Feed advice please! My thoroughbred looks like a welfare case!

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eventer13

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Hi all,

After struggling all season to build my boy's topline and keep it there I decided to try Pure Condition form the Pure Feed company.
We switched feed gradually but since being on a full ration 3 weeks ago his weight has plummeted! He looks awful, has no topline left and is almost a 1 out of 10 on the condition scale.

Any feed recommendations?

FYI He has gastric ulcers (he is on grastroguard) so needs low starch and high fibre/oil, is full TB (ex-racehorse) and competes at intermediate/2* (obviously not at the moment...).

Thank you!
 
Alfa-oil, full fat soya, naf pink powder, and un molassed speedibeet. No more than 2kg per feed. Trugtub of alfa-oil over night. As much good quality hay as he will eat.
Ulcer friendly, and should put on weight too.
Presuming you have had full bloods,wec and Elisa tapeworm tests.
 
I've got a poor doer TB who's had ulcers a few times,I tried pure condition & was very disappointed as he lost loads of weight & his skin/coat was really dry & felt awful. I've gone back to speedibeet,linseed,dried grass or conditioning chaff,I've trialled feeding oats this summer & really pleased with the result. He's always a lean horse but is looking good on this. If he starts dropping weight I can add in the top spec conditioning cubes as they are my fail safe feed for getting weight back on him.
 
One of the tb's I ride is normally a poor doer and drops weight quickly but has been on the life-force supplement over the past year and looks fantastic going into winter this year. He lives out too and at 19 is looking amazing. we had a free sample of it and he's been kept on it as it was making a big difference.

It helps with the ulcer side of things also though I couldn't tell you how though - worth contacting slinky unicorn on here for more information :)
 
How much hay is he getting? Is his grazing good? Are his teeth ok? Have you checked for tapeworm? And is he rugged appropriately etc.??
 
My poor doer ex racer is looking fab on Alfa A oil, slobbermash and a mineral supplement, he's on rubbish grazing and get decent haylage adlib, mine is also bit sensitive to sugar etc i'll add linseed over winter again as worked well last year.
 
Hi anymay,

He has ad lib hay, grazing is average to good (better now it's raining!), teeth were done last month -he is eating really well, just not gaining on Pure Condition so I think that perhaps it just doesn't suit him (as whizzer and a couple of others have found). Tapeworm test was negative and yes I'm keeping him as close to ambient temperature as I can.
 
Thank you for that but given that he suffers from ulcers I can't really feed any cereals, at least for the time being -this includes slobbermash unfortunately! Thank you for the heads up regarding grass pellets, beet and linseed, I think these will be my best bet.
Currently talking to Simple Systems -has anyone used them?
Thanks again for all of the input!
 
eventer13 said:
After struggling all season to build my boy's topline and keep it there I decided to try Pure Condition form the Pure Feed company.
We switched feed gradually but since being on a full ration 3 weeks ago his weight has plummeted! He looks awful, has no topline left and is almost a 1 out of 10 on the condition scale.
Click to expand...

Prince33Sp4rkle said:
winergy condition, keeps fig in amazing condition.
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Both of ours dropped condition on the pure feeds, quickly. It took CS a long time to build that weight and muscle back up.

Really really really rate the winergy conditioning, as PS has said, Fig looks amazing on it:

P1250675_zps9698a164.jpg


Have you tried micronised linseed? Fig has 3 scoops of the winergy conditioning, 2 mugs of micronised linseed and 1 scoop of mollichaff calming per day (he is alfalfa intolerant). He also gets 50g of fenugreek powder a day which has increased his appetite and given him such a lovely sheen to his coat.

Just to note, CS also has ulcers (he has egusin SLH for his) but bizarrely (proper freak of nature) gets on fabulously with the slobbermash:

P1250337_zps75cf6bb4.jpg


He also gets alfa-a and micronised linseed.

So, if all else fails, something to consider?

I'll admit with the starch and cereal content of the slobbermash, I did hold my breath the first time PS got on him after feeding it!!!!
 
I also fed Lifeforce to a bad doing TB and she really picked up on it. I fed it along side Calm&Condtion (a real opinion splitter I know so I won't recommend it!) and two cups of micronised linseed per day. Seemed to suit her well.
 
yes just to parrot NMT, the cereals in the slobbermash are processed differently on the continent, so the starch/cereal is not an issue.

CS has a very easily irritated tummy but the slobbermash hasnt affected him at all ao i wouldnt write it off until you have tried it.
 
I had my TB boy on Simple Systems all of last year but during the winter he dropped a lot of weight. I couldn't give him sugarbeet( even unmollassed) because it sends him a bit loopy so I looked to change his food to give him something a bit more substantial than SS. I've switched him to Winergy and am happy with this so far. Hoping he will winter better on it. I also feed micronised linseed which is great for condition. I have spoken to a couple of people who felt SS was not really enough for their TB's either but if you can feed sugarbeet aswell it might work but I guess if your TB has ulcers, you will be avoiding sugar too.
 
