Feed for hot and fussy thoroughbred

[varietymix_123]

My thoroughbred has been loopy for the past few months so I have changed his feed to try and cut out as much starch and sugar as possible. However, having never left his food before, he's just not interested in this and I am very wary of him dropping weight over the winter. I just wondered if anyone had any advice on what's tasty but non-heating in any way?!

He's currently getting:
- Spillers Speedy mash (I tried this because of the flavour but didn't work - before this he was just getting fast fibre which I would prefer as lower starch & sugar)
- Honeychop light & healthy
- Micronised linseed

Thank you!

 

[vonno]

I use Primero Total, and if extra condition needed Baileys Outshine. My horses fizz up on sugar and starch, but do great on these.

 

[Comino]

Our TB (chestnut mare, raced for 4 years) is very sensible and calm with a good work ethics. We even forgot to tie her yesterday, while we took others to the field, and she did not move an inch. This is not the behaviour she shows, when she is fed anything with pesticides, alfalfa and certain other plants that we have not been able to pinpoint - then she fits all stereotypes of a chestnut mare!
Now she is on un-sprayed pasture (stabled at night), un-sprayed ad-lib hay and hard feed from St Hippolyt: Sempermin (vit/min muesli), Irish Mash, Seniorfaser and Linustar. She has never reacted badly to starch (we have had her on Black Oats as well). She is barefoot and doing great.

 

[fredflop]

TBH, unless your feeding vast quantities of your current “ menu”, she’s not put on weight. Personally I’d look at a decent quality feed balancer and take it from there

 

[varietymix_123]

Thank you! I haven't heard of Primero Total!

 

[claracanter]

I have a fizzy Tb, especially this time of year. He is stabled at night and has two feeds. He is fed Simple systems timothy chop and winergy low energy mix. I have tried cutting this mix out because I don't think it's low energy at all but he won't eat just the chop, so has a few grass nuts as well and less than a handful of mix. He has a huge haynet at night and is a good dooer so no weight gain needed.

Has the change in your horse's feed changed the loopy behaviour?

 

[Pinkvboots]

I would consider graze on chaff it's just chopped grass never known a horse not to eat it, then try adding unmolassed sugar beet, or copra or grass nuts alongside the linseed, all are good for weight gain without sending them nuts, another thing you could try is equijewel but I have known some horses to get a bit fizzy on it but it's great for putting on condition, I have found once it's put the weight on you can actually maintain it with other feeds so it can be useful for a short term option.

 

[pixie27]

My TB is really sensitive to feed and reacts to any kind of sugar.

I have him on Thunderbrook healthy herbal chaff, Thunderbrook base mix (balancer and good for ulcery types too), tiny bit of Keyflow Pink Mash and some oil for condition. Seems to be working ok, though we had a hairy few weeks getting the balance right of the mash. Oil and good adlib hay made the biggest difference for my boy.

A friend put her WB on Equijewel and sent her a bit loopy - but it did the job and got a lot of condition on her.

 

[smellsofhorse]

Try pink mash, a good balancer and linseed as well as adlib hay.