feeding advise please.

[ilovecobs]

Hi, my horse is a 15.2/15.3 show cob. She is currently on poor-ish grazing in the day and in with a haynet at night. She gets a breakfast in the morning of half a round scoop of good doer hifi. half a round scoop of sugarbeet, half a round scoop of coolmix. She gets no teatime feed.

I was thinking, should i buy a bag of baileys lo-cal balancer? or any other balancer of suplements? and give her a mug or two? for a tea?

If i did this do you think i should cut down her breakfast at all?

(i forgot to mention that she is being ridden most days, schooling for around 40 mins. Some days a lot of trot work and some canter work and some day a lot of walking and bending and stuff.)
any advise appreciated. thanks

 

[TGM]

You don't say what condition your horse is in - too fat, too thin, just right? How are her energy levels? Any problems such as poor feet, dull coat etc?

 

[ilovecobs]

oops sorry, erm shes in ok condition, i wouldnt say she needs to loose any (if she lost a tad it would only be beneficial but no more than that) and she doesnt need to put any on. Energy level is fine, good feet and her coats ok, would love it if she didnt turn roan each spring and stayed bright bay all year but ah well

 

[TGM]

Well, the Good Doer and Cool Mix you are feeding are supplemented with vitamins and minerals, but as you are feeding a lot less than the recommended rate for a horse that size, so she won't be receiving the full daily dose from those feeds. So yes, in theory, you should feed a vit/min supplement (such as Benevit, Equivite etc) or a balancer to make up for that. However, a lot of horses do very well without such supplementation as they get a lot of their micronutrients from the grazing (even if the grass looks poor), and I must say it it was my horse I wouldn't bother during the summer months if the horse seemed fine!

If you do decide to feed one, then probably easiest to add to her existing breakfast, unless you specifically want to feed a tea.