Feed guru's... i need some advice.

Girlracer

Girlracer

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Ok, horse background.

6yo thoroughbred, in medium work (as in an hour a day of exercise 5-6 days a week), will be hunting this season lightly & hunter trials etc with the intention doing ODE's come spring.

Very sensitive to feed, and changes dramatically if it's at all heat giving. So far the only thing that hasn't sent him loopy is pony nuts. I put him on bailys no.4 at one stage and whilst he looked fabulous he was near enough un rideable.

He is out on decent grazing for between 5 and 6 hours a day, and has ad-lib hay (and boy he eats a lot!). Feed wise he has a scoop of Alfa-A morning and night, a glug of oil in both then just his calmer with it.

Weight wise currently he looks good, however it's getting colder, the grass is going and hunting is starting. Prevention is better than cure and all that so i want to start feeding before he drops off.

Any suggestions on what i can add for that 'bit extra'?

Here he is a day ago.

jz6srn.jpg
 
You're not feeding much in the way of vitamins andminerals so I'd add a balancer - I like Top Spec and most horses do really well on it. Then if you still need more condition I'd feed a decent quantity of beet. All low starch and a million miles from Baileys No4 :D
 
I had a nasty experience with TS balancer, all 5 horses turned into lunatics.
Unmolassed beet would be helpful and micronised linseed is also a good source of fat and far more palatable than oil. The other thing i'd recommend is upping the quantity you're feeding before looking to add other things in, if its a fibre feed theres no reason why he can't have lots more. :)
 
If what you are feeding is generally working then I'd say try not to change it but up the quantity given. Perhaps consider adding some speedibeet too?
 
I use baileys lo cal balancer on Jae, honestly I swear by it. It is low starch and energy (hence the lo cal bit!) but it has everything he needs to look an absolute picture while keeping him calm. You could try adding that to the Alfa?
Otherwise you could as some pony nuts to the Alfa and/or non molassed sugar beet?!
Jae gets the balancer, fibre nuts and chaff and he is doing ODE's on that with decent grass and hay and if anything he looks a bit rotund :).
Sometimes I change to Alfa and I've added s'beet in the past but I never give him anything too energising or high profile like a comp feed or conditioning feed as he just turns into a cocky little monkey :p.
 
I would try a company called pure feed all mine are now being fed there feeds and look well with no loopyness even from the old showjumper who turned into the devil reincarnated on some feeds
 
maggiesmum said:
I had a nasty experience with TS balancer, all 5 horses turned into lunatics.
Unmolassed beet would be helpful and micronised linseed is also a good source of fat and far more palatable than oil. The other thing i'd recommend is upping the quantity you're feeding before looking to add other things in, if its a fibre feed theres no reason why he can't have lots more. :)
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Yep, someone at my yard recently tried TS Lite for her TB and it sent him off his head!

I'd also agree re. the beet and linseed.
 
I think by 'bit extra' OP means to keep the weight on when it gets cold and the grass dies off. I don't think she needs more omph :D.
 
Burgess supa barley rings are really good for weight gain and are non heating. Ad lib hay/haylage of a good quality, I'd also get his teeth checked by a qualified EDT to check that he is maximising the most of his feed going into the winter. I'd give three or four small feeds, this is more efficient to the metabolism of the gut. The oil is good but is it corn or soya oil rather than vegetable oil?

I'd also definitely recommend NAF pink powder. Its a feed balancer albeit in powder form, is highly palatable to horses and contain all the essential minerals, and probiotics that your horse will require.

If he's in moderate work, especially with the hunting coming up he needs a competition mix which is a slow release type of feed. Try the Spillers HDF range or Spillers Winergy.
 
You are feeding adlib hay ,great !:):) So your horse is getting plenty of fibre. The Alfa A is a waste of time because it is meerly an expensive substitute for good hay.There are also some serious downsides to Alfalfa (,but not in the quantities you are feeding.) The easyest way and the safest way to increase energy input is by increasing the quality of the fibre ingested. Fibre is basicly complex carbohydrate eg cellulose. As grass matures it becomes Lignified ,Lignin is indigestible fibre to all intents and purposes. Late cut ,gone to seed hay is not particularly digestable and while it may look ok it lacks digestable energy. Go for good meadow hay rather than Rye grass hay as this tends to have a lot of simple sugars which can be a problem .Also the meadow hays tend to have more minerals and vitamins as they grow slower.
I would advise steering clear of products containing wheat and Barley. If you need to up the energy level above what cn be done on good hay (which is a lot) I would go for Micronised linseed ( a mug full in each feed) As I have said ,the Alfa A is a waste of time ,but could be used to advantage here to mix the linseed with. On a good meadow hay you shouldnt need additional protein BUT the problem is whether it contains sufficient amounts of certain Amino acids(protein buildingblocks)The sulphur containing ones (needed for coat and hooves particularly)are often low.You could add a small amount of soya meal to the feed (say 1/2 a mug full) just to increase protein quality. But dont add too much because high protein levels are not good .
As for calmers ,well I use one in the spring because it is basicly Magnesium Oxide ,which spring grass can be deficient in (Magnesium). No harm in using Magnesium oxide all year round,but stear well clear of calmers based on Calcium.
 
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I also swear by Calm & Condition for my ex-racer.
There's also a new feed called Cool & Collected - I think? Which is slightly lower in energy but a similar type of feed.
Would suggest adding in one of those - they do contain un-mollassed beet & understand they're high in oils to provide slow release energy.
 
First Time Mum said:
I would try a company called pure feed all mine are now being fed there feeds and look well with no loopyness even from the old showjumper who turned into the devil reincarnated on some feeds
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Echo, I would try a combination of Pure Condition and Pure Balancer for your horse. No molasses, low starch, all vits and minerals etc. Seems to be suiting my boy well.

F_H
 
Mike007 said:
As for calmers ,well I use one in the spring because it is basicly Magnesium Oxide ,which spring grass can be deficient in (Magnesium). No harm in using Magnesium oxide all year round,but stear well clear of calmers based on Calcium.
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My friend put me onto this - I use 99.2% magnesium oxide and swear by it, my horse has one scoop a day and is much better with his spookiness. He still spooks, that will never go away, but I can hack him alone with much more confidence, and he doesn't spook half as much as he did before feeding this supplement.

http://www.naturalhorsesupplies.co.uk/p/category/0802204936-Magnesium+Supplements/

Burgess Super Barley Rings approx £7.50 for 20KG have linseed in and are non heating.
 
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Why don't you put him on a balancer, like Baileys no.14, which will give him all the nutrients he needs, but without the sugar, and therefore fizziness. Also, alfa a has lots of energy in it, why not feed hi fi lite or similar instead! As he has access to lots of grass and hay, he probably doesnt really need much hard feed at all!
 
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