Feeding advice please!

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GreyConnemara

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I have a 13yo 14.2hh Connemara gelding who seems to have lost his sparkle when being ridden. I have owned him around 3 years, and he was previously fed Badminton All In One Muesli Mix, but was very sharp and extremely spooky!

I then put him on Spillers Cool Mix and Dengi HiFi Lite with success, this calmed him down and made him sane! He's been on this for around 2 years now, but in the last 6 months he has been getting lazier and lazier, to the point where I'm sure I'm working harder than him!:rolleyes:
He gets around 750g-1kg of Cool Mix, and probably twice that of HiFi, as well as 30ml of sunflower oil, 30ml of cod liver oil, and 30ml (max recommended dose) of Naf EnerG ( which doesn't seem to have made any difference!). He is also on good quality hay and river meadow grazing.

I ride him in spurs which he even ignores, as well as my schooling whip. He works around 4-5 times a week schooling, hacking and showjumping, and we compete SJ, XC, DR, showing, WHP, and sponsored rides.

He has had all checks done, back, teeth, saddle, physio etc and is reasonably fit, though I do have to watch his weight being a native (he currently weighs around 425kg on a weigh tape, and I can just feel his ribs). I also vary his work as much as possible to keep him interested.

Any suggestions what I can feed to give him that extra sparkle without making him too sharp, or make him pile on the pounds?!

Thanks for reading, suggestions much appreciated!
 
If he has previously been fine then I would get bloods done, then perhaps an instructor to help you get the most out of him - ignoring aids is most often a schooling and rider issue rather than an energy issue.
 
I would be tempted to try a low starch diet on him just in case he is reacting to it.
The reason being you seem to be feeding him plenty for what he is doing and it might be he has developed a mild form of myopathy like EPSM At least by doing this you would know

If that doesn't work then cut the amount of mix right down and give him a few oats instead. They don't make horses silly like people think they do they are a fab energy source
 
I have recently changed one of my connies onto Tiger Oats and Equilibrium 500 balancer fed with Alfa-A lite - he is doing really well on it - lots of energy and stamina but not at all silly. It will also help (hopefully!) in the constant battle with his waistline!
 
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