Feeding Advice for a TB

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thehorsediva

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Hi,
I have new horse coming in couple of weeks. He is a 17hh TB and as with most TB very sensitive to diet and I need to steer clear of molasses/ sugar in feed. He is going to have a lot more grazing with me and prob be in slightly lighter work. He has previously been on readigrass and a coolmix in the past and Bailey no 1 to build him up if needed in winter. I want him to keep his weight but need to try and get the diet right for his workload and prevent him from getting fizzy. The owner I am buying from has suggested Just Grass from Dodson and Horrell and Cool and Collected from Allen and Page. Any advice here? I have used the calm and condition and fast fibre from this range in the past and been pleased with both of these... Obviously any changes would be gradual, just wondered if anyone has any advice on keeping weight on but minimising fizzyness!!! Thanks x
 
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This is my 16.2 TB, she is fed on......






ad lib hay! Nothing else apart from a small feed of chaff and nuts if she is ridden.
 
If the horse is sensitive to sugar i would suggest as little grass as possible and ad lib hay and if needed a sugar/molasses free feed (it can be done! My 26yr old tb x wb, who is a very poor doer, is on a track with no grass and ad lib haylage (started off with hay but as YO has bales of haylage we are using these) he is holding his weight lovely and has even put some on.
 
I have a flighty arab and she is fed on the fast fibre but I add micronised Linseed to it for weight and condition as she can be a poor doer. It's dead cheap and she's looking lovely.
 
If she's sensitive to sugar I would ration her grass and feed adlib hay. My tb gets a scoop of Mollichaff Kalmer (straw based chop), micronised linseed for condition and brewers yeast which as well as being good for the digestive system also has a mild calming effect.
 
Just found out from previous owner he is on coolmix, conditioning cubes and sugar beet twice daily along with four scoops of readigrass... I dont think I want to continue with all this but what would be best to cut out?!
 
I think I would cut out the sugar beet or replace it with speedibeet which is much lower in sugar. I have used C&C in the past on a skinny tb and was very pleased with the results.
 
I would use Calm and Condition instead of Cool and Collected, I used this on my previously underwight TB and it worked wonders! Calmed her right down too.
Also be careful with mix, get a non heating mix as when I first got my mare I put her on a normal cool mix and it sent her nuts! Pegasus do a good non-heating mix, this has worked well with mine.
Also agree to go with speedibeet instead of sugarbeet.

If I was you I would personally feed adlib hay, feed Calm and Condition, a good chaff, and some mix. Keeping it simple is the best way to start and if you can keep him on simple feed it will also save you a lot of money in the long run!!

Could always try a ballancer instead of the C&C so you know he is getting all of his nutrients, Spillers Original is good and mine looked fantastic on it when I replaced the C&C with this!

Good luck, hope it all goes well :)
 
Another vote for pure feeds. My ex-racer's doing brilliantly on pure working having previously been on Alfalfa pellets, herbichop, blue chip original, haylage balancer & magic!! He's also fairly sensitive being cereal intolerant and is so much happier on this & it's oh so easy to feed.
 
Thanks for recommendations...
I am not going to be able to get hold of the same brand coolmix and conditioning cubes so as he only has small quantities of each of these dont know if its best to just start afresh with calm and condition or is this just too much of a sudden change? Dont want to change him onto diff coolmix and cubes and then change him again but also I know its best not great to suddenly change foods!
 
mine just gets Hi fi (molasses free), and pink powder. He's doing rather well on it and looks great! Been told not to give him mix and too much sugar (very stressy at times). I rang Dengie and they were very helpful... sent samples for us to try, and money off vouchers! He gets ad-lib soaked hay aswell :)
 
my TB is on Simple Systems green gold and lucie nuts with a splash of linseed oil.
His behaviour was very fizzy on calm mix or conditioning cubes and when u start to look into the starch/sugar in some of these feeds u can see why.You are never exactly sure what goes into all these feeds unless you can speak to the manufacturers. Simple systems were extremely helpful and as I dont feed him huge amounts I dont think it works out much more expensive than any of the others.
 
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