Thanks claracanter, that's good to know -mine will drop off come winter too so I've got my work cut out trying to build him up now! I've not fed micronised linseed before but it sounds like it is what I should be doing! They have winergy conditioning at the store where I get everything else from so I might start with that, micronised linseed and alfa-a oil -thanks PS and nikkimariet (your two look super btw)! Will look into Alltech Lifeforce and slobbermash too :-)
Oh the joys of high maintenance ex-racers!

Thank you again everyone, this has been really helpful!
 
I use simple systems for my boy (also a tb ex racer who can't have cereals)
I found he looked healthy on it, but not putting weight on. He now gets fed SS purabeet, SS lucienuts, SS blue bag grass nuts, handful of mollichop, magnitude calmer, salt, good glug of garlic infused sunflower oil and Pure Grow 28 feed balancer. Looks pretty good at the moment (if you ignore the very long mane!)
 
I also know of a tb x hann (but looks like a tb) that was really hard to keep condition on who bloomed on winergy condition! Had tried other tradition conditioning feeds like Alfa oil, build up etc which worked ok, but nothing like the winergy. In the winter he also gets a scoop of wet Alfa beet mixed in.

This time of year was always hard for him when the grass suddenly disappeared. He would drop weight overnight and would be topped up with a bag of equijewel just to get him back to the maintainence weight.
 
Our exracer has been on Pure Feeds for a year and initially I was really pleased with his progress (he came straight from the track). However this summer, his condition started to plateau and over the past couple of months, he dropped off. I changed to Pure Condition (from Pure Working) and have not yet noticed much improvement, so I am now adding micronized linseed as it worked for our other TB. If that fails, then I am going to look at the Saracen route given their vast expertise with feeding TBs. I know that Fred & Rowena Cook of EMT have switched to Simple Systems and are really pleased with them. I looked at them but thought it vastly expensive compared to other feeds so I have put them on the back burner.
 
eventer13 said:
Thanks claracanter, that's good to know -mine will drop off come winter too so I've got my work cut out trying to build him up now! I've not fed micronised linseed before but it sounds like it is what I should be doing! They have winergy conditioning at the store where I get everything else from so I might start with that, micronised linseed and alfa-a oil -thanks PS and nikkimariet (your two look super btw)! Will look into Alltech Lifeforce and slobbermash too :-)
Oh the joys of high maintenance ex-racers!

Thank you again everyone, this has been really helpful!
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Haha, it's that time of year where I spend at least 5 minutes scrutinising Figs waistline every morning!!!! We take lots of pictures of ours, so development either good or bad is easy to spot. It's also nice to look back after a few months and see how far they've come :)

ETA having seen above post re: Saracens. Whilst I know what works for one won't work for another etc etc but experience is all relative and just wanted to say we had both our TB's on the re leve for hmm probably over 6 months? Both initially really pleased with the results but after a while their weight plateaued and then started to drop off. We now know it was because Fig doesn't get on with alfa or peas (so made him unrideably sharp and dropped lots of weight). Still not sure why it didn't work for CS, who looked very poor by the end of his re leve run. Just my 2 pence!
 
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Thank you fuzzle! I have a 30 day sample of Alltech Lifeforce on the way but if that doesn't help (alongside a better diet), I'll definitely look into Equine Science. Such a mine field!
 
eventer13 said:
Thank you fuzzle! I have a 30 day sample of Alltech Lifeforce on the way but if that doesn't help (alongside a better diet), I'll definitely look into Equine Science. Such a mine field!
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Where did you get the sample from please? I'm looking after a ribby TB who isn't putting on weight and would like to give it a go.
 
Those who use Winergy Conditioning, how does it come? Is it like a chaff or is it pellets?

My ISH has been on Pure Feeds working, then for the last 6 months conditioning and he's just not picking up, so I think a change may be in order
 
catherine22 said:
Those who use Winergy Conditioning, how does it come? Is it like a chaff or is it pellets?

My ISH has been on Pure Feeds working, then for the last 6 months conditioning and he's just not picking up, so I think a change may be in order
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I did the trials for this feed, and I was supposed to feed 6kg a day of it, it was a complete feed, so chaff and mix all together! I couldn't get mine to eat enough of it to see the benefit, not sure if they changed it after the trial- must have been 4/5 yrs ago now
 
catherine22 said:
Those who use Winergy Conditioning, how does it come? Is it like a chaff or is it pellets?

My ISH has been on Pure Feeds working, then for the last 6 months conditioning and he's just not picking up, so I think a change may be in order
Click to expand...

It's a fibre and pellet mix. Pellets are both small and large.

The bags are 15kg and mine gets through a bag every 5 days.
 
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