Gingey
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone
Looking for feed suggestions- have gained some good ideas from trawling through old posts on here but thought I'd try with a specific question! Here goes- will try and keep it brief..!
Horse is 9yo TB ex racer, out all day with okayish grazing and hay, unless it's v v wet in which case in for a day or two (but turned out for an hour each end of day, + walked in hand, ridden/lunged/loose schooled) with adlib hay. In at night with ad lib hay. Up until fairly recently he's been ridden about 5 times a week, hasn't competed much over past couple of months, but does 1hr-2hr hacks, jumps, schools and has fairly intense lessons at home. Light-medium work? For this he was on 1 to 1 and a half Stubbs scoop Alfa A Oil + 3/4 scoop of either pony nuts or Ride and Relax, twice a day. + carrots
Recently though we've stepped up the fitness in preparation for an active couple of months of competing again and hunting- he went hunting for first time over Christmas, and dropped off a bit afterwards (took him a few days to 'come down' off his excited hunting brain
and being a typical TB he can lose weight seemingly overnight!!).
Since then I've been increasing workload, optimum will soon be: 6 days a week, fairly fast longish hacks (lots of trot, long canters), similar intensity schooling and jumping (90-1m ish), plus approx 1 party/clinic a week.
He is now on 1- 1 and 1/2 scoops Alfa A Oil, 1/2 scoop Speedibeet and 1 scoop Ride and Relax (twice a day) and looking good, although his coat's not quite as shiny as when he was on nuts+glug of veg oil instead of R&R.
Although he feels very well and is loving his work, I think he needs a little help with stamina, as although he's very up for his work, he sometimes loses a bit of his 'sparkle' as he's getting a little tired- therefore thought something to do with 'slow release energy' is a good idea? + vits/mins/oils to help coat shine again? Know R&R is meant to do all that but it just doesn't seem to quite do the job for him, and I don't really want to increase amount even more as v big feeds bore him and he won't finish them! I know his feed is quite large now, but health wise I'm not really concerned as it's mainly fibre/foragey type stuff anyway. Would feed him more hay instead but he won't eat any more than he has now, it's coming out of his ears..
Was thinking about switching to something like Baileys No 6 All-Round Endurance Mix, or Allen and Page performance mix. However I'm just not really sure if his work warrants a performance/competition mix- after all he's not exactly an advanced eventer! Is that likely to be 'over feeding'?
He doesn't like sloppy feeds so don't think Calm and Condition would work, and nothing oat based- I like staying in the saddle
Suggestions more than welcome, think I've just totally overcomplicated things!!
Sorry, that was a large post despite my best efforts!
Looking for feed suggestions- have gained some good ideas from trawling through old posts on here but thought I'd try with a specific question! Here goes- will try and keep it brief..!
Horse is 9yo TB ex racer, out all day with okayish grazing and hay, unless it's v v wet in which case in for a day or two (but turned out for an hour each end of day, + walked in hand, ridden/lunged/loose schooled) with adlib hay. In at night with ad lib hay. Up until fairly recently he's been ridden about 5 times a week, hasn't competed much over past couple of months, but does 1hr-2hr hacks, jumps, schools and has fairly intense lessons at home. Light-medium work? For this he was on 1 to 1 and a half Stubbs scoop Alfa A Oil + 3/4 scoop of either pony nuts or Ride and Relax, twice a day. + carrots
Recently though we've stepped up the fitness in preparation for an active couple of months of competing again and hunting- he went hunting for first time over Christmas, and dropped off a bit afterwards (took him a few days to 'come down' off his excited hunting brain
and being a typical TB he can lose weight seemingly overnight!!). Since then I've been increasing workload, optimum will soon be: 6 days a week, fairly fast longish hacks (lots of trot, long canters), similar intensity schooling and jumping (90-1m ish), plus approx 1 party/clinic a week.
He is now on 1- 1 and 1/2 scoops Alfa A Oil, 1/2 scoop Speedibeet and 1 scoop Ride and Relax (twice a day) and looking good, although his coat's not quite as shiny as when he was on nuts+glug of veg oil instead of R&R.
Although he feels very well and is loving his work, I think he needs a little help with stamina, as although he's very up for his work, he sometimes loses a bit of his 'sparkle' as he's getting a little tired- therefore thought something to do with 'slow release energy' is a good idea? + vits/mins/oils to help coat shine again? Know R&R is meant to do all that but it just doesn't seem to quite do the job for him, and I don't really want to increase amount even more as v big feeds bore him and he won't finish them! I know his feed is quite large now, but health wise I'm not really concerned as it's mainly fibre/foragey type stuff anyway. Would feed him more hay instead but he won't eat any more than he has now, it's coming out of his ears..
Was thinking about switching to something like Baileys No 6 All-Round Endurance Mix, or Allen and Page performance mix. However I'm just not really sure if his work warrants a performance/competition mix- after all he's not exactly an advanced eventer! Is that likely to be 'over feeding'?
He doesn't like sloppy feeds so don't think Calm and Condition would work, and nothing oat based- I like staying in the saddle
Suggestions more than welcome, think I've just totally overcomplicated things!!
Sorry, that was a large post despite my best efforts!
