Feeding advice please!

elliefiz

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This is probably a weird request but i would really appreciate some feeding advice. I am a bit of a feeding novice despite owning horses all my life- my horses have always been on full livery were I have had no input into what they are fed apart from requesting it to be increased/ decreased in accordance with work loads.

My eventer is finally coming to the UK after 3 years in Ireland, where he has mainly been at grass after winding down his eventing career when I moved to the UK. I have a yard picked, stable reserved and he will be transported across in June to me which I am so excited about.

Now the feeding part. Most livery yards I have looked at will provide full livery but I need to supply the feed. They have also advised that the amount of hay/ haylage he eats will be calculated seperately and invoiced at the end of the month. This is completely new to me- I have always entrusted these things to the YM and the professional rider he was based with so I literally have not a clue what to even buy to feed him.

He is going to be coming back into medium work- ridden 4 times a week with a mixture of hacking and schooling to get him back to fitness with a view of competing at low level dressage and show jumping towards the end of the summer. He is a 17hh TB- is a bit fat at the moment and a pretty good doer- he is also a greedy guts who loves his food. Is there any specific foods i should be feeding to support muscle development and topline? I know we always fed Blue Chip Balancer and I will defo continue with this, just unsure what else i need. Last time i was buying feed was prob 15 years ago when we were buying pony nuts for our first ponies and i imagine feeding has come along way since then!

Id like to be feeding something as non-heating as possible as he can be a handful at the best of times. Does anyone have any good recommendations? Also any ideas what amount of haylage he should be eating? He will be turned out on decent grazing during the day and as far as I am aware the yard feeds 3 times a day. Any advice would be gratefully received! :-D
 
how about something liek winergy lo ?or something simple like a cool mix and chaff..... the lists are endless and im afraid its all a bit trial and error
 
If he's getting good grass and hay then I would keep the hard feed to a minimum - at least to start with. Personally I'd probably be giving him chaff + the blue chip. If you feel he needs more once he's working harder you can always add to the diet then. Muscle development will come from correct work rather than food.
 
thanks for your advice- much appreciated!

Dont worry Celia- i do realise he needs loads of work for muscle developement, theres no quick fix for this :-D - however i have seen plenty of feed supplements out there that claim to support muscle developement and top line- i assumed these were similar products to those recommended for use after a gym session that a person might take and was hoping someone could enlighten me as to whether they are useful or not. :-)
 
Hi, if u want non heating stay away from mixes as they generally have a high starch level. U.should ideally b looking for under20% starch in a feed (nit just for lamanitics). D&h do ers pellets, but these r for heavy work or weight gain, and stay power cubed @ 13% starch . Stick to a good balancer and a good quality chaff like dengue hi fi or alfa a range. Keep fibre content high so a quick or speedi beat is good.
Commercial feeds r a.mine field. I can recommend Clare McLeod who is an independant equine nutitionist. She has her own website and works with happy hackers to eventers and racers. Good luck. X
 
WM- thank you so much- i will reach out to the nutritionist you recommended as this sounds to be exactly what i need! I was under the impression that most worked for feed companies thus would be recommending their own brand of feed- an independent one is just what i was looking for! thanks again :-D
 
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