Feeding Advice

hotdog

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I'm after a bit of advice really being new to this horse keeping lark. I've an old boy (23) who's just started to put some weight on, he's 17.2 and I ride about 5-6times a week.

He currently gets 1 scoop molichaff, 1 scoop bran, 1 scoop baileys no 4, 1 scoop beetpulp, codliver oil and pink powder twice a day with Hayledge at night and is turned out during the day.

I was really after people's opinions and or advice, thanks
 
I don't know - livery owner is a fan of it and has all the liveries on it

hence my looking for advice from others
 
Why not give some of the feed companies a ring.

I personally don't feed bran - and would definately not feed it to a horse on which I was trying to put weight, because it can act as a dioheretic. I wouldn't feed pink powders twice a day either.
 
try dodson and horrells 16 plus , it has the right ingredients for your old boy , bran molichaff and sugarbeet are fibre providers / fillers , alpha a oil would do the job much better
 
If he is a good doer, a balancer such as TopSpec, will provide all his vits and minerals, and can be fed with different chaffs and conditioning feeds at a later date if he starts to drop weight.

OH's big TB (17h) is on one cup of TopSpec, a scoop of AlfaBeet with Alfa A twice a day. In winter he has Build Up mix too which works really well for him.
 
Just wondering why you wouldn't feed bran and also why not pink powder twice a day.

I did email food companies but got no replies - hence my post here but will go down the phoning route.

I'm kind of limited to what I can feed him because livery owner doesn't was to too many different kinds of feeds
 
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I'm kind of limited to what I can feed him because livery owner doesn't was to too many different kinds of feeds

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You;re paying the bills - you feed your horse what you like.

As I said above, bran is considered a dioretic and also doen's really contain much feed value. And you should feed the pink powders as per the instructions on the tin - but I rarely feed supps twice a day.
 
Is the horse on full livery with feed included in the price? I wouldn't be happy being told what my horse can be fed.

It is such a minefield, and takes time to get to know what certain products do, especially as a new owner it could be baffling.
 
If I was in that situation, I would either be asking for the feed I wanted my horse on to be included, or to negotiate a discount on the cost, as I would be providing the feed myself.
 
I think you might be making life complicated here. You need to feed an older horse very little at this time of year. Check his weight with the vet to be sure but it is very easy to overfeed horses. Bran is not a good idea unless he is constipated, and Beetpulp is more appropriate to the winter. Some chaff ie HI-FI lite and a feed supplement such as Badmintons Even Keel with HAY at night would be enough if he is a good do-er. Hayledge is very rich and on top of spring grass, you may end up up with Laminitis. I have a 17hh horse on one scoop of chaff and one teacup of even keel twice a day and he looks very well. Even Keel is very good even for big horses (it says mountain & moorland on the bag) Read the label instructions as the back of the bag tells you to feed higher quantities. How much depends on the quality of your hay and grazing.
I have a 23 yr old thoroughbred also on this diet, and previous oldies reached 29 & 30. Hope this helps
 
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