feed help

A

AlexC

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I have just joined and hope I have put this in the right place.

my names Alex, I am 15, a boy and I have a 14hh conemmara cross 10 years and a bay 16hh tb cross Dutch warm blood also 10 years old

now my question

I have had my 16hh almost 2 years now but she is always very excitable I now she is an excitable breed but she is quite uncontrollable almost all the times, not wanting to do what she is asked I think this may be due to her being a mare also she’s not bad but just sometimes doesn’t like being told what to do, we have just got her a saddle company saddle so her backs getting better this probably also has made her behave bad as well, when were are riding she leaps sometimes i think this may be because her old saddle wasn’t fitting and she still has in her head that the saddle is going to hurt her, but today i was out and she reared vertical she has never done this before, i think she is just full of energy and cant get it out as we only ride at weekends now due to it getting dark quickly now

currently she is getting feed a scoop of baileys economy mix, 1 scoop of Alfa a, cod liver oil, biotin for her hooves and stropping mare started that a week ago,
i think that the Alfa a may be the cause of it or at least not helping ?
i am going to go to millers and get different food [i will obviously do this slowly mixed with her current feed] but i though id ask yous before

please help i am getting to the stage i want to sell her, i don’t want to but i don’t want to ride her when she’s like this,
i now other factors like her back and that wont be helping but that’s is getting fixed

please help
thanks
Alex
 
Hi,
She's not really an 'excitable breed', but it depends on her breeding really. I have a warmblood and he couldn't be more laid back if he was horizontal. The Alpha-A should not be causing her to fizz really. It could be the oil - how much do you give? Also, the mix is free from oats but not barley - some horses do fizz when fed barley.

My warmblood seems to drop off in winter and gets fed 2 scoops alpha a, 1 scoop speedibeet, half cup veg oil and half scoop BOSS in each feed with his F4F. I have been feeding spillers conditioning cubes to get his condition up a bit (half scoop per feed) but this will tail off once I am happy with him.

Also, are you feeding hay or haylage? Haylage will help her maintain her weight better than hay and means you may not need to feed her as much as you are feeding her. The economy mix is supposed to be non-heating but do bear in mind that she may fizz on barley which is in the mix. If you go for a beet product then make sure it is non-molassed (the mix you use also contains molasses which may need looking at). Keep to the alpha a.

Get her back and teeth checked. Make sure that new saddle is not causing her any bother at all.
 
hi

thanxs for that
i was just thinking that the alfa was doing it because someone i know got a horse had it a few weeks gave it alfa a and it was almost killing her took it off the alfa a and it was fine again

i give her about 1 to 2 lid fulls of the cod liver oil is that to much ? should i take her off that?

we feed haglage.

so what feed do u recommend instead of the economy mix? i was thinking of changing the alfa a to the mollychalf calmer?

her teeth weredone on wed last week, shes on 6 month checks, and her saddles a saddles company 1 so the mans been comeing an seeing her every month and re fitting the saddle to her shape as she is changing shape becuase she had a sore back from her old saddle, this was also fe flocked on sat and re fitted so the saddle shouldnt be the problem now
?

thanxs
alex
 
Do you need to feed hard feed at all, or is she a poor doer? If she maintains her condition OK, then I would be tempted to cut out all hard feed and just make sure she has adlib hay. This will give you an idea whether she is reacting to anything in her feed, if she improves, then you can slowly begin to introduce different feedstuffs.

It may not be feed-related at all - lots of other reasons why she may be behaving like this. Does she get plenty of turnout? Do you have an instructor helping you who could perhaps advise on her problems? Have you had the vet out to check her over? If you think her back is still causing her problems, can you turn her away for a while to give her back time to heal?
 
hi

ok i think i will just cut the feed out completly then.
i take it i do this gradually?

they are out all year round, and is always at the hay she has more than her fare share.

yes vet has checked her and i duno if uve heard of saddle company but the man who does it does bowen therapy and all that so he has been great with her and her back is getting better its not sore its just healing if that makes sence i now what i mean but cant get it out properly, she had been kid of turned away for 3 months wif a abses and her back so she wasnt rode and then the saddle man cam up and its been getting better. he did say that she had hurt her bum probebly from sliding over in the field with it beeing so wet, so it might be that.

i hope u can understand what i am trying to say
 
Hi Alex and welcome, Ive heard alfalfa can cause some horses to react, dengie do HI_FI which has less alfalfa in it, and is mixed with straw and not heavily molassed. Ive been using their fibre feeds for years, mainly the good doer (for a fatty) and hasnt sent him into orbit and it lasts ages.

Good luck with your horse, I think its a case of eliminating one thing at a time to see if there is an improvement in her behaviour.

Maybe like you say its the thought of it hurting her that is making her naughty and that shes been out of work for 3 months.

Good luck with her
 
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