Feeding dilemma

little_critter

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 June 2009
Messages
7,279
Location
Somerset
Visit site
I just noticed this morning that my mare is stating to put on a little extra weight.
She has 8 hours grazing daily (with muzzle on) and is fed twice daily:
Suggested amount of TopSpec balancer
1/2 stubbs scoop HiFi Lite
Between 1/4 pint and 1 pint oats depending on how much umph I need.
She's 14.1hh and approx 440kg.

I realise I could probably cut out the chaff and oats but without the oats shes very sluggish to ride.

Not sure what I should do to keep her trim and energetic.
 
Do you need to give her any hard feed? My 14.1 gets 6 high fibre cubes twice a day with a general supplement. She is out 24/7 and gets no hay and only grass. If she were getting hay or haylage she would just have the mineral supplement sprinkled on top. Generally the more regular exercise they get and less weight they carry the more get up and go they have ie you do not need feed to get extra energy. The exception is lean fit horses in heavy work or underweight horses.
 
I feed my mare 1 scoop of happy hoof with her magnesium ox and she is stabled at night with weighed & soaked hay. She is exercised every morning and is turned out for 5-6 hours muzzled. If I don't exercise her daily then the weight can creep back on.
 
Right. 24/7 grazing starts today so she's out with a muzzle on during the day and I'll take it off at night, the field has been split so she doesn't have access to too much grass and her hard feed has been cut down to the balancer only. She was lacking energy this morning but I'm hoping that getting her fitter and in front of the leg will sort this.
 
Top