Feed advice for unhapy mare

greenlivery

greenlivery

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 October 2009
Messages
828
Visit site
My mare has been very unwell recently, she has had a serious gut problem (overactive gut activity) and some very bad cases of colic. She has had to have two/three months off work and is very underweight. We think we have her sorted now and are looking at trying to get her back to 'normal'.
She is a 16hh showjumper warmblood mare and we just don't know what to feed her anymore. We want to try to build her up and get her back into work in time for the summer.

If we over feed her she can't cope as her gut is still recovering so she has to have high fibre and not much else, she is on extra oil and pink powder, at the moment she is eating Dodson and Horrell high fibre nuts, a small ammount of Speedibeet and some molly chop chaff - and lots of hay.

We need to get more calories in her, but can't risk overfeeding her or giving her anything too complex.
Any ideas?
Something simple and high fibre, but with some energy and calories to help her get back to normal. I'm tired of speaking to feed companes as they all want to sell the product and don't listen when I explain the issues with my mare. My vet recomended Simpe system ltd - but having sone some research I'm not sure that would be such a good idea.

Any advice would be really appreciated
laugh.gif
Thank you x
 
We had a mare that was difficult to keep up to weight in winter and fed her Dodson & Horrell Build Up Cubes and Build Up Mix. That seemed to work for her. Maybe you could feed her more small feeds. Best |I can think of for now.
 
Ad lib hay or haylage, the best quality you can get and grass chaff or soaked grass nuts. I would cut out the mollichop- its high in sugar and not contributing much nutritionally.

Also increase the fibre nuts and unmollassed sugar beet and be patient for the weight to increase.
 
Go to the winergy web site, they helped a lot with my horses and they are doing fine, I think it's a little extra per bag, but it's worked out cheaper than bags of this and that. And I have 2 THB a Wesh Sec D and an Irish x? who was in poor state when I bought him.
 
Hi, you actually have quite alot of options. You could use a product called copra, this does not contain any cereal, it is made of coconut (sounds odd i know) but it is very high in oil + consiquently can be good for both weight gain and energy. I personally would not feed molli chaff, it is very low quality fibre and is loaded with sugar, perhaps you could try alfa oil, it is a good source of protien, energy and high oil so good for wieght gain. If you want you can PM me i used to give people nutrition advice for their horses for a living, so know quite a lot of products on the market + where to get them from.
 
Can she eat alphalfa? The Simple System feeds are forage only feeds. Only it is a system, so you have to think a bit differently.
The horses are on a sort of trickle feeding system, so although you might give them breakfast, lunch and tea, the feeds are much larger and they last much longer.

The feeds are based on alphalfa, sugar beet and linseed, plus minerals. The biggest problem is that there are not many suppliers, so it is a bit hard to find out if your horse is going to eat it (and as there is no sugar some horses don't find it palatable at first). See if you can find some local people who have it and buy a bit from them first - although speak to the nutritionists at Simple System first.

There is also Top Spec feeds which are very good quality and they have a very good advice service.
 
you could try readymash extra, or full fat soya as your oil source.
if you use full fat soya, feed a balancer, but its not neessary with readymash extra
cut out the mollychop and use something like alfa oil or spillers conditioning fibre instead,
give a full bucket of soaked sugar beet in the stable over night as well as ad lib hay/haylage.

be patient.
 
Dengie alfa a oil is worth a look I have a customer who had a very poorly horse in a similar situation to your girl, we put him on alfa oil, speedibeet and the alfa a balancer - not a cheap option but it worked and he now looks fantastic with no colic attacks at all and is back in full work upto condition and feeling well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top