feeding calmers

[debonhorse]

Hi all, I am new to this site, just found it 5 minutes ago. I am looking for help, I have just taken on 2 mares a 17HH T/B ex racehorse age 17 who is an angel (except when she sees cows she goes mad!! ) The other mare is 15.2HH 5 year old
T/B who is a stroppy mare. I have just put her on Oestress to try to calm her temper, she has only been on this for 4 days, and she seems to have got worse. Does anyone know if this is normal?? do they get hotter/stroppier before they get better? Her temperment seems to be rubbing off on the old girl, they both seem to be more highly strung, and stressy.
I have only had these mares a month, and I have put the oldie on vitamins for a veteran horse, they both also have farriers friend, for their hooves, and I feed the big one Mag calm, she seems to concentrate more while out hacking on this. They both have cod liver oil .Feedwise, I have just this week put them both onto blue chip original (slowly adding to their feed over the week up to amount reccommended) they both have 2 scoops of mixed meal, 1 scoop oats,1 scoop barley and 1 scoop beet pulp. (just one feed a day) they both at the moment are on light exercise,(I am still getting used to riding them) am I feeding the right foods? they are both quite fat at the moment, and living outside, but in a few weeks they will be out during the day rugged and in at night, (they will then be on 2 feeds a day) can someone please help me out with this??

 

[Mel85]

I wouldn't be feeding that much if they are only in light work.

I would feed about a quarter of what you are currently giving them! I usually feed my horses 3/4 scoop mix and 1/2 scoop chaff/mollichop twice a day when they are in light work and increase this when they are eventing.

I would definitely reduce the hard feed and give more hay instead to keep them going.

That should definitely help.

 

[SirenaXVI]

Thats an awful lot of cereal for horses not in heavy work. I would be inclined to up the fibre levels and give ad lib haylage or good hay, for short chop I would go for alfalfa or a grass chop, unmollased sugar beet and a vit/min supplement or a balancer. That diet should sort out your stroppy mare!

 

[Weezy]

Good lord you are way overfeeding IMO - dont listen too much to the info on the bags - I feed a level scoop of Just Grass and a double handful of Cool Mix twice a day, plenty of good quality hay and mine looks fantastic - he is a hot head and anymore than that would make him go through the roof!

 

[S_N]

To be honest, I think you need to look very carefully at what you are feeding. In my opinion if both horses are looking well, I would cut out both the Oats and the Barley completely. Also, is the Sugar Beet you are feeding molassed or unmolassed? If molassed this could be making your mares very fizzy, especially combined with the Oats and Barley!

If they were my horses, I would be feeding them at this time of year Alfa-A Oil, Speedibeet and maybe a balancer, like Top Spec or Blue Chip. With the balancer you shouldn't need to feed any extra Vits/Mins. I would then see how they were on this diet, before thinking of spending money on expensive calmers.

 

[debonhorse]

thankyou all, I need to go to the owner now and try harder to convince him that he is over feeding them, I only have 1 (the bigger calmer) on loan, but the owner has been feeding them together, the thing is the smaller stroppy mare dosnt have a rider, so the owner likes me to exercise her too, but she is so fizzy, she is dangerous. I think his ways of feeding all his racehorses over the many years, have stayed with him, and he thinks they will lose weight if he drops thir feed down, I have tried to sway his views, (taken feed charts to the feed room etc.) they are doing hardly any exercise at the moment, and today I couldnt even get close to them. I am not very confident around the smaller 1 as she bites, and is very stroppy all the time, normally they will walk into their stables on their own, but today they were mad, charging around the field, attacking each other, we couldnt get anywhere near them.
How can I start reducing their feed, without it affecting their digestive system/ do I need to do this over a few days, or can I just start by halving everything tomorrow? and reducing again over the next week, until they are having the right amount.
Which food is the best high fibre, I would like to keep them on the blue chip stabiliser as I have just started them on it and have 2 full bags (£70.00) but what would be best to put with that?
Any help is very well accepted, I have been 'out of horses' for quite a few years while having children, and have lost touch with a lot of it, things are slowly coming back, and I definately remember that we didnt feed that much concentrate, with such little exercise. The other thing is, that a vicious circle is forming, because, the fizzier they get, the less I want to ride them, but it is really hard to get the owner to understand this.
Thankyou all for your replies.

 

[loopylis]

they gonna get well fizzed of all of that my mare gets heated of anything so i feed baileys no 4 hifi and apples and carrots she is not a weright holder put it has got her weight up and i also add placid,( not oestress didnt seem to work!) seaweed,garlic and mint and apples and carrots and she is worked daily and keeps her fit and well i would certainly cut out the oats and barley there is ways round everything good luck x

 

[sleepingdragon10]

TBH,with all that food in 1 meal I'm surprised they haven't colicked by now!!

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

You should only put enough feed into the horse for the work it is doing, if they are doing very little then just give then enough to keep them ticking over. From what you are giving them I would say you are definately over feeding them. They will be incredibly fizzy. My Hann x TB is worked 6 days a week, schooling, jumping, hacking etc & he has nothing like that amount of feed. He is in great condition, fabulous topline & really fit.

You need to cut that feed down dramatically, I know older horses need more feed but not that much

 

[the watcher]

I wouldn't bother with the Oestress, as other have said, bump up the fibre, cut down the cereal and if condition is needed consider high oil/fat feed rather than cereal.

Are these both ex racers? their digestive systems are likely to be quite fragile if they are so make your changes gradual. If they have raced they will be used to a lot of routine in their lives and you will have to maintain some routine just to keep them sane until they adjust to your methods

 

[rcm_73]

Hi I am from racing parents & I have a very lively 15.2 TB mare and would only feed oats/barley if she were in hard work e.g point 2 point, hunting or similar. She is currently in light work so is fed a mainly fibre diet of grass/hay plus half a scoop of Ride & Relax and a handful of Hi-Fi Original. She has been on good grass and currently is keeping weight on well so the hard feed is only really to get her supplements down. I use Naf Magic calmer and it has made a difference to her anxiety levels. She hacks out more calmly and is less spooky. However TBs being TBs are best worked regularly (I find 6 days out of 7 works well) and you will always need to have your wits about you!! Also I would only recommend Alfa-A Oil for a TB in moderate to hard work unless it really needed condition on.

 

[debonhorse]

Wow, what a great response from my first posting. thankyou all so much, I have read all and taken all help on board.
I have cut out all oats/barley. kept on blue chip with half scoop mix feed and half of sugar beet. already in 2 days there is a huge change. I managed to convince the owner to allow me to do this on a 2 month trial(until christmas)to see how they go, and I think he is impressed already. He is just so worried that they will drop their weight too quickly. The grass is still quite good at the moment, and we havnt started rugging at all yet because it is still very mild here in devon. The horses are not on hay yet. In a couple of weeeks when the weather gets colder they will be turned out in the day with rugs on and brought in at night with as much hay as they want. they will also have stable rugs on. I will up the feed slightly as they get exercised more, which was a lot more enjoyable today than ever before!!! Does this all sound right, as already mentioned, its been a long time since I kept horses, any advice very gratefully recieved.
THANKYOU to all in advance.

 

[SirenaXVI]

Hmmmm it would normally take at least a week for the change to have any effect but hey ho, personally I would swop the mix for alfa or graze-on,