Feeding a cob for energy and sparkle.............

cob&onion

cob&onion

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My lovely cob is laid back by nature. She can be forward going but she seems to lack a bit of sparkle and energy especially during the summer. She is getting better the fitter she gets but i don't think shes ever going to be a whizzy type!!
I am planning to do a bit more jumping and have a hunter trail in October. I also do a bit of dressage and we we hack alot too.
What i am wanting to do is feed her for energy and sparkle without making her spooky!

At the moment her work load/feeding goes like this:

Exercised 5 x per week consisting of:
3 x road walking and trotting hacks, uphill work approx 50mins
1 x hack walking. trotting and 2 stretches of canter 90mins
1 x schooling session 45-50 mins

Feed:
lives out 24/7 grass is poor (she is a very good doer so works well)
1 x feed per day consisting of:
1/2 stubbs scoop fast fibre
1/2 stubbs scoop course mix
1 large handful chaff (molassed)
A good slug of sunflower oil

She is looking well, not over weight. Perfect really.

I thought the oil may give her a little more (it had a huge affect on my at grass welshie!!) but its just given her a shiny coat ;)

I have though about:

Swopping the couse mix to competition mix
Swopping the chaff to alfa a
OR
adding naked oats

I know outshine worked well on my old TB mare!! but its really expensive if i buy a sack and it doesn't work out!!

Ideas please on how to give a cob some sparkle and a bit of energy :)
 
We tried various things with our little cob who sounds very similar to yours. The only thing we found that gave him an extra oomph, was Winergy Equilibrium either medium or high energy depending on what kind of work he was doing. we used high over the summer when he was competing every weekend & medium when he wasn't out as much xx
 
I just saw a supplement but T.E.N advertised y.day called energy boots it sounds great and has some good write ups, have just emailed asking for a sample :)

http://www.tensupplements.co.uk/energy-boost

Have also found speedi beet a great help in the past and after trawling around royal welsh y.day and visiting all he stands am going to give top spec turbo a go :) can also vouch for the equilibrium winergy. It's a complete feed so you shouldn't need to feed anything else with it although I top it up with 'go faster foods' if needed but it really is great stuff :)
 
cob&onion said:
anyone else?!
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Hi C&O, I am also at my wits end with my VERY laid back coblet, no I don't want a silly strong spooky horse however one that is awake enough on rides to NOT FALL OVER HIS EFFING FEET would be a bonus :rolleyes:
Mine unfortunately is on the wrong side of 'covered' so its a toss up between feeding for fitness/energy and GO or him just piling on more unwanted lbs.

I have gone for herbi chaff, spillers instant energy mix and pink powder plus elctro salts as at the moment he is sweating a lot.

And I'm afraid I have got abit mean, mine is so chilled and so laid back he doesn't bother to watch where/how he is putting his feet, he has fallen once in the last week and stumbled badly another 2x. (no physical reason, literately he is that switched off!!!) He is now not allowed to relax on hacks, I ride him forward, and use a schooling whip to keep him constantly in front of my leg and awake!
I am schooling 2 x a week(45mins) and hacking 4 x for up to 2 hours!

It is working, in two weeks he has improved shape and fitness, lost weight and is a little more zazzy!! lol.

So with him it is having the feed there to give him 'something' (as like yours he is on poor grazing) but also just no allowing him to slop along, thus improving the fitness.

Hope this helps xx
 
Dodson and Horrell Staypower Muesli (or nuts) was fantastic for my cob. Energy without fizz and silliness. Calm enough for dressage and enough ping for xc. Power and Performance was like rocket fuel for her, she was a complete **** on it :0
 
LeannePip said:
I just saw a supplement but T.E.N advertised y.day called energy boots it sounds great and has some good write ups, have just emailed asking for a sample :)

http://www.tensupplements.co.uk/energy-boost

Have also found speedi beet a great help in the past and after trawling around royal welsh y.day and visiting all he stands am going to give top spec turbo a go :) can also vouch for the equilibrium winergy. It's a complete feed so you shouldn't need to feed anything else with it although I top it up with 'go faster foods' if needed but it really is great stuff :)
Click to expand...

I like the look of that Ten supplement!!

May try it when finished the instant energy.
 
We use the A&P Power & performance for our laid back coblet. He is in slightly harder work than yours - ridden 6 time sper week, competed most weekends. Hunts twice per week in season. I know jolly well he is fit but he needs a sbit of "snap" for show jumping. We use NAF Ener-G fed from 3 days before a show and throughout if the show is more than one day. or for PC Camp. We've found that and the P&P has made a fantastic difference.
 
Will let you know how I get on with it :) hopefully they'll send me a sample! But I like the sound of this Allen and page p+p funnily enough the only stand we couldn't acctually find at RW y.day! May give that a go too:)
 
LeannePip said:
Will let you know how I get on with it :) hopefully they'll send me a sample! But I like the sound of this Allen and page p+p funnily enough the only stand we couldn't acctually find at RW y.day! May give that a go too:)
Click to expand...

