Feed - grass nuts, spillars, topline etc

Leam_Carrie

Leam_Carrie

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I'm struggling to get more weight on my 15hh 18yo arab mare. She looks ok, but you can see her ribs in certain lights. Grazing is a bit poor and she usually gets a haynet a day. I had her on Spillars senior conditioning mix and fibre, which she out on weight with but still not beyond this stage. I was persuaded to try topline's veteran feed balancer with chaff, which didn't add any more condition - so added speedi beet and the last week conditioning cubes. She's nearly out of the balancer, which is really expensive so now wondering what to get. Have also heard grass nuts can be good for this. I was going to call Spillars and Topline for advice, but assume they will only recommend their products - so advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated...
 
this has worked for two of mine - one veteran and one youngster.
I use Baileys no 17 topline conditioning mix with Alfa beet and Alfa A oil.

The baileys is expensive because the young boy gets three big scoops of it a day. My oldie only gets half a scoop daily and he wintered really well last year. The winter before he got far too thin for my liking.
 
Grass nuts are working well for my ancient Connie, who wintered really badly, though I had her on Fibrebeet and conditioning cubes + hay
 
We had 26 yr old cob mare who had an extended colic (vet came 3 days running) and was really pulled down by it. We built her up again and then maintained her weight with soaked grassnuts, speedibeet and dried grass (Graze-on), with linseed oil and a splash of molasses, as we knew she could tolerate it and we wanted her to eat. She lived to be 31 and looked well on it.
 
If you can only see ribs in a certain light.... Sounds like she's at a perfect place.... Why make her fat?
 
Same old question - have you had her tested for Cushings/Insulin Resistance? Because if she is positive you would be better spending your money on Prascend than food she can't utilise, and if she isn't looking well at this time of year I would be looking for an underlying cause.
 
JillA said:
Same old question - have you had her tested for Cushings/Insulin Resistance? Because if she is positive you would be better spending your money on Prascend than food she can't utilise, and if she isn't looking well at this time of year I would be looking for an underlying cause.
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This definitely as changing or increasing her feed drastically might cause lami.
 
I can't recommend grass nuts enough - horses are designed to eat grass and these are just grass - so perfect for them. You can soak them to overcome any teeth issues and you haven't got the heating risk you have with cereals.
 
Grass nuts are very underated, they are brilliant.

I have my 16 yr old arab on them, along with fenugreek, linseed & brewers yeast (works out much cheaper than a balancer). If your oldie needs higher protein levels, get red bag grass nuts from simple systems. Their endro complete feed also very good alternative to a balancer.
 
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