Feeding a 'Turbo Dressage Cob'

tobiano1984

tobiano1984

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I'm having a general look at feed for my lot at the moment, think it's good to reassess occasionally and not just plough on with what you know! I just wanted to see what others feed sport cob types - mine is 15hh, rising 6, chunky build but what I call a Turbo Cob as he's got some blood in him. Breeding is varying quanities of Traditional, Welsh, TB and Shire. He puts weight on and holds it easily, but is also working quite hard so at the moment has a good covering but not fat.
Currently he's out in the day with hay and limited grass (mostly mud), and in at night with adlib hay. He's fed a bucketful of pure chopped lucerne, unmollassed beet and lucerne nuts, soaked. Half a mug of linseed and a scoop of brewers yeast...
Weight and healthwise he's fine, I just find he runs out steam when working after about 15 mins! This has become more noticeable in winter, and also as he's being asked alot more with dressage training now. I know there's only so much you can ask of a cob compared to a warmblood/TB type, but in the summer he has much more energy.

I'm wondering if I should add something to his feed for more stamina/energy - thinking either grass nuts or oats? Always been wary of oats as people always say they heat horses up, but I know a few people who feed without that result! My chap isn't the sort to chuck me off if he gets over excited, so I'm not too worried about it sending him loopy.

I will only feed straights, partly due to barefoot-ness, partly due to personal preference. I'm also feeding quite a few very different horses so prefer to have bags of straights to mix and match and keep it simple.

Any other turbo cob owners out there who can help? I've had mostly TBs before so this is a bit novel for me!
 
I wonder if your boy is getting the full compliment of vitamins and minerals from his current diet. Could you add a low cal balancer or a vit & min powder. it might just be possible that he is lacking in something and once that's sorted his energy levels will return ? He could also just be lacking in fitness to do the work you want him to do right now. Perhaps some stamina building work too (hills, interval training, road work, a trip to the gallops).

I don't have a Turbo Cob as such - Irish Draught, so similar I suppose - and I find keeping him trim and fit, with a balanced diet is the key to his energy levels. if I need a bit extra I add in linseed oil.
 
the linseed should be providing stamina, so you could think about upping that. I have a turbo (maxi type) cob too, 16.2h IDx, and he hunts on linseed meal, mole valley alfa-plus chaff and speedibeet - the linseed is about 2 cup fulls per day.

as you say oats is another option, go for tiger oats if you can get them, as they're higher oil and lower starch than ordinary oats. Or soak them with your sugar beet.

another thing to consider is whether his fitness is enough for the work you're asking of him at the moment? long hills taken as a good trot are an excellent way of improving their fitness, and if you ask him to work from behind all the way up you'll be helping him in the arena too!

also, not really related, just wondering why you're feeding lucerne chaff and nuts?
 
He's not on much linseed at the moment, just a bit to help with guts and healthy coat etc. I was reluctant to give him more as I thought it would make him chubby? Or if he's getting enough work should it not make him fatter? He does have a tendency to get a bit wobbly!

I *think* he's quite fit at the moment, he doesn't sweat much or puff during schooling. We don't get much hacking in at the moment as the fields are waterlogged and I don't really ride on the roads anymore following an accident. But it might be a factor, although we school for half an hour at a time, it isn't that full on - not loads and loads of trotting! Mostly due to my lack of stamina/strength following this accident. My previous horse would keep going regardless, whereas this one doesn't give you much if you aren't really asking. I've got tracks all lined up round the fields for trotting/canter work up gentle inclines, but it's so wet I can't risk the grass :-(

JenHunt - re the lucerne nuts/chaff - this is just on the advice of Simple System. The nuts are very economical as you soak them and they really bulk up - so he gets the majority of lucerne this way, and then the chaff is really just to add a bit of bulk/longer chop and slow down the eating. I've got quite a few horses so works out cheaper to feed soaked nuts and a bit of chaff rather than just chaff. Not sure how correct that is, just what I've been told!
 
Frank gets 2 mugs of linseed a day in winter, and one in summer- I definitely treat that as more the 'condition' part of his ration. He also definitely needs oats ;) any extra energy is expended and doesn't go on the waistline IME and they are well tolerated by barefooters, alternative is sprouting ones?

We do sugarbeet, rolled oats, linseed, grass chaff (otherwise he is a fussy eater!) equimins advanced pellets, and extra magnesium.

He is fit though, lots of hacking, hunting, schooling for an hour mostly in trot and canter etc. When bringing him back into work I definitely got to a point where despite him looking fine I felt he wasn't getting what he needed to do what I was asking him.

He is better in winter, I think due to stabling and cooler temperatures! Though I did opt to muzzle and keep the oats going over summer last year.
 
tobiano1984 said:
He's not on much linseed at the moment, just a bit to help with guts and healthy coat etc. I was reluctant to give him more as I thought it would make him chubby? Or if he's getting enough work should it not make him fatter? He does have a tendency to get a bit wobbly!

......

JenHunt - re the lucerne nuts/chaff - this is just on the advice of Simple System. The nuts are very economical as you soak them and they really bulk up - so he gets the majority of lucerne this way, and then the chaff is really just to add a bit of bulk/longer chop and slow down the eating. I've got quite a few horses so works out cheaper to feed soaked nuts and a bit of chaff rather than just chaff. Not sure how correct that is, just what I've been told!
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if he's getting enough work then the linseed won't make him fat - but if you're just after him to be a bit sharper then oats may be a better way forwards.

thanks for the info re the lucerne, that all makes sense - i didn't realise you soaked the nuts. :)
 
Mine is 15hh cob x WB, and I feed ad lib hay in the winter, there is virtually no grass.
She has a mug of Blue Chip and a dollop of copra, just cos she likes it!
I fed mine oats when she was eventing, if she needed it, though tbh it was more for me than her ;)

I would be looking at fitness too - I'm lucky to have a lot of forestry hacking on my doorstep so she does 1.5 hours 3 times a week with a lot of trotting & hills. Got stacks of energy for the schooling she is doing, which is currently 1/2 hour 3 times a week as coming back from injury.
If your hacking is too wet, what are you doing on the days you don't school? Is the school big enough to do something like interval training?
 
I have the same sort of cob and I've tried numerous combinations. The best I've found is 1/2 scoop of Graze On, 1/4 scoop of sugarbeet, 1/4 scoop of Topspec Turbo flakes and Topspec All-In-One. I can then vary the amounts of Turbo depending on workload/weight as he's getting everything from the All-In-One.
 
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