It does sound good!

Sadly no-one round here stocks the power and performance mix, gonna take 14 working days to order?!!!
 
I just throw some oats at my coblet (not quite literally!). He's already very forward going and people think I'm mad doing it but if I'm show jumping and he gets all bouncy he jumps so much better! And I do love a fizzy pony, coblet hilarious hyper!

It all depends how many oats you feed them though :)
 
I fed mine upto 2 scoops of oats a day(standard stub scoops) split over two feeds and it made absolutely no difference whatsoever ever! Think oats work for some and of others! The show jumpers at my old job would only need half a scoop to blow their brains!
 
The power and performance is good. You can also try alfalfa and/or oats to see whether those have much of an effect on him.
 
You are all so lucky - any grains at all just blow my cob's brain to the point of snort, spin round, dangerous, can't even let go of the reins to check my girth when I get on! So have just started giving her a soaked cup full of a soya based feed (can't remember the name) when I've ridden her - so far so good. We really struggle in the winter as lots of stuff makes her too fizzy and sugar is a no-go so keeping weight on without the squits is a nightmare!
 
2 scoops?! Crikey, mine just gets it in hand fulls, one being just a little more forward, and 3 being crazy cob! I don't think I'd like to try 2 scoops... ;)
 
My friends mare (an IDx) is notoriously lazy, said friend has been following what i feed my TB, and they are now basically on the exact same feed. in the past she has tried a variety of different feeds to add oomph and sparkle, however this year we've cracked it with the addition of ERS pellets, both my friends horse and my (lazy) TB get a low level of them, that is flexed depending on how much work they're doing at any one time, so upped if we've got a jumping lesson planned, or dropped to a lower level if they're having a few days off. Its definitely had the desired effect on both horses, but particualrly on my friends mare. I also found Saracen Releve worked, but it was more difficult to get hold of...
 
mine has had crushed oats this summer (energy levels always fine in winter) a couple of years ago I used spillers instant energy but it is very molassed and his feet didn't get on with it. He is now on a reasonably strict diet and I was concerned that he was possibly not getting enough energy for the work he was doing I like to keep everything as plain as possible (ie not mixes) so he gets fastfibre/speedibeet and oats. They have helped though he still isn't the fizzy sort ;)
 
I am sure you will try almost anything but sadly higher energy feeds will only make a temperamentally slow cob fatter. Sorry but fitness and quality food are what is needed not cereals. As long as his diet has all the nutritional requirements for his size feeding extra wont make a jot of difference. He needs calories to match his output and vitamins and minerals to create all the cell generation he needs more than that will just make him fat so a good balancer and high protein and oil diet will be the best way. He is by nature a quiet guy and to distress him by giving him a sugar rush or tummy ache isnt the way forward. I am sure many will say otherwise but in my experience you cant change and shouldnt want to change a horses natural temperament
 
Buds_mum said:
Hi C&O, I am also at my wits end with my VERY laid back coblet, no I don't want a silly strong spooky horse however one that is awake enough on rides to NOT FALL OVER HIS EFFING FEET would be a bonus :rolleyes:
Mine unfortunately is on the wrong side of 'covered' so its a toss up between feeding for fitness/energy and GO or him just piling on more unwanted lbs.

I have gone for herbi chaff, spillers instant energy mix and pink powder plus elctro salts as at the moment he is sweating a lot.

And I'm afraid I have got abit mean, mine is so chilled and so laid back he doesn't bother to watch where/how he is putting his feet, he has fallen once in the last week and stumbled badly another 2x. (no physical reason, literately he is that switched off!!!) He is now not allowed to relax on hacks, I ride him forward, and use a schooling whip to keep him constantly in front of my leg and awake!
I am schooling 2 x a week(45mins) and hacking 4 x for up to 2 hours!

It is working, in two weeks he has improved shape and fitness, lost weight and is a little more zazzy!! lol.

So with him it is having the feed there to give him 'something' (as like yours he is on poor grazing) but also just no allowing him to slop along, thus improving the fitness.

Hope this helps xx
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^ This!
OP - how do you ride him on your hacks? Do you make him march out or just slob along with the odd faster bit? It will wear you out too but really insisting on an active walk and maybe incorporating some lateral work where it's safe to do so will do wonders for his fitness which should in turn perk him up. As said above - simply upping his fuel isn't the right thing to do. Yes, certain feeds might fizz up some horses but they're not happy horses in my opinion either.
 
windandrain that has always been my concern, but I think if you can up their energy levels a bit then they do use more during exercise (ie can school for longer/hacking walks are a bit quicker etc) and they cancel eachother out. Obviously I still weight manage but feeding oats hasn't put any on in addition, just means he is a little more like he is in the winter when on hay and hard feed and a comfy bed at night!
 
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