Feed advice

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Footlights

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Hi,

I am currently feeding my 15.2hh cob (who is living out all winter) chaff and spillers cool mix as he is very excitable. He is starting to lose a bit of condition and I want to get on top of this before he loses weight.

I am reluctant to feed any more mix because of his excitable temperment and was thinking about feeding him sugar beet.

Do I add sugar beet to what I am already feeding him or should this replace the spillers mix?

Advice please!!

Thanks
 
Mine live out all winter, including a TB cross, currently in about 18 inches of snow on an exposed hill although with natural trees for shelter. We find that giving ad-lib hay is the best way to maintain weight and condition. I just feed them a balancer once a day in addition to the hay. I never feed mixes, cubes or any beet. A friend of mine had a poor doer cob on an ad-lib hay diet last year and it was the best she'd ever looked. The previous winter she'd fed various weight gain feeds at great cost. If you can feed ad-lib it works really well and is cheaper.
 
Adding oil to his feed (up to 1/2 pint per day introduced gradualy) often does not excite them(never actualy in my experience) but addsa lot of calories to the diet ,as does any source of digestible fibre. Make sure you feed lots of hay ,it heats them twice ,once while being digested in the gut and later when the calories are burnt.
 
sueeltringham said:
Mine live out all winter, including a TB cross, currently in about 18 inches of snow on an exposed hill although with natural trees for shelter. We find that giving ad-lib hay is the best way to maintain weight and condition. I just feed them a balancer once a day in addition to the hay. I never feed mixes, cubes or any beet. A friend of mine had a poor doer cob on an ad-lib hay diet last year and it was the best she'd ever looked. The previous winter she'd fed various weight gain feeds at great cost. If you can feed ad-lib it works really well and is cheaper.
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Deffo agree with this. Ad-lib hay/haylage is the best thing.
 
Agree with avoiding the sugar beet if he's already excitable. Had a pony in the past thatxwent absolutely mental when fed sugar beet, also agree with the hay, as much as you can cram in him. However even with ad lib hay my tb is very skinny. I've found the feed companys helpline very useful, don't be afraid to ring them and ask. Just be sure to have noted his weight cos that's something they need to know
 
MY connie x tb was out all winter and also prone to being fizzy and losing weight. He did well on ad lib hay, speedibeet (not sugarbeet) and alfaA instead of the mix, but one thing i would defo add if you dont is a vitamin supplement or balancer as that will help him use the nutrients he is already getting better.
 
Definitely ensure he is getting as much hay as he can eat, as this is the safest and usually cheapest way to get weight on them.

I'd drop the Cool Mix - despite the name it is still 20% starch, so quite heating! If you need something more than just hay alone then you could some lower starch alternatives - Spillers Slow Release Energy Cubes are 12% starch for example.

Another option, as others have said, is to use some form of balancer - Top Spec and Baileys Low Cal are probably two of the lowest starch balancers.

I'd definitely avoid feeding normal mollassed sugar beet as that is 20% sugar, but an unmollassed beet is only about 5% sugar and a good source of fibre-based calories.
 
My TB lives out 24/7 and she is on a scoop of mollichaff, cup of Baileys Lo Cal and a scoop of sugar beet (unmollased) and seaweed.

She has this twice a day and she looks fab on it.

It's a high fibre diet which is the best kind.
 
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