Feed help please

[Caramac71]

I am suddenly aware of how little I actually know and wondered if anyone could recommend any books/websites where I can educate myself about feeds?

We have a 5 year old mare (ID x connie) - she came from a showing home and was a bit overweight when we got her in June. A summer of being a pony club pony got her in shape and up til about a fortnight ago she looked a good weight. But gradually her weight is dropping and I'm concerned she's dropped a bit too much (especially before any bad weather hits).

We are on full grass livery, the grass kept horses are all fed twice daily with nuts and chaff and now the grass is running out they have a round bale of hay. She isn't clipped and was out in just a rain sheet until the temps dropped, and now she's in a mw rug. She is ridden 4-5 times a week but only for short periods (30-60 mins) and not hard work at the moment. We are planning to give her a couple of months off over winter, probably from mid December depending on weather.

I'm going to have a chat with my YO this morning and see what she suggests. She can live in but she always lived out in her previous home and seems happier with that. We can bring her in in the evenings and supplement her with extra hay or haylage, or give more feed. I'm just really not sure what would be best for her and I wondered if anyone could offer advice or point me in the right direction of clear and unbiased information. Thank you

 

[JillA]

There have been a couple of free internet courses on equine nutrition. The Coursera one I did last year, due to run again in January, and quite helpful https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=equine and there is a CAfre one just coming to an end, I don't know it will run again http://www.cafre.ac.uk/2014/10/study-home-improve-equine-nutrition-knowledge/

The first question that comes to mind is are the horses on the yard on a wormer programme? And are the mare's teeth in good shape? If she has ad lib decent hay and is rugged she shouldn't be losing weight.

 

[TGM]

I'd second the suggestion to check teeth, but would also check that she is not being bullied away from the round bale by the others. Also when they are fed in the field are the horses/ponies separated/restrained in anyway or is there the possibility that others are helping themselves to her bucket feed? If she were mine I think I would have her in for a few hours each day and give her a big net of haylage and a feed of a decent balancer and soaked grass nuts or a dried grass chaff.

 

[Caramac71]

There have been a couple of free internet courses on equine nutrition. The Coursera one I did last year, due to run again in January, and quite helpful https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=equine and there is a CAfre one just coming to an end, I don't know it will run again http://www.cafre.ac.uk/2014/10/study-home-improve-equine-nutrition-knowledge/

The first question that comes to mind is are the horses on the yard on a wormer programme? And are the mare's teeth in good shape? If she has ad lib decent hay and is rugged she shouldn't be losing weight.

Thank you - yes all horses on a wormer programme and teeth done in July with no problems.

She's in a field of 4 - the other 3 are all cob-types. They get a round bale every Monday and they demolish it fairly quickly so I wonder if she's just not really getting enough hay? Or maybe I should have rugged a bit earlier than I did?

I'll take a look at those links you sent, thank you.

 

[Pinkvboots]

When you say they are demolishing the hay round in how many days? This could be your issue if its only lasting half the week for the other 3 or 4 days they are getting nothing.

Then what happens is if they are getting not enough fibre as in grass or hay they are using fat fromthere body to keep warm, so this is why horses loose weight no amount of rugging will make much difference hay and grass keep horses warm and then they hold weight.

 

[Caramac71]

I'd second the suggestion to check teeth, but would also check that she is not being bullied away from the round bale by the others. Also when they are fed in the field are the horses/ponies separated/restrained in anyway or is there the possibility that others are helping themselves to her bucket feed? If she were mine I think I would have her in for a few hours each day and give her a big net of haylage and a feed of a decent balancer and soaked grass nuts or a dried grass chaff.

She's definitely not bullied. She's out with a gelding and 2 mares; the gelding is in charge but she is second in command. At feed time they do swap around a bit so it's possible she doesnt get as much, tbh the others are a greedy bunch and she's just not as fussed (they all stand at the gate waiting for their feed, kicking the fence and making noise while she just wanders over when it's there). With the hay there is one mare that pretty much stands and gorges herself 24/7, while our mare eats for a bit, then wanders off and grazes, and goes back again later. She likes food, she's not fussy, but she's not obsessed by it.

Up til a couple of weeks ago we were doing lots of loading practice with her, and feeding her an extra feed and hay or haylege on the box every other day - now she's loading well we've cut that down to twice a week so I guess that could be contributing.

I'll have a chat with YO and ask if she can come in with the stable kept ponies in the afternoons with a slightly bigger feed and a big net of haylage.

Dentist isn't due now til February (she suggested 6 monthly checks due to her age) but I'll see if anyone on the yard has vet or dentist coming out soon and just get her checked for peace of mind.

Thank you for the suggestions.

 

[Caramac71]

When you say they are demolishing the hay round in how many days? This could be your issue if its only lasting half the week for the other 3 or 4 days they are getting nothing.

Then what happens is if they are getting not enough fibre as in grass or hay they are using fat fromthere body to keep warm, so this is why horses loose weight no amount of rugging will make much difference hay and grass keep horses warm and then they hold weight.

Yes I suspect that's the problem. Hay bale lasts til about Friday and then there is only a covering on the floor over the weekend that they pick at. Probably not an issue for the others that have stuffed themselves silly from Monday to Thursday, but I think our mare eats a bit more sensibly and doesnt have their fat reserves.