Feeding for more stamina?

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CBAnglo

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I have a 5 yr old 14.1hh connemara who got incredibly fat over summer when I was too busy to ride and he was out 24/7. He was very lethargic and it was no wonder when he was tape weighed at 560kgs (I was genuinely appalled). He was blood tested for virus/EMS/cushings etc and all came back clear (verdict was that he was just very fat). He had a bit of a growth spurt too so he was sort of fat then thin, fat then thin, but the flush of autumn grass really sent him over and I had to take drastic action.

He went on a strict diet and we lunged him in w/t for 20 mins twice a day for 2 weeks. He was rationed hay (soaked for 8+ hrs) and he was brought in at night. I started hacking him, building up from an hour in walk to 2 hrs with periods of t/c/g. We sometimes go for longer but we only increase the time for walking (and do roughly the same amount of t/c/g (I time it on my heart rate monitor - geek)).

He is about 480kgs now (think he has a bit more to lose) but he has absolutely no stamina. I tried feeding the stamina and performance supplement from feedmark but he refused to eat it. He is currently fed hifi lite, benevit advance and joint supplement. He now only gets lunged once a day if not riding - then it is only 30 mins of schooling with minimal canter, jumping (tiny jumps) for 30 mins and he is absolutely knackered afterwards.

What are people's opinions? Should I increase the benevit for "hard work" (even though I think he is currently only in light work) or start feeding him more feed and less hay (he is out 8 hrs a day on poor grazing and is fed 5 kgs of hay which is soaked for 8 hrs). This is below what he ought to be getting for his current weight as I think he still needs to lose some weight (should be getting 7.2kgs of feed and he probably only gets 6kgs per day).

I have never had this problem before as only had TBs who have too much oomph.

This is the first time that I have anything to offer (homemade shortbread - not made by me so is safe) - I would like someone to take it off my desk as I can feel my butt expanding with every bite!
 
He is still maturing, has been very overweight, is on a strict diet and has not yet begun to develop his core fitness, that takes many months, if not years to build up and if he has only been in proper work for a few months you are only just starting to get there.
I would up his fibre intake, either increase the hay or give him fast fibre or speedibeet, they get most of their energy from fibre and the stamina will come in time, some oil may be helpful but can be stored as fat which you do not want at this stage.
I had a connie that came in very lean, supposedly fit, he could jump a course of fences but struggled to trot a few circles without blowing, he took well over 6 months to get fit enough to do any decent work without needing lots of little breaks and that was without trying to get weight off at the same time.
 
I agree, he is still maturing and so he has been in lighter work when he had various growth spurts.

I didnt want to ramble too much, but I have had him about 15 months - he had just turned 4 when I got him. He was mainly hacked 3-4 times a week for 30 - 45 mins in walk with bits of trot for about 3 months, and then I started doing short bursts of canter and increased the trot work (gradually) for another 2 months. It was only then that I started working in the school (last winter) and he was schooling for up to 45 mins in walk and trot (still too unbalanced for canter although he did pop into canter sometimes on his own). He then got kicked so had 2 months off and then I spent another 3 months doing the slow hacking (as above).

We had increased the hacking and school work to what he is doing now and he was fine. He has started to get a little fat with all the grass, but I then got busy at work so I didnt ride him for 6 weeks and that is when he got extremely fat. I have spent the last 3 months getting the weight off and bringing him back to what I would consider light work (and what he was doing before he was extremely fat). He was lethargic over summer but it was incredibly hot and he was out 24/7 and he was growing and fat - all of my youngsters have been like that under those conditions (except the fat bit).

What I find difficult now is that he doesnt seem to be increasing his stamina - he is defintely fitter and I have increased the work gradually. He is always so keen and tries to trot off the yard when he realises we are going past the school and he will be fine for the first hour or so on the hack, but then anything other than walk afterwards tires him out very quickly.

He does get speedi-beet when it is colder; I think I will just start feeding it to him now and see how he goes. He was on oil previously (when he was not overweight) and it did not make any difference to his energy levels.
 
I still think he will improve over time, he has had a stop, start time so has not yet had the opportunity to get properly fit yet, the stamina comes once they are able to work comfortably within themselves at all paces, if he is late maturing it could be this time next year before he finishes growing, natives are very different from tbs, the tb brain is normally more buzzy so they keep going, if he is naturally a quieter boy he will switch off once he gets tired where a tb will often get more lit up and so appear more active.
At times you may need to push on and up the work in order to increase what they can cope with, he should get better once he can canter further they take in more air and this should increase the fitness levels, some interval training may also help.
 
Thanks; I guess that is my main issue, I am not sure how much more to push each week. At the moment, if hacking, we do 2 hours slow or 1 hour faster. I might try to increase both by 10 mins each time and see how he copes. I try to do intervals as well, so will increase the faster paces for a longer time as well.

He is quieter than the two TBs who even after time off (they love visiting the vet) did not lack stamina at all (and were in about the same amount of work, but with more canter schooling as they are older and balanced).

I am also going to start feeding some speedi-beet now and see if that helps the energy levels. I think he is at a good weight now (he is the stockier type) and after we have lost an extra 15 kgs i think he will be at the right weight for his height and build. He has levelled up a lot too - he was really bum high for about 2 weeks twice over the summer so I didnt ride him during that time + 6 weeks off so he did put on weight and lost fitness in that time.
 
I would agree with the other posts - stamina comes from building fitness, which takes time - you can't actually feed for it. But for horses that are doing a lot of miles, the best feed is actually fat. Most endurance horses get some oil in their diets as it is a slow release energy. However, sounds like your boy still has his own supply, so just keep working away at it.

If you do decide he needs a bit more, then I just feet soya oil, start with 100mls and for horses in really hard work I have heard of them getting up to 2 cups a day, but 1 cup in a feed is plenty I have found.
 
Thanks NZJenny; I agree I think I just have to keep plugging away and his fitness will increase slowly. I am going to increase the amount of hacking time (and the faster paces) and see how he goes.

Having TBs for years I spent all of my time trying to quieten them down, trying to rev something up is so much hard work!
 
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