Feeding Advice please

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horsefeed

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I am pulling my hair out with my old geldings feeds, advice greatly appreciated.

He is 15.2hh TBx 36 year old, hacked twice a week in all paces, very forward going and full of energy he is not skinny as such, can't see his ribs unless he is standing awkwardly, can easily feel them, but body generally tiny, hips proturding, and head looks huge! Coats is shiny but would like him to bulk out a bit before winter.

I can only do 1 bucket feed a day due to work so I have moved him to his own paddock adjoining rest of herd, he gets adlib haylage now and eats about 12/15 kg a day plus a a bit of grass he picks at.

Bucket feed I aim to keep high in fibre as due to age its a semi hay replacer.

He currently gets...

1 Stubbs Scoop of Alfa Pellets (1.2kg)
1 Stubbs Scoop of Beet (1kg)
3 Mugs fulls of Copra (700g)
2 Mugs of Sunflower Seeds (400g)

This is all soaked for 24 hours and I then add

2 heaped Stubbs scoop of Spilllers conditioning fibre (1kg)
2 Mugs Linseed Meal (400g)
1 scoop vit and mins

This makes a huge trug full which I struggle to carry, Dry weight of nearly 5kg and wet alot more!

He eats all dinner up within 24 hours, he has been on this requime 3 weeks and while he isn't looking any worse I have seen no real improvement has anyone got any other ideas?

Working on 2.5% of body weight between feed and haylage he should be pilling weight on!

He has fly rug on too to prevent being iritated by fly.

Wormed etc all up to date.

Thanks in advance
 
Horses have small stomachs so it really would be better if you could arrange for a friend to feed him for you and split that large feed into three smaller ones.

Are his teeth good?
 
It my own yard, only have 2 liveries both get lifts with me as don't drive, its a 20 mile round trip to so even if I had time, I couldn't afford to do 2 trips a day.
It is a huge dinner but I was with him all day Sunday and he literally eats a bit and leaves it, Sundays trug lasted him nearly 6 hours so while I understand the small stomach thing I don't think it nessacarily applies to him.

His teeth were done by a dentits in May and he still has full set, nothing lose, dentist was very impressed for his age and advised i could get away with leaving him a year, dentitst is coming out again in october so will get him checked again then to be on safe side.
 
Is he eating this throughout the day? I used to be on a yard with someone whose horse was elderly and only had a few teeth; on a nutritionist's advice, he was given two feeds like that in every 24hr period because he couldn't eat hay/haylage. He didn't wolf it down in one go, he'd nibble at some grass, eat some feed, nibble some grass, eat some feed etc. The diet was designed to replace hay/haylage, as it was high fibre, and for him to eat throughout the day/night, not in the same way as you'd feed some competition mix, say.

Also, just a thought.. if he's a bit underweight anyway, then wouldn't he need more than 2.5% bodyweight to put on weight? Is he warm enough? Might be worth thinking about a gut balancer or something like that, to make sure he can digest his feed.
 
IS he really not putting weight on? Have you tried using a weigh tape, just so that you can physically see any differences?
Equally as they get older isn't always easier!
 
He picks at Dinner through the day and bucket lasts him a good 6 hours, plus adlib haylage which he is eating. He tried NAF Pink Powder not to long ago and it made him come up in itchy hives stopped pink poweder and they went away.
Bloods done in Feb when routine jabs etc done, all clear.
Weight tape says nothing changed.
 
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