Feeding a 17 year old retired cob type horse?

[little_mistress13]

I started loaning a friends horse this summer and if I am being honest I was completely new to looking after horses and my "friend" just left me to it. If I had questions she wouldn't return my phone call. (That is a different story too long to go into)

Anyway. I have been researching and asking questions on here and so far I have been doing good with her.

The trouble I got now is feeding. Before I took on this horse she would neglected and left in the field. when I took over My friend told me winter feed is quarter bucket full of cheap value chaff mixed with ponie nuts.

The field has no grass. Completely scarce. I have been learning about different feeds and I want to buy a veteran mix for light work or retired. fast fiber unmolassed chaff and want to buy a bale of haylage. (I can do what I like my friend really isn't interested)

Anyway the problem I got is, I'm pretty sure she is over weight. or if not over weight, for a horse that hasn't been fed well and lives on a field with no grass has a lot of chunk on her? so I am worried if I start feeding her haylage and this feed she will balloon?

At the moment she isn't doing any work what so ever but soon I plan on taking her out hacking a couple times of week so should I not feed her anything until I start taking her out then feed the hard feed on only the days I hack her???

or feed her everyday?

She is 17 year old 14.2hh cob type horse. Ex cart horse purchased by my friend 4 years ago. Since then she was sat in the field and my friend would hack out once in a blue moon. Then friend had money problems and I took over May this year. Only ridden her in the paddock as I wanted to learn care (hooves, teeth, worming, grooming) and do everything else with her before I start getting into riding her out.

 

[AngieandBen]

Invest in a weigh tape; you can monitor her weight then and get a rough idea of what she weighs. I don't feed any sort of veteran mix to mine ( 21 and 23 ) If she's overweight then I wouldn't feed her anything. Save your money and just make sure she has plenty of fibre. No haylage, just bog standard bale of hay which you should be able to get locally from about £3.50 a bale.

Start hacking out when you feel confident enough, otherwise, do some groundwork with her. Exercise is they way forward for weight loss

 

[Equi]

A photo will help us see her condition. If she is overweight i would not worrya bout feed but i usually have a bag of lite balancer or something to give a handful to bring in or as a treat.

 

[Palindrome]

Horses need forage at at least 2% ideal body weight so if there is no grass that means 10 kg of hay per day for a 500 kg horse, as a cob she might be a bit less than 500 kg so probably around 7-8 kg. However there might be some grass growing and it is eaten down straight away so she is perhaps getting more than you think. For hard feed, a good vitamin and mineral supplement with some pony nuts or grass nuts should do the trick.

 

[AngieandBen]

Horses need forage at at least 2% ideal body weight so if there is no grass that means 10 kg of hay per day for a 500 kg horse, as a cob she might be a bit less than 500 kg so probably around 7-8 kg. However there might be some grass growing and it is eaten down straight away so she is perhaps getting more than you think. For hard feed, a good vitamin and mineral supplement with some pony nuts or grass nuts should do the trick.

Fibre is all they need, I wouldn't waste money on pony nuts and certainly not grass nuts for an overweight pony!