Feeding an poor doer (tb exracer)

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Dizzle

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Ok, after my last thread on this, the boy is now on:

1 and ½ scoops of mollichaff
1 scoop of horse and pony nuts
300g topspec feed balancer
Pink powder

All of the above, twice a day, plus as much hay as he can eat both in and out in the field.

He’s being really good and in fact I actually managed to put brushing boots on him in the stable without someone holding him, a bit of a first! I just wondered, he’s been on this about a week now (I doubled the nuts on the advise of my RI last week), if this was going to blow his brains, when would that happen? Would it be straight away or when he’s actually put on weight, he’s looking much better this week and is still his usual sweet self!

(It's one of the round bowl with handle type scoops)
 
That sounds like an awful lot of feed! When I got my tb ex racer in January this year he was an absolute hatrack. He looked awful. With perserverance he is beginning to come round you just have to be paitent. Everyone was saying when I first got him feed him more, give him a lunchtime feed blah blah etc etc. I kept at a steady, balanced diet and after a few ups and downs his coat is now starting to get glossy and his ribs are covered he just needs muscle which will come with time. With that much feed I would fear colic - Pete has:

Just over 1 scoop of Alfa-a oil

3/4 Baileys no.4

We are planning to start feeding him some Topspec balancer when we have the money to improve his feet though.

I would stick with hay, hay and more hay!

Also - what an earth was your RI thinking suggesting you double the nuts? You need to go slowly. A horse cant just go from bang eating a handful of something to loads. If you are going to up it, add in a little more each time you feed him so he can adjust.

As long as he has enough calories he should start to put on weight. It takes paitence though, like I have said as it feels like ages I have been waiting for Pete. Its been 6 months and I have now started seeing a difference.

Also, I would suggest lots of hacking. And lots of walk/trot work to build him up. Pete is a reformed character from this and while it is the summer try to hack out as often as possible as it is often hard to hack out in the depths of winter.

I have found now Pete is starting to get fitter and is getting a little more cheeky out on hacks etc (not that he wasn't already - racing to the front - which I am sure you find with yours!) but he has enough feed to support his energy requirements so he can put on muscle! Its more about how fit they are than how much feed they get. I found Pete had no energy to do anything even when I fed him loads when he was skinny and doing nothing. Now I am riding him and he has put on weight he sometimes gets a bit silly. So your horse may get hyper but will probably have short bursts of energy as he has no stamina/muscle at the moment I am guessing?

Hope this helps,

Good luck! Keep us updated,

Laura and Pete.
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I used to feed my old ex racer alfa-A oil and good old Calm and Condition by Allen and Page. Along with some equilibria balancer that did the trick. I still use calm and condition on the connemara in the winter - its great stuff.
 
I use the calm and condition on my tb ex racer too, she absolutely loves it too which is a bonus, with chaff and two mugs per day of topspec balancer.

Also feed Naf Pro feet on advice of the farrier as I do a fair bit with her.
 
I second the calm and condition, it's amazing stuff! Keeps my exracer looking great all winter. I feed it along side alfa a oil too. Totally recommend it.
 
TBH your feeding him what you would feed a small pony...

Chaff has no real goodness in it, pony nuts are just fibre.

If he was mine i would feed something like this.

scoop top line nuts, chaff and scoop of sugar beet in morning.

scoop top line nuts, 1 scoop quality mix, 1 s.beet pink powder half cup of sunflower oil. Ad lib quality hay, or even better hayledge.
 
I'm even more confused now! lol

Is this too much or too little?

The chaff and topspec are being fed at the recermended rate as from the manufacturer, the H&P nuts are fed at the rate advised by my RI, (and yes I did add the extra half a scoop slowly!)

C&C sounds like great stuff, how much is it per bag? How long does this last roughly? Should I gradually change from the H&P nuts to this?
 
Not bought any c and c since about feb but norm bout a tenner a bag, I find it goes a long way. My boy has half a scoop am n half pm. You must soak it though. I don't add a balancer as it's already full of vits n mins I only add joint supplement. Everyone comments on how great he looks on it, brilliant feed!
 
what you are feeding is all none heating so it should not blow his brains full stop. Personally to put weight one i would swope your mollichaff for alpha and your nuts for allen page calm and condition that will put more weight on plus you will be able to feed him less of this to what you are feeding now!
 
Can I ask why you're feeding Topspec Feed Balancer and NAF Pink Powder? You are doubling up on ingredients unneccessarily as both do the same job -I'd stick to Topspec as this has a higher quantity of ingredients than Pink Powder, which has minimal of each ingredient.

I have found Alan & Paige Calm and Condition to be amazing for weight gain.
Kate x
 
[ QUOTE ]
I thought the PP was a probiotic, where as topspec was more of a multi vitamin type thing??

[/ QUOTE ]

Top Spec Balancer AND Pink Powder both contain vit/mins AND probiotics, so you are definitely doubling up there and you need to chose one or the other. In addition, if you are feeding near the recommended amount of the nuts, then that also will supply the full amount of vit/mins, so sounds like your horse may be getting 3 x what he needs in terms of vit/mins!
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If you decide on keeping the Top Spec Balancer then you could consider using Top Spec Cool Condition Cubes which are not supplemented as they are designed to be fed alongside a balancer. The Cool Condition Cubes are cereal-free so less likely to fizz a horse up than some other conditioning feeds. Another option is to feed the balancer alongside a range of straight fibre feeds - unmollassed beet, alfalfa, grass products etc.

If you decide to feed Calm & Condition then that again will give the full amount of vit/mins if fed at the recommended rate, so you won't need a balancer alongside it.
 
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