chestnut cob
Well-Known Member
I'm hoping for some suggestions for feeding my lad. He's a 17hh IDxTB, 13yo, very good doer and tends to be on the lazy side. If it's of any help to know his routine, he is (as of this week) in during the day and out at night on average grazing. Always has restricted grazing otherwise he would be the size of a small county if I gave him ad lib hay.
I have to feed for energy because he tends to be lazy and although he is better now he's fit (I would happily hunt him for at least half the day with his current fitness level, including jumping), he is just a lazy horse. He can be spooky but I can deal with that and am happy to accept an increase in spookiness if it means a decrease in laziness (hoping that makes sense!)!
Over winter he was getting chaff with oats and was ok on that but now I want a bit more sparkle (or fizz, whatever you want to call it) so he's getting chaff, oats and competition mix. I have been thinking about changing to an oil based diet as I know that's supposed to be good for slow release energy (which is what the oats were for) but I do still need/want that extra bit of sparkle that he doesn't have on oats.
He works 5-6 days a week, plenty of hacking in a good active walk, trot and some canter work when we can get off road, schooling once or twice a week, pole work, occasional jumping, and a couple of sessions on the walker (those days he would get a walker session in the morning and ridden in the evening), so the work load is varied. He is fit as he managed a fairly fast 8 mile fun ride on Sunday without really working up a sweat.
New instructor suggested a diet for an EPSM (have I got the letters the right way around?!
) as she says ID types tend to be prone to it, plus when I got him I was told he shivers, which she also says is quite classical of EPSM horses, though my physio doesn't think he is a true shiverer...
Any suggestions? I'm loathe to keep pumping him full of - very expensive - competition mix and oats all summer, and so far the spring grass isn't making him much more sparkley!
NB...he has a new saddle which fits, had the physio two weeks ago and had his teeth done in Nov so no physical reasons for laziness, he just is a bit lazy..
I have to feed for energy because he tends to be lazy and although he is better now he's fit (I would happily hunt him for at least half the day with his current fitness level, including jumping), he is just a lazy horse. He can be spooky but I can deal with that and am happy to accept an increase in spookiness if it means a decrease in laziness (hoping that makes sense!)!
Over winter he was getting chaff with oats and was ok on that but now I want a bit more sparkle (or fizz, whatever you want to call it) so he's getting chaff, oats and competition mix. I have been thinking about changing to an oil based diet as I know that's supposed to be good for slow release energy (which is what the oats were for) but I do still need/want that extra bit of sparkle that he doesn't have on oats.
He works 5-6 days a week, plenty of hacking in a good active walk, trot and some canter work when we can get off road, schooling once or twice a week, pole work, occasional jumping, and a couple of sessions on the walker (those days he would get a walker session in the morning and ridden in the evening), so the work load is varied. He is fit as he managed a fairly fast 8 mile fun ride on Sunday without really working up a sweat.
New instructor suggested a diet for an EPSM (have I got the letters the right way around?!
Any suggestions? I'm loathe to keep pumping him full of - very expensive - competition mix and oats all summer, and so far the spring grass isn't making him much more sparkley!
NB...he has a new saddle which fits, had the physio two weeks ago and had his teeth done in Nov so no physical reasons for laziness, he just is a bit lazy..
