Feeding Advice - laid back warmblood

Liostro

Liostro

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Hi i am new to this site and hoping some of you knowledgeable people can give me some advice on feeding my boy.
He's a 16hh warmblood, 5 years old, ive only had him since January.He was a little underweight when i got him and was only being fed pony nuts and haylage, i put him on saracen conditioning mix and alfa a oil. Fed twice a day.
He has gained weight but now that we are starting to compete i feel he has very little energy. He is very laid back and i don't want to change his character but a little bit more forward going would be lovely!!!
Allen and Page recommended power and performance or calm and condition and have given me samples however some advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in Advance...
 
I am new to this site and not sure how it works i see loads of posts and replys going on do i have to do something to get this thread noticed or to activate replies???
 
my wb gets:
1/4 scoop pony nuts
1/4 scoop chaff
3 handfuls of spillers slow release comp mix

I added the comp mix a handful at a time as he was a little bit flat over fences 1m+ and it's given him a bit of a boost without making him go insane
 
I find adding race mix or straight oats just before a competition really helps my shire x TB. However do this carefully, only a small handful in each feed seems to make a big difference!
 
alex2 said:
I find adding race mix or straight oats just before a competition really helps my shire x TB. However do this carefully, only a small handful in each feed seems to make a big difference!
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might work for you but realistically, a horse needs about 2 weeks for the correct bacteria to form in order to get the most from the food - thats why we don't change the feed around a lot.

Is yur boy generally in good health? and how responsive is to your schooling aids as well? if he seems a little run down and prone to getting any viruses going around, then often a spell on something like propell is really helpful - but needs to be monitored carefully as it does seem to send healthly horses a little OTT!. Maybe just try a good feed balancer to see if your boy can more out of his feed and then if he is still lacking, try adding in some competition mix. I am always careful about increasing "exciting" feeds too quickly as have found that even the most laid back horse can fizz up if its done too quickly!
 
You don't say a lot about his day to day life, is he out or stood in 24/7, how much work and do you get an instructor in to advise you, as he or she may be more objective
I like Allen and Page, but would prefer the power stuff as the C and C is what I use to keep condition on without excitement...
I always base my diet on fibre and feed three things in case I run out of one ingredient so I can substitute without fear of colic, in your case can I suggest a pet sized scoop of Mare and Youngstock which has a lot of ingredients including oats but is balanced for minerals. Unlike cubes it is not a processed and therefor heat damaged feed, and is not stuffed with sugar. if using a&P avoid all sugar beet as their feed is already based on sugar beet but is a balanced complete feed. I don;t think you should alter feed on run up to a comp, I would prefer to adjust his work, a few days of no jumping or school work for example will freshen him up
 
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You got him in January, presumably not in full work, and he has had to get in to work in a short time, can i suggest that he is still growing, so do't do too much too soon, go to competitions and make it easy for him, if you are in the jump off you don't need to overface him , certainly don't go for broke, I make it clear to my rider that I want to see rythm and balance not the hell for leather technique so beloved of the pony club!
 
Thanks u everyone for your replies I appreciate all the advice.
He is riden for approximate an hour 5 times a week and is only competing at 2'3/2'6 sj and xc. I understand he's still growing and really want the best feeding regime possibly so that I dint have to keep changing it.
The other problem I experience is that he's terrible for kicking his bucket over and spilling his food, even once it's on the floor he continues to law the ground and send it flying!!!! He is now eating his food out of a bucket that's wedged in 4 Tyres high so that he can't get his hoof in it! However still occasionally managers to get his food all over the ground by throwing his head about and spilling it!!! Because of this u was thinking the moist suga beet style feed mixed with alfa a would be less wasted and hopefully stay in the bucket easier than the likes of a competition mix or cubes.
Again any advice greatly appreciated xxx
 
Re the eating problem - Have you had his teeth checked?

I have a laid backed WB, he is almost horizontal! he is better in the winter when he stays in more and fed (Blue Chip & Racehorse cubes help) but I can't feed him in the summer - he puts on too much weight just with grass.

So ...... he sleeps a lot - flat out snoring :) I have given up trying to liven him up, he is who he is - lovely ;) I have bought another one now with more TB in him to use more in the summer :cool: he has lots more energy :)
 
It could be that as much as you are feeding him 'better' feed his diet is still lacking in something.

I am often anti Balancers (mainly for youngstock) but they do have their place. My friend's gelding was really struggling through winter despite having him on a veteran mix (he's 17). I advised she swap to baileys no4 and a balancer - we chose spillers veteran. He is a different horse - both physically and mentally!

We think that he just wasn't getting all he needed from mix and chaff alone and by putting him on a balancer (as well as more readily digestible cubes) he now is.

If I were you, I'd look into feeding a balancer... they are quite well known for adding a bit of sparkle - in more than one sense of the word! introduce slowly and just work out how much you need to feed to achieve the desired effect... it may not be the full ration. My friends horse gets 2 cups a day and a sack lasts her a good month.
 
