Feeding for oomph not fizz!!

Mrs Jingle

Mrs Jingle

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Any ideas please. Have a recently bought 10 year old fit and healthy cobx mare. She is a very laid back lady - the reason I got her was to safely hack around on without any drama!

She is currently at grass with the rest of my herd on ad lib hay and a small feed of cool and calm once a day as I suspect she could easily put on weight. Now she is a lazy old moo, will amble all day unless I use a LOT of leg, will happily go into trot, but again its very slow and lazy.

Is there anything you can suggest to feed her on to give her a bit more of a 'lift' without causing her to fizz up or become spooky? Or gain too much weight either! I only hack her every other day and for about an hour to an hour and a half at walk and trot.

Many thanks in advance.
 
I'd start by feeding her a vit/min supplement or a low calorie balancer - as if you are only giving a small amount of compound feed it probably won't be enough to supply all her micronutrients.
 
Sorry should have mentioned - they do have vitamin and mineral lick buckets out in the fields with them - and she does use hers. Do you think it might be worth adding a low cal balancer despite the fact she has ad lib access to the vit/min bucket?
 
You can feed Pink Powder as a balancer too, might perk her up without putting on weight, or as TGM says Bailey's Low Cal is good too.

She is in very light work, I know you say she is fit, but perhaps you could up her work, she will be more forward going the fitter she is
 
She is actually pretty fit - she has hunted all winter in previous home but has been the same when I tried her, and when she came to live with me, she was actually on a scoop of sugar beet, 1 of oats, and 1 of mix twice a day whilst hunting and when I tried her .....but was still very laid back and ploddy. Im trying very hard not to complain as she is exactly what I asked for and bought.......but just a little more get up and go would be nice! LOL! Or do I just accept that this is her nature and all the feeding in the world wont make her a little more energetic in her paces?
 
ok rather than feed..........................well pop back on oats low fat but umph....................and then you need to start trying loades and loades of transitions so she learns what off your leg means also try and find a hacking partner vary the route and make it fun
 
If she was fed all that in her previous home and was still laid back & ploddy I very much doubt anything you feed will change that much!

I would say it's a schooling issue, she needs to learn to be off your leg.
 
thanks for all your replies - Im inclined to agree that with all she was fed before and still ploddy it might just be how she will always be! Also agree that some schooling might be in order. Will also try feeding a balancer to see if that helps. Have hacked her in company and she is still happy to bring up the rear in a slow and ambling fashion. LOL!
 
Agree that you should approach this using the schooling angle. Giving extra feed may either tip her over the edge or just increase her weight which will make her even more ploddy.
A couple of sessions with a good trainer who can evaluate her (and ideally sit on her themselves) should be all you need.
 
ok another thought, have you had your saddle checked, big cobs with large shoulders have problems with the points on a saddle some times, and this can block the forward movement, as in if they stride out to much the shoulder moves more hits the saddle points and it hurts. they then learn to walk etc slower to compensate. have you tried treeless saddle on her or maybe a balance saddle
 
I had read somewhere, maybe on Winergy site(?) that more food will only increase the nature of the horse. So more competition mix will only make a lazy horse, more lazy etc etc - don't know how much truth there is in that TBH BUT, I don't think food can change a horses outlook and nature greatly. So I'd be looking at schooling and getting her as lean as she can be while still being healthy and perhaps finding out what makes her start forward thinking? IE - for my horse, I need to fast trot him off once he's warmed up - to get his attention and get him striding forward. It just switches him out of plod mode and into HELLO mode :D
 
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