feeding: any ideas?

[lizzie_liz]

hello there
Am having a bit of a dilemma as to what to feed my mare and how much, why can't she be simple.

Honey is a 16hh, 10yr old TBxID with navicular (front feet) and artheritis (right hock) but has been sound for the past 4 years and is competing this summer every week or every other week at unaffliated SJ (85cm-1m) courses and unaffliated dressage (P & N).

She is ridden for about 1 1/2 hours every day split into schooling/lunging/jumping in the morning and hacking in the evening.

She is prone to weight gain and have finally got the weight off her! but she can also be quite lazy.

We went competing today and she didn't feel her normal lively self. There is very little grass in the fields at the moment and she is coming in hungry. I am currently feeding her twice a day with a handful of hi fi lite and 1/2 scoop of countrywide competition mix. I give her electrolytes if she sweats alot and i clipped her out this summer.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to feed her and do you think she needs a supplement, i don't want to give her one unless she needs it but we think there is something missing. She regularly has her teeth, saddle and back checked

Thanks for any advice given

 

[lilym]

hi! half a scoop of mix doesn't weigh very much about 500g, so she may well be lacking in vits/mins, as the grass has all but gone you could feed some good quality hay in her field, if this is possible. i would suggest changing the hi-fi lite to alfa a to give her slow relese energy and top that up with either a good all round broad specrum vit/min supplement or use a feed balancer such as topspec, this will give her all her trace elements, vits/mins which may be lacking without providing calories and weight gain, some horses do go off form if lacking in certain minerals, good luck.

 

[lizzie_liz]

i did wonder if she was lacking in vits and minerals, the only problem is she puts weight on soo easily and have only recently been able to put her on compeition mix without her putting weight on.
she was once on blue chip but as it is full of protein was keeping the weight the on when we trying to lose it. we are almost at the end of the hi fi lite and will switch to alfa a, as we have a bag unopened that sister will use on her horse so will put honey on it.
they can't be given hay in the fields but should be due a field change soon, i hope.
might go for a general supplement
thanxs