Feed...what next?

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Charlie007

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Tb exracehorse has now been on TopSpec comprehensive balancer for 18days, I haven't seen an improvement, is it too soon? He looks a little light, beautiful coat etc. He has 2 scoops of safe and sound as it's free of pretty much everything and balancer. He has adlib hay, is out 24/7 but next to no grass due to weather.
I have only had him 2 months so I'm reluctant to stuff him full of food as he is currently a lovely boy!!

Do I..
Give the balancer more time?
Add linseed?
Add oil?
Or find something with more calories chaff wise?
Or add something like TopSpec conditioning cubes?
I could bring him in at night if needs must but whilst the weather is ok I'm not sure it would be of benefit? He is in light work.
 
Sorry for being dim - but am I right in thinking you are wanting to put weight on?

I would not be expecting a huge difference after eighteen days tbh. If he only looks a little light and has a good coat then I wouldn't be worrying at all.

Micronised Linseed is definitely something to consider.

I don't feed cereals so I can't recommend any conditioning feeds so to speak - so oil and linseed would be my suggestions :)
 
Thanks for your reply. Yes wanting to add weight to him. I don't feed cereals either but not sure if oil or linseed would be more beneficial. Have you any idea how long it should be before I see and improvement?
 
:)

I've never managed to get mine to eat enough oil!

I would say I noticed an improvement when feeding linseed after 6 weeks.

Just keep doing what you are doing :) and the best grass and hay/haylage.
 
Charlie007 said:
Tb exracehorse has now been on TopSpec comprehensive balancer for 18days, I haven't seen an improvement, is it too soon? He looks a little light, beautiful coat etc. He has 2 scoops of safe and sound as it's free of pretty much everything and balancer. He has adlib hay, is out 24/7 but next to no grass due to weather.
I have only had him 2 months so I'm reluctant to stuff him full of food as he is currently a lovely boy!!

Do I..
Give the balancer more time?
Add linseed?
Add oil?
Or find something with more calories chaff wise?
Or add something like TopSpec conditioning cubes?
I could bring him in at night if needs must but whilst the weather is ok I'm not sure it would be of benefit? He is in light work.
Click to expand...

I don't know why people feed expensive balancers when they could feed pink powder instead which is an inexpensive balancer, which promotes good gut function, is easy to add to a feed, lessy messy, easier to store, has all your essential vitamins and minerals in, and is much much cheaper.

Its great for my horse, he's currently on 2 1/2 scoops per day.
 
I'm not used to commercial "balancers" but how do they put on weight? I thought they were only pelleted vit/min feeds? The word "balancer" is misleading too as AFAIK it just means that the ratio of vit/mins are balanced to each other, not necessarily "balanced" to the equine's requirements.

There was someone on here who made a spreadsheet comparing ingredients and % of a majority of balancers. Someone else might be able to point you in the right direction of it and it may help.

Personally with my TB I feed: Graze on chaff, micronised linseed, Pro Balance (vit/min supp) and speedibeet. When he needs more condition I add copra/coolstance and that puts condition on relatively quickly. He's out 24/7 at the mo' and looking better than more of the horses in work on this diet (he's currently retired)!

I wouldn't feed oil; horses aren't designed to digest it. Years ago now but I was at a vet talk with the Arab Horse Society at the time that oil was "the thing" and he gave a massive lecture about why it shouldn't be fed, especially not in those quantities, and what it does to the digestive system. Enough to put me off for life!

Pink Powder isn't for everyone, if you search on this forum there is a big thread about the ingredients of PP. There are "better" ways of feeding the required vit/mins and for a healthy gut. To each their own, ingredients and analysis are there for everyone to read and reach their own informed decisions.

I know of people with TB's who've also had success feeding grass nuts (they also work for me) and rice bran.
 
I use Graze On chaff as mentioned by TPO.
Due to other issues I decided to stop feeding anything with alfalfa and didn't want molasses so the choice of chaff was limited. It is higher in sugar than some but it is natural sugar from the grass not added sugar so natural to the horse.

Again as TPO says if I needed more weight speedibeet or grass nuts would be my next option.
 
TPO said:
I'm not used to commercial "balancers" but how do they put on weight? I thought they were only pelleted vit/min feeds
Click to expand...

Most commercial balancers contain probiotic yeasts, the theory being that these can help create a healthy population of good bacteria in the gut which is crucial for effective digestion of fibre based foods, and therefore aid weight gain in that way. However most balancers are not particularly high in calories and if the overall diet is lower in calories than the amount the horse needs, then the horse will still fail to gain weight and additional feed stuffs may be needed.
 
TGM said:
Most commercial balancers contain probiotic yeasts, the theory being that these can help create a healthy population of good bacteria in the gut which is crucial for effective digestion of fibre based foods, and therefore aid weight gain in that way. However most balancers are not particularly high in calories and if the overall diet is lower in calories than the amount the horse needs, then the horse will still fail to gain weight and additional feed stuffs may be needed.
Click to expand...

Thank you TGM

I didn't know about the yeast theory with balancers.
 
Not sure on speedibeet, sure someone else will answer as mine isn't on that as main feed.

But I give 200gms, (approx 1 top spec cup), a day in summer and up this as required to 2 cups a day in worst of winter.
 
I think you'll get lots of different views and ideas on this thread! Which is good - everyone does things differently and what works well for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

When I was feeding my TB for weight gain what worked well was linseed, sugarbeet and Top Spec Cool Condition Cubes - alongside TS Feed balancer so she had all the necessary vits and minerals and ...Happy Hoof... which is not the best for weight gain but, she was rather fussy and HH was one of the few chaffs that she would eat! It also helped when I fed her 3 smaller feeds a day rather than trying to feed 2 larger feeds, although I know this can be difficult due to work constraints.
 
If you are feeding the topspec stuff why not try their conditioning feeds designed to go with the balancers?
 
I use conditioning cubes and equijewel, plus some high calorie chaff to make sure he chews properly. my boy is looking great, most feed companies say you need to wait 6-8 weeks to see results.
 
Thank you. He is eating plenty of hay now so I'm hoping that will help. He doesn't look bad by any means but when he arrived he was quite chunky and I would like to see him like that again!!
 
Mine is sensitive, had ulcers so I've played with feeds and researched a fair amount.

Mine is currently fed agrobs musli, aviform pro complete balancer, linseed and some ulsa kind cubes. He has one meal a day and very small. I will up to two in winter and add more of everything.

Other than the top spec I've gone for a natural feed, I don't like starches and sugars unless natural.

Ad lib hay is a must, I find as long as they have ad lib hay the weight shouldn't drop to much.

Equijewel is fab and works reasonably quickly and not much is needed to be fed. However made my horses tummy funny until he got used to it so I'm scrapping that this year. Fab if your horse isn't so sensitive.
 
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