Feed advice

[Welshie95]

Had my cob x 7 years and he always drops weight and condition in winter. He is stressy and excitable by nature so I we know why the weight goes. He is out 24/7 in summer and in for about 12-14 hours in winter with ad lib hay/haylage mix in the stable and out in the field too, but he is not a big eater: one net will last about 2-3 days. We regularly worm count as a yard and he has never been above the 200 mark, very often being below 100.

Current diet is (split over two meals with succulents and extra grass nuts in a treat ball): Stubbs scoop of Alfa A Oil, 2 mugs fibre beet and 2 mugs grass nuts. This is due to his current workload being very low (hacking at the weekends, schooling once or twice a week and two dressage tests max twice a month.

We have also tried over the years: TopSpec cool condition cubes, super conditioning flakes. Allen and Page calm and condition, fast fibre. Dengie Alfabeet. Plain fibre cubes. Adding linseed oil (turned him potty) and vegetable oil. Blue chip, Baileys and Topspec balancers. None of which brought outstanding results. He is otherwise healthy with regular vet checks and teeth checks every 6 months (that's another saga, he is a serial bit chomper). He sweats up when ridden because of the stressy nature so he is hunter clipped but well rugged and never left to go cold or damp.

He is no longer insurable and so hasn't been scoped for ulcers, but we do manage him like he does due to his nature so he gets chaff before riding, never stood without forage and feed is fairly fibre based. Ridden work is kept short (30 mins schooling) or he is allowed to graze as we hack if we go for prolonged periods (2 hours + at walk and trot).

Mince pies if you god this far!

 

[Morgan123]

Hmmm tricky. One thing you could try is Equidgel - it goes in the water, incredibly high fibre (in fact it's a complete feed, but you could use it as a supplement on top of your feed I guess), and also encourages them to drink. We use it for the endurance horses and a friend's stressy horse has only this, no bucket feed, and looks incredible. The company owner is v helpful, worth an email maybe?

Otherwise could try copra or other types of oil perhaps rather than linseed.

 

[NOISYGIRL]

Have you tried micronized linseed ?

I see you've tried some topspec, my horse is 37 and on 5 feeds a day of their fibre plus cubes and senior lite balancer and has not looked better in years I am really pleased

 

[PorkChop]

I was going to ask if you had tried micronised linseed too. It wouldn't irritate his possible ulcers.

Other than that I think oats are great for keeping weight on, but not sure if he would react to them.

 

[ohmissbrittany]

Saracen Equijewel made my horse blow up like a house. She went from shipping fever skinny to nearly obese in about a month! (400g, 2x per day of the equijewel with soaked beet pulp and ulcer meds)