Thanks so much for all the advice!
Would I be doing harm or counteracting the feed if give calm and condition, alfa a oil and a small amount of competition mix or something with some oat or cereal. Or would just adding a balancer suffice? If so can you recommend any balancers?
His teeth were done in January when I got him. I'm thinking that maybe he is just a laid back chap, which I don't mind I just want to make sure he's Got the best start in life as hes still a baby really!!!!
He is out 24/7 with little grass at the mo so on 2 feeds a day and 3 slices of hay. He's exercised for approx 1hour 5 times a week.
Thanks again people x
 
Not sure if this would help, but my boy is also v laid back, and this year I have finally discovered the best way to manage him is to keep him in at night. He is lethargic in warm weather and gets fat on thin air, so grass needs to be restricted, and by keeping him as fit as I can, and in at night, he's actually quite full of beans! Just an idea - hope you manage to get it sorted, he sounds lovely.
 
He is an adolescent, if he were mine I would turn him out 24/7 and let him grow up, yes you can ride him, but really he is a good boy, and you are asking him to behave like an older "person".
Horse are not born to live in small stables and eat out of small buckets, he needs to relax and enjoy being a horse/teenager. Some horses are OK with our ridiculous requests, but he is more horse than human, so let him live his horsey life, and if you can, you must try to fit around him.
Not the other way round. [rant over]
 
You can attach the feed bucket to the haynet ring so he has to eat at head height( there is a danger he will knock his knees), or put some large stones in a large bucket, I find tyres get dirty. Is he eating up his haynet quickly and standing for hours, if so use a small holed haynet or one inside the other, you can soak the hay to make it less sugary so he can eat more fibre over a longer period.
I use a molasses free chaff to slow down the feed rate, it is less exciting but you are using it to supplement the diet with minerals and vitamins, otherwise the forage may be adequate for the level of work he is doing.
I never use cubes are they are heat processed, and this can remove valuable vitamins, A&P is based on unmolassed sugar beet, and is barley free, so I would avoid another similar product.
If feeding A&P as the main feed, you should not need a balancer, in general I tend to think these are over used.
 
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CAH7 said:
Not sure if this would help, but my boy is also v laid back, and this year I have finally discovered the best way to manage him is to keep him in at night. He is lethargic in warm weather and gets fat on thin air, so grass needs to be restricted, and by keeping him as fit as I can, and in at night, he's actually quite full of beans! Just an idea - hope you manage to get it sorted, he sounds lovely.
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I think this is a good idea to help in perking him up and also reducing his grass consumption.

A good balancer added too will also improve the way he feels. It's good for a young horse to spend some time in a box each day - it allows them to deal with the confinement without the 'Yeh were going to a show anticipation'. During the show season mine only come in the night before a show and they know that the next day will be a special day.

I don't know if you can get them in UK but here they make feed bins out of tyres, one wall is removed and the tyre riveted/bolted to a large rubber mat square, the resulting bin has a wide area and a couple of large rocks in it - or bricks means he can't flick the feed out so easily.

I personally prefer corner mangers as they prevent the horse digging the food out ans wasting it. I can honestly say that I've not yet met any horses that have had problems with eating from one.
 
Why would you want to feed 'CALM and condition' to a horse who by the sounds of it requires no more condition and you feel needs perking up?

I personally would look at a well known balancer - topspec or blue chip are just two but do your own research. Every feed manufacturer makes them and if you compare the data you should be able to work out which is best for you. Either that or start a new post on here asking 'which balancer would you recomend?' and see what you get.

Don't over-complicate your feeding - just feed your alfa-alfa and the balancer. Theres no need for anything else.

I would agree that keeping him in a few hours may help with the energy levels but I do think that you need to address the issue of his diet perhaps not meeting his nutritional needs. I am guessing you aren't feeding massive quantities of what he's on at the moment and nor are you feeding him a vitamin and mineral supplement or feed balancer to ensure he gets a balanced ration. Adding the full ration of a feed balancer will redress this.

Whilst he is relatively young, at 5 I don't think it is unreasonable to ask for an hour's 'work' 5 days a week... depending on what that 'work' is... I'd expect at least 2 days hacking a week...
 
I found a quick release feeds such as d&h Competition Mix or Spillers instant energy mix worked for my lazy boy, just gave him that added bit of sparkle. Try and avoid slow release energy feeds or he will just put on weight.
 
My warmblood is very laid back. As the other posters have said, it helps to keep them off the grass for quite a few hours before you ride. Mine is in a starvie paddock with some poor grazing at night then on longer stuff in the day and the difference between riding her after the starvie paddock v the long grass is quite marked. It is not related to the time of day as it also happens when she is on the starvie bit in the daytime.

Good luck - and be careful what you wish for - you may find he suddenly wakes up too much once he grows into his full strength!
 
And....my WB (trakehner) was so slow for the first couple of year that I had her that I really thought I had bought the wrong horse, whatever I fed her made no difference and I had to push her on the whole time. She was hard work and really not a lot of fun to ride. Since she reached 7 though she has speeded up considerably; she now walks out when hacking and is far more forward going, so maybe it is just a WB thing that they can take some time to grow up. I always had TBs or Anglos before, very different.
 
Thank you very much, I'm starting to think it is just a warmblood thing, combined with his age/inexperience!
I just wanted to make sure I was on the right lines and will definitely look into getting a balancer. I slain think it's true when you say 'be careful what you wish for' as I'd hate him to turn into a 'loon' overnight!!!
So long as he's happy and healthy I'll happily use a little more leg and encouragement!
Thank you everyone x
 
It is possible he is getting over-stuffed, I agree with keeping him in for a few hours every day [I thought it was the other way round], for handling and grooming, it is possible he is getting too much bulk.
I think I would get a good instructor to give you a lesson every week, and together make a plan of action, long and short term, the instructor should be better able to asess body condition week to week.
 
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