Feed Advice

BijouBabe

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We bought Duke at the beginning of november and he was fairly underweight. During the winter he put on a bit, and once the grass came through he looked lovely. He is just beginning to drop off weight wise, his work load is the same. Worming dentist etc all up to date and fine. He is on alfa a original, cool mix and dodson and horrell build up cubes. Im looking for suggestions to help put a bit more weight on him as he is starting to look ribby again. He needs non heating feeds. We also had him on midlings over the winter :)
 

TGM

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What is his grazing like at present and is he out 24/7 or part stabled? Is he getting any extra hay/haylage?
 

BijouBabe

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Sorry forgot to say he is out at day in at night, normally out by 7am latest and in around 4pm, it is brilliant quality grazing and having 2 feeds a day. 1scoop chaff, 1/2scoop cool mix, 1scoop cond cubes
 

TGM

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Sorry forgot to say he is out at day in at night, normally out by 7am latest and in around 4pm, it is brilliant quality grazing and having 2 feeds a day. 1scoop chaff, 1/2scoop cool mix, 1scoop cond cubes

So how much hay/haylage is he having in the stable at night and does he eat it all?
 

TGM

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How big is he, how old is he and has he got any health problems or stable vices you know of? Does he like being stabled or does he get stressy when in and have you thought of having him out 24/7 if the grazing is so good? have you tried adding some sort of probiotic such as Yea Sacc, Pink Powder or a balancer? This will allow him to maximise fibre digestion and help him get the most from his feed.
 

BijouBabe

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17.1 13yro irish sports horse, no stable vices, chilled as anything in even if hes on his own. Were not allowed 24/7 turnout unfortunately.no health problems. We havent tried anything else yet as was waiting for some suggestions as to what would benefit him most. :)
 

Mugsgame

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Just a quick thought on a slight tangent... As he is relatively unknown to you - is it possible he may have fluke? I have struggled with one of mine on and off for a while, between us and the vets we went through every idea we could think of.. Then I learned what liver fluke can do to them... Google it and see what you think, might be completely wrong! The vets said its becoming more and more common now, and no horse wormers eradicate it. It doesn't show up in faecal samples, or routine blood tests either! Eventually dosed my mare with Fasinex, which cost about £6!!! She is improving by the day now!
 

TGM

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In that case I would definitely add a probiotic. Also would drop the cool mix and increase the condition cubes (as cool mix is lower in calories than condition cubes and not actually as cool as the manufacturers make out). You could also add some form of oil rich supplement - perhaps micronised linseed, outshine, equijewel or similar.

You could also substitute some or all of the hay with haylage.
 

BijouBabe

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This might seem stupid, but do you just give micronised linseed as you would mix/nuts or does it need soaking?
 

whizzer

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The micronised linseed comes ready to feed. It's sort of like a coarse powder, I just mix in with my normal feed.
 

BijouBabe

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We have started him on pink powder. Would dodson and horrell barley rings benefit him as this combines barley and linseed?
 
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