Feeding advice please - need more energy!

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Liane

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I wanted to see if anybody could offer any help/advice on feed for my horse. He is a very good doer and I have to restrict his feed to keep him at a reasonable weight and fitness, he competes/trains nearly every weekend (sometimes twice) at SJ, Dressage, XC and one or two ODE’s per month during the season. He is turned out during the day and hacks/schools during the week. He has more energy when he is lighter but I have to work him quite hard to keep his weight down. He is currently fed ½ mug AP Power and Performance with a handful of readigrass and ½ a scoop of Pro hoof twice per day, I increase his P&P to 1 mug twice per day the day before/morning of a comp but I feel he is lacking in energy and is a bit lethargic. I try to avoid alfa and molasses due to sweet itch. If anybody has any suggestions please let me know, he needs something to fire/perk him up!!! I had seen the Naf Energy shot and wondered if any good?
 
I have tried oats but it was a long time ago, I would try again though if people think they do whizz them up?
 
I have a similar good doer who is lacking energy at times but is also inclined to be lazy, last year I tried P&P but with little improvement as I could not really give the correct amount as it just made him fatter, I used the NAF energy with no real difference so tried oats which have worked very well, he is far more energetic but they do not seem to make him put weight on, having tried so many high energy feeds previously it is the best for mine and worth a try.
I was giving a large scoop twice daily when I really needed them and dropping back during the early part of the week to just a mug twice a day.
 
Excellent, thank you, sounds like I will give the oats a try again. Probably a silly question but what type do you use? rolled I presume? any particular make?
 
I used Badminton horse feeds rolled oats and have been very impressed with the quality, they are only very lightly rolled so no dust at all and seem to keep well.
 
I had the same problem with my daughters little cob type. I tried oats & Naf energy & they made no difference at all. Then my local feed store suggested trying Winergy Equilibrium. It's a complete feed so no extras are needed & it was fantastic! They do a low, medium & high energy so you can adjust it as needed, I used the high over the summer when he was competing every weekend & then switched to the medium over winter when it was less often. It didn't make him fizzy on the ground or pike weight on but it gave him that extra spark to compete xx
 
Liane said:
I have tried oats but it was a long time ago, I would try again though if people think they do whizz them up?
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I have this same problem with my ISH mare. I have her on a scoop of naked oats per day split over 2 feeds and hi energy mix and it's made no difference at all that I can tell. The oats cost me £17 per 20kg bag so am bit gutted they have t worked! Will watch this post with interest though!
 
My daughters horse which she events at low level is also a good doer who needs energy we feed him tiger oats which give him energy but without making him silly, they cost just over £11 per bag.
 
We've got one on Topspec Turbo, which has done exactly as it says on the tin and he only has a handful twice a day (way under recommended amount, but he doesn't need any more - we played around with balancing his energy and his concentration levels when we first introduced it).
 
Oats all the way - made my ex racer actually have some oomph! He's put on weight and I don't feel like I have to nag him so much now - I was really dubious about them but wouldn't look back :)
 
Thank you everybody, I went with the Turbo flakes by Topsec (which are oats) and instead of our usual dressage comments of 'needs more energy/needs to come through from behind' we actually had 'active test'!!! And we won!! So thanks for the recommendation!
 
I have a very lazy pony who I was getting fit and riding hard some years ago. I put him on Spillers Instant Energy Mix and Red Cell. It worked! Coupled with being fit he was much more responsive.
 
Thank you WandaMare, I couldn't believe it!!! He has had much more energy SJ as well and we went round clear at 80cm and only had a pole down in the 90cm!!!! I am only feeding 1 round stubbs scoop twice per day which is only half the maximum you can feed. Would definately recommend!
 
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