feeding advice - TB

pickwickayr

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hello
i wonder if anyone might be able to recommend a feed for my TB. he is an ex racehorse who lives out 24/7. he has started to drop a bit of weight and i want to introduce some more calories into his diet to make sure he doesnt loose anymore over the winter.

he is fed on spillers cool fibre, alfa beet, linseed, NAf pink powder

he is the happiest and calmest he has ever been since i stopped feeding him conditioning cubes and mixes and actualy put on weight since changing to the diet he is on just now. every cube ive tried so far have sent him loopy to the point of being nasty and irritated his stomach, he also cant have molassed sugar beet or mollased chaff. but he now needs a bit more to stop him dropping the weight that we worked so hard to get on him!

can anyone recomend a good product for horses that fizz up on cereal and sugar?

thank you
 
I can't feed mine any cereal or sugar. He just has Alfa A Oil, a vit supplement and ad lib haylage. He does really well on it and he's quite a poor doer.

When we have a horse in that really needs weight on we add D&H Build up cubes, and we've never found them hot anything up. Have you tried them? There's always some horses that like to be exceptions!
 
yes i have tried build up, baileys no.4, calm and condition and they all sent him crazy!! he does like to be the exception!

he is definately a lot happier on the feed hes on now but thats not much help if he is going to continue to lose weight over the winter.

is it ok to add soya oil in top of the linseed he is already on? and do you think he needs a vit supplment aswell as the pink powder?

thanks again
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If you fed Alfa Oil, you wouldn't need to feed the oils seperately. But before the days of Alfa Oil I did feed iols spereately and I fed linseed oil and soya oil on alternate days (your not meant to feed linseed every day). I would have thought he'd be OK on Alfa Oil seeing as you're aready feeding Alfa Beet, so you know he's OK with Alfalfa and your already feeding Oil. It would save you money.

Do you feed Pink Powder for any problems or just to help with digestion? If there is no problem I would swop him onto a more broad spectrum vit and min which will have the digestion help in it anyway.

Do you put any haylage out for him in the field?
 
i was worried about feeding alfa oil due to it having some mollasses in it? it would actualy be easier for me to just add some soya oil on alternative days as i buy the cool fibre in anyway for my shetland and its just easier not to buy 2 chaffs! i feed home made linseed jelly about 3 days a week, so wil try adding soya oil and alternating.

the pink powder was recommended to me buy my YO and he did put on weight since starting on it and is now on his 2nd tub. i have a big tub left stil so should i get a vit min supplement aswell or just wait til the pink powder is done then switch him over? NAf oilvite looks interesting as it is a vit min supplement with added oil, that might be worth a try?

he gets ad lib hay in the field
smile.gif


thank you for your help
 
If you have found a feeding combination that suits your horse then I would be inclined to stay with it.
Are you able to add in another feed, i.e 3 times a day instead of 2 times etc.
Also can you feed adlib hay/haylage in the field

Other things to consider are is he warm enough (rugs) and is he up to date with worming
 
I used ordinary sunflower oil to good effect to put weight on my tb who was also out 24/7, she didnt take to alpha oil at all. Plus its cheap! You could add a little more each day until you're up to about 200 mls. I would also agree with Ben and Jerrys to check rugs and try ang give ad-lib haylage if you're not already. Does he have a hood? They're great for keeping tb's warm and I use an ordinary stable quilt under a good turnout in cold weather.
 
Alfa Oil does not have any molasses in it. It is just alfalfa and Oil. (It's the original Alfa A that has mollases in it. I couldn't feed that either!)

I'd finish the tub of pink powder that you've got first otherwise you will probably be over feeding some vits/mins which isn't good. I feed a Dengie Vit and Min supplement and find it really good. They do and really large range so you can actually feed what your horse needs. If you give them a ring they're really helpful and will give you a voucher while you try the first pot!
 
I use alpha oil and buid up its the only thing that works for my tb.Its the wind that messes his head up came in like a stallion tonight felt like Iwas flying a kite.
 
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