Feeding Cob... Any advice please?

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WhiteHorseWendy

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14.2hh 10yo Traditional Cob gelding, 415KGs. Currently underweight and overly lazy. Out at night on poor grazing and in during the day at the moment.

2 feeds a day of 1 scoop Dengie Good Doer and pinch of salt
Around half bale of hay daily

I need to feed him something more for energy and sustainable condition. I don't want to put him on say, a build up mix then find he's got too fat again. To avoid yo-yo dieting I need something to feed at least through the winter if not year round!

How about adding a straight to his Good Doer chaff, maybe maize or barley?
 
Thank u ForestFantasy but i've read that oats are high in starch and as Larry has threatened to tie-up once or twice i'm trying to avoid that route which lead me to maize/barley. Has anyone got experience feeding these straights to similar horse?

Or are there any compound feeds anyone would reccomend for this?
 
There is actually more starch in maize and barley than in oats!

As his weight fluctuates, I'd suggest feeding a balancer and then some Speedibeet or similar alongside it - the balancer will supply protein and vit/mins and you can alter the amount of Speedibeet according to how his condition is. (Instead of/or in addition to, the Speedibeet, you could feed grass nuts, grass chaff, alfalfa chaff or alfalfa pellets). Add some micronised linseed if he still needs extra calories.
 
My traditional who is 14.3 and weighs 550 k, he is not fat but is a heavy weight with a lot of bone and my vet said when he saw him last month that he is just right in condition gets the following feeds am and pm all year round.

1 stubbs scoop of Just Grass (from Simple Systems or you can use the D&H version), 1/2 scoop of Green Gold (Simple Systems, pure alfa chaff), 1 coffee mug of linseed, 1 coffee mug of black sunflower seeds, brewers yeast. 1/2 scoop of soaked sloppy speedibeet.

If I am doing a lot of competitions, I will also add some of the red bag grass nuts from Simple Systems - energy equivalent of oats for a few days before and on the day(s) of competition.

He has ad lib hay in winter - he is not a greedy cob, and is on what is nibble grazing all summer with a slice of hay or two when the grass is very low.

I find that for the gypsy cobs and clydesdales we have and have had, they do best on a fibre diet rather than mixes and mollassed chaffs. Our current two have plenty of energy, keep a steady weight and do very well on the diet I describe.
 
why dont you put a big scoop of sugarbeet with your chop? its very conditioning but without the starch,people underestimate the good that beet can do horses. my cob has just chop and beet (a big scoop of each) and hes very healthy without being fat.:D
 
Thanks everyone, some good things to think about there. I always used to feed sugarbeet over the winter and think i'm gonna go back to something like that. Got another horse on Speedibeet which I might put Larry on this year or has anyone got opinions on AlfaBeet?
 
I always feed a balancer such as top spec comprehensive when my cobs weight whether my cobs weight ideal or a bit poor, and esp if on limited grazing. He was on top spec all last year but has put weight on in the last few weeks after moving fields. So now on low cal and some alfa alfa.

If you are feeding oats you need to make sure he has extra vits and mins added to his diet or a balancer, Im not 100% sure why I think its to do with the calcium and phosphorus rates. I also really rate alfabeet or speedibeet for condition for my cob in the past. Hope this helps!

Alfa beet was the better one for condition when mycob was underweight.
 
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