Feed sharp competition pony that's not a good doer

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zoelouisem

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What do people feed there sharp competition horse/ponies that are not good doers?!
It's my daughters pony although sharp daughter perfectly happy with that I just don't want to make her too silly!
My other problem is she can be reactive to food!
Have tried d&h build and glow made her legs swell.
Linseed made her face puffy!
Conditioning cubes didn't really do anything!
She's on ad lib hayledge in a hay bar but she's not a pig so doesn't eat particularly loads.
She does go out a bit but jumps in if left out too long!!
Doesn't like speedi beet. Doesn't like just grass either.
Currently having 3 scoops of safe and sound split over her feeds also getting recommend amount of balencer so she's getting vit and mins. Also just introduced Dodson and horrel pasture cubes although I know these aren't massive for helping put weight on at least it's bulk for her.
I would definitely like her to be carrying a bit more weight but also she's competing regularly showjumping does away shows.
She's fit enough for the job ridden 6 days a week with a variety in life.
Just seem to be at a loss shes maintaining her weight at the moment just but season getting buisier I just can't see how her current feed will sub stain her.
Any recommendations of feed that may help!
 
Calm and condition might be worth a try. Our very poor doer Connie does well on it and doesn't get silly, he doesn't cope with cereals and mix goes straight through him.
 
I've had some good results with calm and condition, Baileys no 4 is good as well. Blue Chip is definitely worth a go though.
 
Have you tried coolstance copra? I haven't used personally but have heard great things from those who do.
 
I've had results with a&p calm and condition too - really improved my boys condition and didn't send him loopy which many foods do.
 
Do you have any pictures of her?
how big is she and how big are the feed scoops because 3 scoops a day plus other feed for a pony sounds like an awful lot to me.
Have her teeth been checked, lack of maintaining condition with extra loss when competing could indicate ulcers
 
Feed mine oats and a quarter scoop of topspec cool conditioning cubes, could also try rice bran instead of the linseed?
 
Saracen Re-Leve worked wonders on my horse without making her silly. I have now had to take her off it as she got to porky.
 
Had all checks done on her.
She's 138cm. It's only the safe and sound I give her lots of as she doesn't eat particularly loads of hayledge so want to keep the fibre going through her.
She's having I cup full of balencer too.
Will have a look through the suggestions it's not so much her been naughty I'm worried about at the moment it's more the legs swelling or face to the proteins I worry about although wouldn't want something that made her blow her mind.
 
Soaked grass nuts and copra/coolstance would be my suggestion with half a scoop of your chaff to change the consistency and stop if being too sloppy.

I'd also look at feeding a different balancer; something from Forage Plus, Progressive Earth or Equivita. If you read the ingredients on the commercial balancers a lot of them don't contain enough of what you do need, too much of what you don't need (iron) and quite a bit of filler (oat/wheat feeds, alfa).
 
Copra would be good if she will eat it. It's (imo) a very safe feed for all the reasons you need it to be. However it can take a while to get them to eat it.
 
zoelouisem said:
Yer I did think of this but she's a very fussy eater. Think it's just going to be trialing what she will happily eat!
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Ditto Copra. My pony wouldn't eat Speedibeet on its own, but will eat it with Copra and with Alfalfa nuts (though some people report problems with alfalfa). Currently, he's on Fibrebeet (which is beet + alfalfa) as his regular base food, with some Copra added now because he's a bit too light at the moment.

When your pony goes out, is it with company?
 
spookypony said:
Ditto Copra. My pony wouldn't eat Speedibeet on its own, but will eat it with Copra and with Alfalfa nuts (though some people report problems with alfalfa). Currently, he's on Fibrebeet (which is beet + alfalfa) as his regular base food, with some Copra added now because he's a bit too light at the moment.

When your pony goes out, is it with company?
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She'll jump out with or without company she's very submissive and gets bullied so have to be really careful who she's with anyway found a pony she loved and she still came over a metal gate and got staples in her leg in the process!
She's definitely a princess!!
 
I would always go for good hay rather than haylage. Always feed the best cleanest hay and a hay balancer. A dash of "magnitude, a bit of sugarbeet and some Dengie molasses free chaff . (the stuf with fenugreek in it .I have found that Barley can cause leg filling, I dont know why but I steer clear of it. If I had to up the energy on this basic ration I would use rolled Oats and feed little and often.
 
zoelouisem said:
Yer I always do that anyway I'm paranoid about colic usually takes me at least 10 days to introduce a new food properly.
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When I said tiny I meant a tea spoon at a time and over the course of a month or more. It has a very strong smell and unusual texture. Once they are on it, they will usually be fine, but it takes a while for them to accept it in some cases.
 
I've just swapped Fig from the winergy condition to Saracen enduro. Despite him being sharp as anything and the enduro containing maize, he's been brilliant on it.

You could always try soaked rolled oats for bulk without fizz too. Fig also has these.
 
zoelouisem said:
Yer I did think of this but she's a very fussy eater. Think it's just going to be trialing what she will happily eat!
Click to expand...

FfionWinnie said:
Copra would be good if she will eat it. It's (imo) a very safe feed for all the reasons you need it to be. However it can take a while to get them to eat it.
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I used a tablespoon full at a time increasing the amount very slowly. It seemed to take age to get to a proper amount but now the horse eats copra happily. I mix it with a handfull of Thunderbrook chaff, which I think has little or no sugars.
 
I have a pony who's never been great at keeping weight on and after a hard season hunting he ran up looking like a bag of bones.

I had him on the Allen&page calm and condition but he was never that keen on it and would often eat his haylege over it and just pick at it. It has done wonders on a friends horse though.

For the last month he's been on the Rowan Barbary ready mash extra which was recommended by our feed store and it has worked absolutely wonders him! He loves it too and I done blame him it smells divine so imagine it very tasty for them. You soak it for 5 minutes before feeding and it expands to twice the size do a bag lasts a good while. I'd seriously reccomend giving it a try.

Also why not stick him on the NAF pink powder? It's 20 pounds for a tub that lasts about a month for a pony and it sorts out their guys and keeps them right which helps them hold weight. I also noticed my boy was happier in him self and calm on it presumably because he was comfortable in his guts.
 
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