Feed for condition

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gaelann

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My mare now back in full work and after birth to colt obviously looks a tad upset down!
She has always had a lack of muscle and condition behind the saddle and I have found it difficult to add condition without the pot belly look (not very fashionable!)

She is a difficult mare in her behaviour and we beleive it to be hormonal so after consultation with the vet she is now on Regumate
She is also quite highly stung and tense so we have her on a sugar free and reduced ceral diet as advised by a reputable feed company (A&P)
she is on ad lib hay

I need to put the condition back on but not sure what to feed her
Micronised Linseed has been suggested but my feed merchant does not stock as standard

Any sugestions What else can I look at feeding for condition (not cereal or sugar based)
 
You can buy micronised linseed online or by mail order from these people:

http://www.charnwood-milling.co.uk/

There are various other high oil supplements you can buy (Outshine, Equijewel, Triple Top Up etc) but the micronised linseed seems to be the most cost-effective.

Have you ever tried a probiotic or balancer on her, something like Pink Powder or Top Spec? The idea is that they help to maintain a healthy gut bacteria so that the horse can make the most of the food it is receiving.
 
So one track minded about the feed needing to be sugar and cereal free - forgot about pink powder
She used to be on it and thinking about it she was also a little less grumpy

She is on A&P Fast Fibre and wont eat any more than I am giving her at the mo so cant leave her with the bucket to waste extra added incase she does not eat all the regumate

Thanks
 
It sounds like you need something with a much higher protein levl to help build the muscle. I have recommended this before as i find it so so good, the Omega Rice by Falcon is great as building muscle and condition and untill Frogpool started stocking it they sent it down to me by post free of charge.
 
Thanks will go have a look
I have to be very careful with the ingredients as she seems to be lacking tolerance to most things
 
You might not be aware, Gaelann, that it is common for stealth marketers to operate on this forum. This is someone who pretends to be a satisfied customer of a product but is actually working for the company and plugging the product on the forum.

If you look through Wizzlewoo's previous posts you will see that the majority of them are recommending Falcon Feeds and a supplement called Equi Elements, which is, surprise, surprise, registed to the same Shipley address as Falcon Feeds!

It is a shame such companies use such underhand tactics to promote their products. Surely, if the product is that good there would be plenty of genuine satisfied users endorsing the product on the forum.
 
How about the Allen and Page Calm and Condition instead of the Fast Fibre? Is molasses and Barley free, I feed my mare this with AlfaA and the micronised linseed. Only been feeding the linseed for a few days - bought a small bag off ebay to try and then ordered 25kg from Charnwood and so far she loves the stuff, she's eating the C&C faster than she was ie doesn't leave any for later, am adding one farriers formula cup to each feed of it.
 
Calm & Condition is barley and oat free, but does actually contain maize which is actually one of the starchiest of cereals. Depends quite how cereal-free the OP wishes to go, I suppose!
 
Fast Fibre is fairly low in DE (calories), you could change it to Fibre Beet, still keeping the starch low but fibre and calories up, the other alternative is Speedibeet, still low in starch and high in fibre but with a slightly higher calorie content.
 
By condition do you mean weight (fat) or muscle? or both?

They need to be addressed in two different ways. To gain weight you need to feed more energy in the diet. This should be fibre and oil based (slow release) to minimise behavioral changes and is also better for the digestive system than starch based energy. Look for higher energy feeds (11 mj/kg DE +) that are also low starch (under 10%).

To gain muscle there is no such thing as a feed that will do this alone. You need good quality protein in the diet and correct training.

Alfalfa would provide both good quality protein and a reasonable amount of slow release energy. You can buy it in pellet form (dengie) rather than the chaff if mollasses is an issue. Other than that unmollassed sugar beet will help, micronised linseed as suggested is also good and you feed a small amount so good to keep meal sizes down. There are many high oil feeds available such as triple crown triple top up coolstance copra meal or equijewel but these are more expensive.

Ad lib hay or haylage in the stable and field is a must and grass nuts may also be worth considering.
 
I used this on a poorly neglected TB mare once she had foaled

Grass nuts
Soya bean Meal
Oats
I cup of oil
Broad spectrum vitamin and mineral mix (Rosette I think comes in 25kg sacks)

Ad lib haylage

She is now shiny, plump and ready for covering. A broodmare's stomach muscles do take a while to tighten back up again and they do tend lose topline especially blood horses. Only exercise will restore the proper muscle.
 
I think that one of the ingredients in the Falcon product is rice bran, which is actually what the Saracen EJ is made of, and no I don't work for Saracen!

I have found that for a quick turnaround the EJ is the best, then move onto the Charnwood Milling linseed, same stuff as any of the companies using micronised linseed, such as Hilton Herbs, only much cheaper. Even taking into account the carriage.
 
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