Feeding confusion for new horse

[Gorgeous George]

The new horse I'm getting (subject to the vet) will be my first and I am a bit confused by all the feeds etc. around

. To start with I will feed him exactly what he is fed now so as not to upset him, but I'm just wondering if his diet is ok and balanced.

He is a 16.3 thoroughbred shire x and is a good doer, he will be out during the day and in with hay at night, he will be ridden 5 times a week, hacking, light schooling and a bit of low jumping. At the moment he gets the following twice a day (his work load is about the same):
1 heaped standard scoop of alfa a oil
1 level scoop of baileys economy mix

He looks fine on it, but he is not getting the full recommended measure of either product so will he be short of vits/minerals? Also is there any need to add extra salt to his diet?

Thanks

 

[K27]

Maybe you could give one of the feed helplines a call- if he looks well and is not fat on what he is getting I wouldnt be overly worried- you can always feed a vit/mineral supplement eg Equivite to make up for any deficiencies. I only add salt/electrolytes if a horse has worked very hard and got sweaty or in v hot weather. Have fun with your new horse!

 

[Paint it Lucky]

I'd expect he'd be fine on that ration. If the grazing is good then he won't need any other supplements, although once it gets poorer towards winter time you may find he needs a bit extra. As he's a good doer he's more likely to gain weight off that ration then loose it, keep an eye on how he feels and looks, if he needs a bit more oomph you can always up his energy intake later, or if he puts on weight then I'd consider changing the alfalfa oil to just alfalfa or even just chaff as alfalfa is quite rich.

 

[Happytohack]

If he is a good doer and your grazing is good, I would feed him ad lib hay and keep him on the diet he is used to for the time being. If he is a bit full of himself, I would gradually change the alpha to something like Hi-Fi and switch from the mix to a hi fibre cube. Alpha +oil is high in calories, so if he gets too fat, you might need to switch anyway. I have a Clydesdale x as well as a Russian heavy horse and they do very well on forage based diet and I never feed mixes. Your future chap (fingers crossed for the vetting) looks lovely btw, but far more "quality" than my heavy horses.

 

[AmyMay]

I would stick with exactly what he is being fed at the moment. Very few of us actually feed the recommended amount of hard feed, because in most cases that is just too much hard feed.

Providing you have good grazing and good hay I'm sure he'll be just fine.

Now that we've had some rain the grass should be growing like mad, and full of lovely nutrients. My little pregnant mare has just had her hard feed ration reduced to half the recommended amount because she is doing a little too well......