Feeding a 2 1/2 year old warmblood? Also in Breeding

[sz90168]

I got a warmblood gelding and he is now 2 1/2, He is currently on a cup of suregrow a day, hi fibre nuts and dengie hi-fi. He is fed once a day. He is already 16.1 and quite well developed. He will have two feeds a day when the grass goes. He is currently out 24/7 but comes in when the weather is bad and he will be stabled from decemeber to march. At this rate even earlier if the weather continues.

When can you stop feeding suregrow/stud feeds? Can he still develop any deformities now? I was thinking of changing him to some conditioning cubes and sugar beet again once the grass goes as he is not a good doer but I dont want to over feed him. I did think about adding a bit of limestone flour or maybe linseed?

Any suggestions welcome

 

[Tempi]

He is very big for his age - as he is so big I would just be giving him hay when he comes in at night (soaked).

If you must feed then I would feed him an unmolassed chaff (such as simple systems greengold) with a vitamin and mineral supplement (mine all get globalvite by global herbs). It dosent matter if hes a bit rangy hes only 2 1/2 and very big, i would rather he was on the lean side if he was mine due to his size. At that age they really shouldnt need anything else.

Ive got a 4 yr old that i bred myself, he was never fed anything until he was 3 and then he just had soaked lucie nuts and a vitamin/mineral supplement. Now hes in full work as a 4yr old he has the same with added linseed for condition (which I wouldnt advise giving to yours as because of his joints and size I wouldnt want any extra weight on him at this stage of his life).

I have a yearling aswell (that I also bred myself) shes never been fed anything either and is currently standing at 15'3.

If he was mine I wouldnt be feeding conditioning feeds or sugar beet, but everyone is different and there is no hard and fast rule! - or if you really want to give him a form of beet just make sure its unmolassed like PuraBeet which is a really good source of fibre, that and a vitamin supplement would be all he needs.

 

[muffinino]

My youngster's 2 1/2 (Welsh cob) and I have the same dilema. Just getting to the end of the last bag of stud mix and wondering what to do as he isn't looking great on it; ok, but not thriving. He has Spiller's stud mix (can't remember the name, red/green bag), speedibeet and pink powder, plus out 24/7 on ok grass. He'll be having hay in the field over the winter.

I tried not feeding him anything apart from chaff with some pink powder after February when the grass started coming through and he looked awful, I must admit. My other cob has never had anything but chaff, PP and a bit of sugar beet in winter and has always thrived on it but it seems this young lad is just not like that. He's regularly wormed and has had his teeth checked.

I've had a nose and a lot of people on here and other forums recommend TopSpec, although others don't like it at all. Someone else has a Welsh D and feeds D&H Sure Grow & Barley Rings, readigrass and I think Alfa A. Her horse looks great. Mine won't eat Alpha A but I'm popping to the local feed merchant this afternoon to see if they have any of the others, I figure it's worth a try. I'm also wondering if it would be worth getting some high fibre cubes instead of Readigrass as it may be easier to mix in considering how fussy he is. But I may just put some chaff in to mix.

Quite a few people seem to like the D&H stuff. Another thing a few people mentioned is linseed oil.

It's sometimes trial and error but I'm thinking of switching mine to the above and see how he goes.