Feed for Pony Camp

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Sabrina&Stardust

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Hey Guys, I'm off to pony camp next week and need to decide what I'm going to feed Star. He's a 13'3hh connemara gelding that normally lives off fresh air and grass and is ridden 5-6 days of the week for about an hour each day. I don't want him having a ridiculous amount of energy buy feeding him hard feed :D- i'd rather feed him more and more as the week progresses. Pony camp lasts for a week and the ponies will be kept in the stables all night and day and used for about 4-5 hours each day. Star will be fed at breakfast and lunch because I find if I feed him at tea instead of lunch or breakfast he has too much energy for a good nights sleep and is too skitish in the morning. This routine (of breakfast and lunch) worked well last year but come showday (the last day) he was exhausted. Last year he was feed Hi-Fi regular and own brand pony nuts along with a scoop of garlic and a little bit of salt.
I was recommended to try speedi- beet or else Fibre-p this year and wondered if anyone has used either before. http://www.britishhorsefeeds.com/company-products/products/complementary-feeds/speedi-beet/ because you have to soak speedi beet, I would rather use something else but would still like to hear reviews on it. Do you need to feed hifi with it, or else just speedi beet on it's own, or pony nuts & hifi& speedi beet?

http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/horse-thoroughbred.pdf fibre p (scroll down on link!) was said when i asked a person at my yard if there was a feed that combined both chaff and pony nuts. Again, any reviews? Do you think that it eliminates having to use both hifi and pony nuts?
Thanks! xx
 
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When I went to pony camp last year I just fed pony nuts and chaff along with a scoop of salt because she was sweaty after being ridden.

What is he being fed at the moment? If the routine worked well with the hifi and pony nuts last year, why don't you try it again this year? Just a thought, sorry I'm not much help :o
 
I probably will do it again this year but I just wanted to hear any reviews on other stuff I've been recommended. It worked alright but he was still really tired by the end and I wanted to see whether I could try and give him a bit more of a boost this year:) But thankyou! xx How much salt do you give your horse?
 
My friend fed her pony pony nuts, chaff and a scoop of speedi beet when she came to pony camp last year and he did well on that but I will have to ask her for more in depth info about that.

If she is sweating a lot, I give her a teaspoon of salt just to replace what was lost in the sweat :)
 
If you are going to feed him something he doesn't normally get then you will have to get him used to it over this week before feeding it to him at camp.
 
Sorry I forgot to put that as of 3 days ago he is having his hifi and pony nuts to get him back into the routine, thanks for reminding me Broke_But_Happy :)
 
TBH you will probably not need to feed him loads extra for a few days at camp. If he is used to being turned out quite a lot, then assuming he will be stabled at camp other than when he's ridden, that will also mean he will have more energy. I took our three to PC camp this year for the first time - for my 2 sons, and a young girl who was riding our 13.2.

They are all natives/native crosses. Normally they are turned out during the day and come in at night. Normally they don't have breakfast but have a smallish feed each of high fibre nuts and Dengie Hifi at night, plus some hay/haylage. At camp I just gave them breakfast as well (so effectively their bucket feed was doubled each day) plus they had a little extra hay/haylage in their stables so they always had something to eat. This was quite enough. In fact because they weren't going out it they were probably slightly more energetic towards the end of camp than the beginning, even though they were being worked around 3 hours a day.
 
Mine gets a scoop of oats added to his Safe and Sound for extra energy on holidays and I feed him hayledge instead of hay. I also add a teaspoon of salt in the summer. I do tend to feed a sprinkling of oats all year round though so when I need to up it for competitions and holidays it's already in his diet so its not a shock to the system.
 
nikicb I agree with you that him being in the stable will give him more energy, but last time by the 5th day he was really very tired even with his hifi, pony nuts, garlic & salt.
Basically I'm just wondering if anyone would recommend anything on top of this that I could feed him just to give him enough energy for those last few days?:)
 
I agree he it is fitness work that will help him keep his energy up all week.

He is working extremely hard all week he will be tired the last day. Can you give him a quieter day the day before the show? This may help
 
I'll try riding him for longer and more difficult work this week but I know I have left it a little late, that's why I'm looking at extra feeds. Unfortunately, no, there's a set plan of lessons and stuff and we have one of the busiest days before the show (because that makes sense:confused:;)) and they don't like you not to take part in the lessons unless you or your pony is ill.
 
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