Feed for fussy pony!

[P.forpony]

Would really love to hear what others feed their fussy hunters.
I have a Connie who thinks she’s a TB when it comes to feed.

14.1 currently happy with her weight but not a lot to spare (nothing sticking out but you can see where her ribs end)

Currently on ad lib haylage, d+h competition balancer, a scoop of fibre nuts, 3/4 scoop of sugar beet, 3/4 scoop of chaff between 2 meals, and saracens recovery mash after hunting.

She’s fit and energy levels are good, but she’s starting to go off her hard feed and picks at her haylage without getting through very much.

Evening feed will be mostly gone if left in till morning but getting to the stage now where she’s leaving 3/4 of breakfast, don’t really want her dropping off this time of year so would love to hear what works for everyone else.

 

[Leo Walker]

Fibre nuts, beet and chaff are adding bulk to the feed but not a lot in terms of calories or energy. If you reduce the bulk but feed more eneegy dense foods you should find she eats uo

If shes working hard I'd swap her on to re-leve, even my fussy idiot likes that. Someone one described it to me as pony crack! The other thing everything seems to find irresistable is oats So if you didnt want to feed releve I'd be feeding beet and oats.

I'd drop the pelleted balancer and replace with a powder balancer like equimins advance complete, add some linseed and salt/electrolytes. There is not as much electrolytes in the recovery mash as they would like you to believe!

If you find she drops condition as the season goes on I'd add a rice bran pellet. A handful tends to make a big difference condition wise and horses seem to like them.

 

[P.forpony]

Thanks that’s been really helpful, I was as thinking about re-leve actually (I think it’s smells like special k!) so that might be a good starting point.

I think she’s a bit overfaced by the size of her meals too so you’re right about the empty bulk, they’re the 3 feeds included in my livery though so I was giving it a try before I buy more as extra.

She also gets table salt daily depending on how much she sweats.

She’s definitely keeping me on my toes to feed, she was so overweight when I got her it took a year to get her slimmed down on a token feed of balancer with a sprinkle of enduro perform so she didn’t with feel like a complete slug! but obviously her needs have changed now so I need to keep up.

 

[Shay]

Echo Leo's point about too much bulk and not enough calories. Particularly if you think she is over faced by the size of the feeds! I like pink mash or Rowan Barberry mash for after hunting (I'm old enough to have fed bran mashes back in the day!). But haven't tried re-leve. Its well reviewed and she has it anyway so an easy switch.

 

[Templebar]

I usually add some grass chaff to my mares feeds but starting to drop it as its only there to slow her down usually. This is along with beet, oats, balancer and supps.

I think mine gets quite over faced by feeds especially after hunting so i tend to make sure its a little warm and cut out any chaff. I also use electrolyte salts in every feed, instead of only after hard work.