FEEDING 3 YEAR OLD

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charliecrisps

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I just bought an irish sports horse, who came from Ireland. He is underweight and croup high. Any recommendations on a good feed to help gain weight without making him fizzy and help him get everything he needs from his diet to grow properly. Im used to cobs that live on fresh air! Thanks :-)
 
Our TB x 3yo is fed balancer and dengie, good grass and ad lib haylage when the grass runs out. He is out 24/7 and rugged in the winter. He has speedie beet added in the worst of the winter. He is also croup high. I would guess yours is not in work so a good vit and mineral supliment or balancer and lots of quality forage would bring him on nice and slowly.
 
I feed speedibeet and alpha a with oil and a pasture mix, ad lib haylage and in by night. My 2 yr old TB x was quite underweight when I got her and this put weight on nice and steady and 8 weeks on she is looking much better.
 
How underweight is he? I would always rather have youngstock a bit on the lean side than overweight.

Ad lib forage is best - haylage may be better than hay for adding condition. I keep my horses on a high fibre diet so 'dinner' is chaff (alfalfa based chaffs are fairly high in digestible energy) with speedi or fibre beet; extra calories are added with oil in preference to cereals as generally it's the starch in cereal feeds which causes the 'fizz'.

A general all purpose supplement is a good idea if not using hard feeds in their recommended quantities, I love Pink Powder but there are a few to choose from. Keep well rugged to avoid wasting energy keeping warm.

:)
 
I bout my mare 4months ago and she was underweight ive had her on Alpha A oil coolmix and bailys NO4 Conditioning cubes, she's currently living out 24/7 and is just on grass she is putting on weight nicely but proportionally.. she will come in soon and be on hayledge aswell. Ben told by so many people not to rush and feed feed feed as just makes for a hard youngster to deal with. Slow and steady wins the races afterall!! :) good look before and after pics??? xxxxx
 
IME, If he's three and Irish then the best thing you can do for him is to chuck him out on some decent grass 24/7 with adlib hay/haylage and a decent feed, only rug if totally necessary. Irish horses are notoriously late developers and need as much time as they can have while they acclimatize to over here and the best way is naturally which is why decent turnout is best. He will be a swan next spring and not at all what he looks like now.
Hope you're going to post some pics.
 
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