oats for energy!

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

You can't change the horses overall personality with feed. But if all you're currently feeding is a balancer and chaff, and the laziness is new and ties in with the increased workload, its likely the horse is simply not getting enough food. You don't need to feed any particular thing for oomph just feed *something*. I would try low energy nuts or mix, starting with 1/4 scoop and build up to half scoop. If that's not enough I'd go to two feeds per day, before changing to higher energy feed if necessary. It's the MJofDE/kg that gives you the overall energy content, usually printed on the bag or sometimes on the companies website.

If horse puts on weight (so is receiving excess energy from food) but is still lazy you can give an energy boost with a small amount of competition mix. Half or one mugful in a bit of chaff an hour before riding should be enough. Only feed it before a ride not as routine. Riding from the stable when the horse has been in overnight will help too. Fresh horses are always more forward.

 

[Shay]

Only a small percentage of horses respond to cereals like oats. Our laid back cob doesn't. We feed NAF Ener-G from 3 days before a big show or major event - or pony club camp! - where he has to have some "get up and go" and it works brilliantly. On occasion we do also use red cell - but there is a difference between him needing some sparkle for a sustained event and him feeling a bit down over something. The redcell - or propell depending on which I have to hand - works when he is just a bit low.

 

[JillA]

I have a horse like this, I bred him so I know how he has always been. He is getting worse - tried the feed thing and made no difference - and I am now beginning to suspect he isn't comfortable. Feet? Currently working on but don't improve over night. Saddle? As good as I can get it. Rider? Been down the Centred Riding route with very little difference. Basically what I am saying is there is a great deal more to it than diet, and you need to look at him in the field, being led, on the lunge, on a surface, on the roads and do the detective work. Might be diet - might be minerals, look at Forageplus, but if he is overweight he has plenty of calories to call on.
Pity they can't speak!

Oh, and if you want to feed oats, then either have them very well rolled or soak them, otherwise they go straight through and you will see them in the poo. Expensive way to feed the birds!

 

[Sukistokes2]

Oil!
Not oats,
Feed something like corn oil in feed, just a desert spoon, no more as it is then eye of the needle time. Or use a supplement based in oil like oilvite. This would boost my cob, just add a little sparkle, without giving you a nutter.

 

[Arniebear]

Im in the middle of trying new foods to give my lad his sparkle back so far i have tried an endurance mix... Did nothing, then i tried allen and page power and performance... This sent him loopy like mental loopy so came off that quick, we had death walls of canter round the arena!!! Atm he is on dodson and horrell stay power cubes, he has his spark back from what i can tell (monday will be the deal breaker if its making a difference or not as he tends to lose his sparkle in the arena and im not schooling until monday!) but so far so good!

Agree with others thou perhaps try upping the amount of feed. I made the error of thinking he's getting fat = give him less hard feed (he's living out 24/7 atm) so obviously when i upped his work i didnt up his feed as he needed to loose weight so consequently he didnt have the energy to perform! Lesson learnt now he has the correct amount of food and his weight is stable and where it should be!

 

[Sebastian]

Aparantly oats aren't the best for an energy boost and is a bit of a myth that they are. Was talking to a lady on my yard who was manager in a farm and country store for years and so knows her feed pretty well, and the best things for energy can sometimes just be a bog standard pony mix if it has peas in it (and something else but I can't remeber). Peas have a high sugar content, and I used to ride a KWPN mare who if was on a mix with peas would be unrideable, but with cubes was a saint. Barley is also good for energy.

Also there is a mare on my yard who is fed oats and it doesn't seem to make any difference to her :/ I could be wrong though as I always used to thinks oats for energy!

I have read both sides of the argument, and I am not convinced whether it's myth, or fact. My grandfather certainly had good results with working horses and oats.

 

[eggs]

I've just put a couple of good doers onto D&H stay power cubes as I felt they needed a bit more oomph and so far they seem to be doing the job. Both are working reasonably hard.

 

[ester]

Frank is definitely better on a good dose of rolled oats, naturally quite laid back/good doer but have felt at times previously that he wasn't getting the energy he needed for the work I was asking of him.

oats aren't exclusive of oil-based energy either - he gets micronised linseed and speedibeet too.

Previously used spillers instant energy, which did seem to work but left it's mark on his feet.


We do probably a similar workload to you, with a few rather long hacks and a bit of autumn hunting atm

 

[Nannon]

I use micronised linseed and oats with my TB - before I started giving oats he just felt flat/tired. I tried all sorts of conditioning mixes etc (poor doer) to no avail but with the oats it has made a huge difference! He only has around 4 mugs a day - I might top that up if we are competing over a weekend, but in the last 9 months I can say we have had no brain blowing at all like we did on the mixes. Yes barley is good, but it doesn't work for all horses, sends mine absolute raving (and he's so laid back normally)

 

[windand rain]

Good doers will simply get fatter when you up their feed more energy comes from losing weight and getting fitter usually. Most fed horses are not malnurished so extra feed usually amounts to extra fat so slower less sparkly behaviour

 

[Ali2]

Calories and energy are the same thing so if the weight is being maintained then adding extra calories will just lead to weight gain. Assuming weight is being maintained and not dropping off I'd look to increase fitness/stamina through the right type of work and be mindful to match energy requirements to this work. You could look to replace some of the existing calories with calories from a different source for longer energy release.

 

[ester]

Not necessarily, Frank does not put on weight on oats because he is burning off the extra calories by being generally more energetic when exercised.

He can be fit and not underweight but still need extra calories to add a bit of oomph in there. Being fitter has never made him more energetic really.

 

[LynH]

What had the biggest impact on my ID mare was losing weight and adding a handful of Top Spec Turbo Oats daily and when she needs an extra boost I feed a big double handful an hour or so before I ride. It really gives her so much more energy and she has been more responsive and enthusiastic.
I also used NAF EnerG in the past and found that helped her too. Feeds like Staypower Museli or Spillers Instant Energy had no effect at all.