Feeding a veteran....

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Piglet

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Hey guys, a little bit of advice is needed please. I have a 19 year old partbred Iberian who is a good doer, he is in moderate work, my problem is that he needs to have the energy but not the fizziness. He can be very lazy and sometimes a bit lethargic when riding out but when it comes to events - well - they are so exciting that he bounces around like a demented tigger on speed!! At the moment he is on maximum turnout with hay but no hard feed, I need a feed or a balancer which will give him the stamina and the essential vitamins and minerals he needs. My main problem is that every company I ring up, they always recommend their own brand and I don't know of any independent nutritionists.
Any advice would be really appreciated.
 
Mmmm, lethargic at home but fizzy at events sounds as if he may be a bit bored. At 19 he may need to be motivated more at home by doing different things rather than just more of the same. Rather than upping his feed why not think about changing his work routine at home and see if that makes a difference. Sorry if you've already tried this but it's what comes first to my mind.
 
Yup, he is a little ****, I think the lethargy is probably that it has been warm and he still has half a coat on him. My main query is I would like to know whether feed or a feed balancer would be best for him so he gets the essential vits and minerals and if so which one.
 
My horse who works 5/6 days a week with a mix of schooling and hacking is on a forage only diet with the NAF Haylage balancer + a joint supplement. He's a full up 16.2 and is mainly TB, I find he has plenty of energy and is a good weight. I used to feed hard feed but realised that for lots of horses they are much better without. I do, however, give my very old TB, veteran vitality because he doesn't keep weight on as easily. When I gave hard feed I never used anything like the quantity the feed companies recommended or they would have been too fat, so they may have lacked essential vits and minerals.
Piglet said:
Yup, he is a little ****, I think the lethargy is probably that it has been warm and he still has half a coat on him. My main query is I would like to know whether feed or a feed balancer would be best for him so he gets the essential vits and minerals and if so which one.
Click to expand...
 
balancer wise I feed equimins advanced complete, it is pretty high spec, no iron (this bit is important!), and he eats it (even better)!
I would also recommend feeding micronised linseed for long term energy. I add oats when he needs a boost over that but then he isn't tigger when out!- mine is 23
 
I feed Topspec Senior Lite for my horse, suits him as he gets all the vits and min, as well as the joint supplement. It seems to suit him really well, but he is a little pocket rocket anyway so doesn't require extra energy! Hes 18.
 
Thanks Ester, I think I willl go down the multi vits route as looking at the amount I would have to feed to get the correct amount he would pile on the pounds (even though they say that they won't), I have finally got him down to a good weight (at last)!!!

Thanks for the advice peeps
 
equimins are very helpful if you want to try a sample, mine used to just eat the pellets plain, and mum's mare still does but then started leaving them in his bowl so he is on the powder now.
Free next day delivery over £25 too, always had really good service for them, including a reply from the boss when I emailed over a weekend to point out I was sad enough to have notice that what was on the tub didn't match what was on the website and wanted to know which was right ;).
 
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