Feed advice please

[wilson1]

I have a 4 year old 16.2hh warmblood gelding, he is being fed Baileys top line cubes, chaff,oil and a multivitamin supplement. I dont have much grass and he has plenty of hay in the field and over night but I am worried he isnt getting what he needs for a young horse, any advice on what to give him, he looks really well and has a lovely coat etc but was wondering on a balancer or other supplement.

Also I have a 16 yr old showjumper, he gets very hot on any kind of mix so has been on about the same as the 4 yr old but with a joint supplement, Ive found a veteran supplement but was thinking of a balancer for this one too.

Any advice on whats best please?

 

[cellie]

I have hot tb who does best on calm and condition with fast fibre in winter months.Only thing I can feed to keep her level headed and add condition so could do well with both of yours..My previous horse tb again blossomed on top spec balancer both feeds dont need top ups of vits etc .Fast fibre will give horses plenty of fibre without adding fizz but has no prio biotics vits etc but is good for bulk.

 

[marmalade76]

Slightly off topic, but someone posted on another thread yesterday that Bailey's Topline cubes are exactly the same as their racehorse cubes, the only difference being they cost £2 a sack more. This does not surprise me, I had often thought that conditioning cubes were just stud/youngstock cubes in a different bag and a higher price tag!

I have tried A&P C&C and was not impressed at all.

I would feed plenty of fibre feed (hay, alfalfa, surgar beet, high fibre cubes) and Pink Powder. PP is a balancer in powder form and works out a lot cheaper than most pellet balancers. PP also contains MSM, which is good for joints.

 

[Firewell]

Ditto above.

I only really feed my TB fibre feeds. Chaff, fibre nuts, hay, haylage, oil. He always looks good and has plenty of energy .

I use baileys lo-cal balancer instead of pink powder but either/or would do.

I doubt your horses are lacking anything as the baileys cubes are high in protein and vitamins and you are topping up with a supplement anyway. You could swap the supplement to a balancer if it makes you feel better, they do come with prebiotics and biotin in them as well.

Personally I only like the 'lite' version balancers. The full fat ones so to speak are just so high in protein, blue chip is 35% protein. Fine if you have a young, ancient or underweight horse but considering adult horses only need 9-10% protein, it worrys me giving them too much of a good thing! Especially as too much protein has been proved to not be healthy.

 

[wilson1]

Great thanks for your help.

Ditto above.

I only really feed my TB fibre feeds. Chaff, fibre nuts, hay, haylage, oil. He always looks good and has plenty of energy .

I use baileys lo-cal balancer instead of pink powder but either/or would do.

I doubt your horses are lacking anything as the baileys cubes are high in protein and vitamins and you are topping up with a supplement anyway. You could swap the supplement to a balancer if it makes you feel better, they do come with prebiotics and biotin in them as well.

Personally I only like the 'lite' version balancers. The full fat ones so to speak are just so high in protein, blue chip is 35% protein. Fine if you have a young, ancient or underweight horse but considering adult horses only need 9-10% protein, it worrys me giving them too much of a good thing! Especially as too much protein has been proved to not be healthy.