Feeding a 14 month old. Help.

[HayleyUK]

Hi,

My friend has a 14mo Sec D youngster who she currently feeds on simple systems. ATM hes getting 'lucibix' at night when he comes in with a vit & mineral supplement and a couple of flakes of soaked hay.

He doesn't look well on it at all compared to the other same age youngster on the yard. His coat is all patchy and scurfy where hes holding his winter coat and it refuses to shed, he seems to have a belly but nothing else and isnt 'fat' and just generally seems uninterested in the feed even though he eats it. Hes not shiny either.

She's interested in other feeding options so I said I'd ask here and shes going to ring the big feed companies.

I've suggested feeding a stud mix/cube with some alpha beet or chaff and the multi vit and seeing how he goes on that but she says hes a fussy eater...

Shes having a worm count done, but I honestly don't see it being that as hes done at the same time as all the other ponies who look really really well.

Anyone any ideas to help the poor little thing.

x

 

[scotsmare]

Not surprised he doesn't look well on the feed he's getting as he's not getting enough calories etc to help him grow.

I'd recommend your friend contacts one of the feed manufacturers and gets a diet organised for him to help him pick up his weight after that he could probably go onto either Suregrow or Baileys stud balancer until he's 3 or so.

I have a warmblood who is the same age and she currently gets 3/4 scoop stud mix twice a day with alfa-a and sugar beet. Different type of horse admittedly but they do need a proper diet whilst they are growing.

Also, get him wormed again for tapeworm and encysted red worm - a worm count will not show these.

 

[HayleyUK]

Exactly my thinking!

I think shes calling them today, its her 1st youngster and her RI reccomended the Simple Systems which I don't think is right for him at all.

 

[CrazyMare]

My 13 month old filly, is on adlib hay when she stands in, good grass at night plus Alfa A & TopSpec balancer. She looks fantastic.

 

[CBFan]

this is my 19 month old CB gelding who has lived on a diet of grass and hay for the last 3 months:

this is him when I got him 3 months ago:

I'd sugest that by making simple changes like feeding him unsoaked hay, you'll see massive changes within weeks. I don't think feeding stud balancers is very approprate for native types having experienced growth related problems before. They are too rich. Instead I'd go for a broad spec vit and min supplement with some hi-fi lite and a bit of speedi beet.

good luck!

 

[Gingernags]

My nearly 11 month old is out 24/7 on grass now, and gets 1 feed a day of Suregrow, Outshine and a handful of chaff. The first few days he went out he wasn't interested in hard feed but now gallops down the field for tea!

He loves his suregrow, can be fussy with chaff but over winter I was using the Winergy Equilibrium Growth - not to their advisory levels but in handfuls as a chaff - I'd recommend that with the Suregrow. Speedi beet is fine if you can make it up daily rather than it going off as it does in summer.

 

[shadowboy]

my 12 month colt is on Simple systems and hes doing great on it- he has lucie stalks, the soaked blue bag pellets, brewers yeast, garlic, and a special mix of herbs by wendal herbs to aid digestion and has improved dramatically on it in 10 weeks. He went from this

to this (taken 2 weeks ago)