Feed for keeping weight on - ideas please

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Ideas please for a 17.1 ISH (youngster we want to start filling out) in medium work at a livery yard. He is now on the following:

Blue chip Pro
4 x large scoops Beet
4 x large scoops Chop
2 x large scoops Bran
+ Ad lib haylage

Out in the field, but not a huge amount of grass at the moment due to wet weather and churning up - he has access to haylage all day. On a worming program with no issues there. I have basically put him back on 2 buckets a day (as if he was not out at grass, same as over winter) so beet, chop and bran have been doubled. However I need ideas if the weight gained over winter does not go back on and stay on plus ideally some more. I do not want to add to the sugar content and wondered if something like micronised linseed might help? I could do diet analysis but the source for the haylage changes so frequently I am not sure it would be of benefit. Basically he spends more time running around as the field idiot than eating, we also have him rugged up to to conserve any energy lost by the weather being cool at the moment. Thanks in advance!
 
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I gave some baileys top line cubes to my youngster last winter- they didn't send him fizzy at all (and he is the type to be full of beans!) it says that its low sugar and suitable for horses at rest, it helped him fill out nicely.
 
Wow thats an awful lot of feed, how many feeds is that split into? Why the bran? Small and often are the best way, feed too much and it is just a waste as they can not digest and use that much feed in one go.

My IDXTB poor do-er gets barely rings, alpha a oil, sugarbeet and his suppd, also adlib haylage and well rugged up and came out of winter looking fine, that was on zero grass as that yard didnt tell me they didnt put on grass during the winter.
 
Add a glug of oil to my TBs feed each time. Just use the supermarket veg oil as vet said it does just as good a job as the expensive, equine-marketed ones.

Also give him Readi Grass as it works for us - although some people don't like this as it is dry, so Alfa-A Oil would be the next choice.

Agree with others regarding why the bran
 
I always used to stuggle with mine too. Now I use:

top spec feed balancer,
alfa a oil,
3-4 slices of bread (ripped up),
carrots and corn oil, and its works brilliantly which is a god send as our paddocks arent that fantastic....:D
 
Our TB went from skin and bone to healthy and bootiful in just 8 weeks!
We fed him on one stubbs scoop Baileys no.4, one scoop (dry weight) speedi beet, one scoop Alfalfa Oil, one scoop Readigrass and 3 measures of pink powder (split into 2 feeds).
He is now on one scoop Baileys no.4 and 2 measures of Pink Powder for maintenance and he looks amazing!
I will post some before and after pics when I get home to show you as the transformation is so good!! :)

Here are some pics (just managed to get them off my phone):
photo18.jpg


photo19.jpg
 
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I am a huge fan of Readymash Extra from Rowan and Barbary. But my mare is doing well on (per feed) 1 x sugar beet, 1 x copra, 1/2 x nuts, 1 x alpha a oil & 1 mug linseed.
 
I'm not surprised he's not eating in the field if you're feeding him that lot! It'll be like having four Sunday roasts each day; would you run around if you'd eaten that?!

He's an ISH and at only 5 he's still maturing, probably won't be finished before he's 7 at least. If you want him to have a long and active life then you do not want to pump him full of feed now, it's bad for his limbs and system; something will go pop.

Personally I'd ditch the beet in favour of soaked grass pellets; keep the bran and feed rolled oats (which will not make him fizzy, they are excellent for weight gain) and feed something like brewers yeast along with micronised linseed with it.

Alternatively, feed something like D & H Suregrow with the grass pellets or beet. With that you won't need to supplement anything as it's all in the SG which is also formulated for growing bodies. That way he'll get all he needs and still have room for grazing.
 
Thanks for the ideas I'll look into those and see what might be a good next move. It is not that I expect him to be "filled out" at his age but he has dropped back from where he was and is looking too thin for his age and development, I don't expect him to reach his full shape until 8yrs at the earliest.

Frequency of feed is unfortunately something we can't change as he is on a livery yard and they have to be fed when they come in at night so all the horses are on the same regime and things do not get muddled - he does not get turned out for over 12 hrs after being fed so not sending him out to grass directly after a big feed. If his feed was split he would have to be kept in at times when all the other horses were going out so would then not settle and eat it at all. The bran is not the traditional bran that messes with the balance (we just call it that out of old habits) it is one of the newer balanced rice derived feeds - I have been recommended by a nutritionist that put us on the blue chip to keep it so I did.

