feeding for a bit more oopmh? and a weight Q

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xxcharlottexx

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My horse is currently getting 1 sccop of Happy Hoof, and some alpha beat (1cup of pellets, 3 cups water) and a cup of sunflower seeds.
However now ive finished college ive got more time to ride and have now started weekly lessons with him. I rode him today and it was like riding a donkey (no offence to donkeys
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) we only went for an 1hrs hack, and was constanly having to nag him with my leg. Ive felt hes been lacking a bit of energy the last couple of weeks.
Hes a TB but is doing well on all the grass in the field so he doesnt need any more weight .Although the nice calm and slow horse made a change from a few months ago to the nutter i had to ride id like a little bit more energy

I know happy hoof and alpha beat are both low calorie/energy foods but I was wondering if he was your horse... what would you feed. Or could reccomend something that will give him a bit more energy but without sending him loopy or adding any weight.

And 2nd question is what would you estimate this horses weight to be. I bought wormers for all the yard a few weeks ago. Her owner never comes up to see her so we all keep an eye on her so i have offered to worm her. Shes about 13.1hh and is 34-35ish.

but im not sure how much wormer to give her....
does 350-375Kg as an estimation of her weight sound about right or am i way off? Im not really very clued up with weights ect

heres a pic of her from a few weeks ago (when we had some sun!)

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Thanks xxx
 
How about some nuts? They will fit in with his current high fibre diet and might give him that little bit of extra he needs.

something like D&H pasture nuts, or the equivalent from other brands. Start with half a scoop and build up from there.
 
Gees, no offence but he is not in very good condition. I wouldnt consider riding a horse that looked that bad. Have I read the post correctly and / or looking at the right picture ?
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Thats not my horse.... thats the 34 YO mare i was asking what weight you would estimate her at.

this is my horse
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and whilst i know he needs more topline and muscle (which we are working one) hes not in poor condition

sorry if my post wasnt very clear
 
Phew! no your horse is lovely .... and bless the golden oldie (enjoying his retirement no doubt ), I would say he's approx 400kg.
I have found Alfa A and D & H Competion Mix works well with our SJ's we feed more or less depending on how hard they are working. Also find Red Cell supplement is very good for a bit of extra energy and stamina.
 
I agree with your estimation of weight to be about 375kg for the golden oldie

I am not sure whats best to add to your horses diet, as some feeds that spring to mind may be too much sugar
 
Spillers quick release energy mix or cubes should give a sluggish horse a more instant oomph, if you want controlled omph (!!!!) go for the Slow release energy instead.

If you want to stay away from hard feed, feed the correct ration of Alfa A or Alfa Oil (or Alfa Lite if weight gain is a concern).

I'm not an expert, but I do own a feed merchants and have conversation like this most days of the week, if you want more information, ring one of the feed companies, they are more than happy to help.
 
I'm also a fan of nuts (!) They are much lower in starch than mixes, cheaper by the bag, AND you don't have to feed as much as they weigh more. (i.e. 1 scoop mix = 1kg, 1 scoop of nuts = 1.5kg approx.)

Since I've fed mine nuts, they have never looked better on so little hard feed!

I feed D&H Pasture Nuts (now renamed High Fibre Cubes) as a base with sugar beet, chaff and oil added. If they are on medium/hard work, then I might change them onto Competition or Staypower cubes if I felt they were lacking oomph or stamina.

But, I try increasing the quantity of nuts and sugar beet first, and this normally does the job. I do the same if they drop a bit of weight, just give them a bit more rather than rush out and buy an expensive conditioning cube.

My Intermediate horse pulled my arms out round Tweseldown last Monday on half a scoop of Pasture nuts twice a day!

I also like Pasture nuts because they have elevated vits and mins so you don't have to buy supplements or balancers if you feed less than the recommended amount.

D&H - fancy paying me?!!!
 
thanks for all your reply's!
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Will have a look at the nuts on the market. Not sure if my feed merchant will have D&H ones. as he doesnt stock some of there feeds as he said there not good sellers (i wanted to try D&H Build up in winter)

Will have a look at the baileys ones.

Do you think I should continue feeding the alpha beat if im adding nuts as I think hes getting a bit porkey on all the grass
 
mine is on red mills connellys horse care cubes-gave him ooph and hasnt put weight on(feed lower than the recommended amount) and he now looks like this (below) after 2 weeks-if only i had a before picture to show, you would be amazed. he also gets soya oil which provides slow release energy.
 
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