Redigrass I heard mixed things about, so I'll probably contact Bailey's next about the ones mentioned and see what they'd recommend.
 
I would put him on fast fibre and two mugs of linseed. This combination has worked wonders for my girl who is. Poor doer. Linseed is awesome. I'd maybe add some grass pellets to mix too for extra protein. All dead low in sugar but high in fibre.
 
My old boy has poor dentition and needs support to keep his weight. He is Cushings and I have to watch the sugar. He gets...

Fast Fibre
SpeediBeet
unmolassed hay chaff

micronised linseed
vitamin E (your young lad won't need that)
mixed herbs depending on season and need

balanced minerals according to my forage (zinc, copper, magnesium, salt).
yea-sacc (yeast to make the gut happy and work more efficiently)
lysine (amino acid to help build muscle)

If I needed any more weight gain, I would use copra, soya hulls and oats.

There is Solution Mash, which I trialled and they loved. But it is too expensive for me to feed at £16 a bag :eek:

I have to say the balanced minerals made all the difference to him.
There are a couple of supplements out at the moment that are designed for people who can't do a bespoke one.
 
I always feed my horses bran, not 2 scoops though! My mother always used to say it keeps everything moving!! ie, no colicing or tying up, although I'm sure it's very old fashioned now. Bailys no 1 is fab for non heating weight gain. And of course Dr Green and good hay.
 
I couldn't recommend the products from Simple System Horse Feeds enough. You'll see the difference that it makes to your horse it no time at all, it's all natural and most horses absolutely love it!

It's done wonders for my TB. You can feed it safely in large amounts, if necessary, and horses take much longer to finish their feeds, instead of gobbling it down too quickly like other feeds. Also, considering the quality of their feeds and how long it lasts, it's great value for money.

Check out their website:

http://www.simplesystemhorsefeeds.co.uk/index.asp

They've got a very good e-mail/telephone advice line too.

(The only downside to them is that their products are not widely available, but you can order direct from them and pay no P&P if the order comes to £80 plus.)

This is an extract, copied from their website:

WHAT IS THE SYSTEM?

INTRODUCTION

We all know how important fibre is as the major part of the diet of our horses. Simple System Ltd has proved that by using a variety of fibre sources in conjunction with oil-bearing seeds, we can feed our horses without the use of cereals, supplements and molassed feeds. It really works! It is feeding horses as closely as possible to the way nature intended.

Horses are designed to eat a mainly fibrous diet, low in soluble carbohydrates, so our feeds are based on this principle. You will find high levels of digestible fibre, good quality protein and a wide range of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals. In other words, we provide the food nature intended they should eat!

Our range of feeds has been developed to meet the special needs of the horse’s unique digestive system. You will find it is free from cereals, pulses, molasses, preservatives and additives. Everything is natural!

(I'm in no way connected to the company, just in case you're wondering! I've just been told about it by a friend and found it fantastic so just want to recommend it to as many other people as possible too!)
 
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What has worked for the skinny pony we recently bought:

Ad lib forage or good grazing/combination of both
Chaff
Pony nuts
Pink powder
Veg oil

The weight has come on slowly and looks like it is staying too, and an economical diet. We have avoided anything conditioning as the pony can be sharp.

Hope that helps!
 
In recent years i've had problems keeping weight on my one horse. He's a tbred x and is a picky eater. Adlib hay for him is a waste as he'll eat then kind of get bored and stop so getting him full on the right food was hard.....until i found Rowan and Barbary Solution Mash. Amazing stuff. I have mine barefoot too so sugars and barley are a no go area. This stuff is low sugar but high fibre. I put 3 cups in a bucket to 6 cups of water, leave for an hour (or overnight), 1 stubbs scoop of this soaked is equivillent to 1kg of hay. The solution also has the daily vits and mins in so no added soya etc is needed. I did however put a handful of AlfaA in just because!!

My boy scoffs it down and past years he's been a struggling 520kg, this year hes a fat 575kg :) :)

Good luck
 
Thanks everyone lots of low sugar ideas for us. Ideally if I can find something that works well for him I can drop back down to one tea bucket, plus the new feed and maintain him in summer too.
 
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