Feeding issues!!!

[katie_southwest]

Ok opinions please...
I bought my mare a couple of months ago,she hadnt been ridden for 6 months and was..lets say..slightly overweight!
Shes a 14.2 Welsh x and basically since she arrived shes been getting one feed at breakfast time(purely so she comes in with the others to check shes ok)
she gets hi-fi light and half a scoop of pegasus non heating mix and then hay during the day.
She doesnt appear to be dropping any weight even though shes getting exercise now.
This morning my YO said to me I wasnt feeding her enough and to give her Sugar beet aswell in with her breakfast but Im not sure what to do. I was always told Sugar beet helps keep weight on during winter..the opposite of what I want! Any advice would be appreciated

 

[whisper09]

My sister has a cob who is like yours and seems to live on fresh air! At the moment she only gets a handfull of applechaff purely to give her a suppliment and adlib hay. In my opinion as your mare is currently maintaining her weight then she seems to be getting all she needs and i wouldnt worry. However it may be beneficial to add a vitamin and mineral suppliment to her feed incase of deficiencies in the hay.

 

[katie_southwest]

Yeah I give her a Benevit in her feed which is another reason why she gets any feed at all really! Sometimes when people say things like that I feel bad because shes greedy and is always on the hunt for food so I feel like Im starving her ha ha

 

[TGM]

If she is overweight and not losing any, then she doesn't even need the mix, let alone adding sugar beet! Just feed her a handful of Hi Fi Lite and add a broad spectrum vit/min supplement (ie Benevit, Equivite Original, TopSpec Comprehensive) or perhaps a balancer like Bailey's LoCal.

Has the YO said why she thinks she needs more?

 

[katie_southwest]

Well he was laughing at how little I was giving her ie hi fi lite and literally a sprinkle of mix and that she was hungry but I did point out to him that she'l never lose weight if I add any more food in! and he just laughed and said yeah she will..doesnt help that his horse is a showjumper and obviously needs a totally different diet to my porky welsh!
Il just leave it as it is just give her hifi with her benevit and ignore her when she looks at me with those 'give me more food' eyes haha

 

[CBFan]

I'd have to agree with TGM... I'd rather keep a horse busy with plenty of hay to eat than be giving it excess calories and energy with sugary mixes.

Hifi lite, supplement and ad lib hay is the way to go...

 

[kizzywiz]

I agree totally with the others, cut out the mix, these are generally full of calories, if she won't eat the hi fi lite, try something like Good Doer, very lo cal, but has a minty taste so more palatable, it might even have added vits, which reduces the need for a supplement, have a look on the Dengie website. I have 2 welshies, they honestly can live on fresh air. Good luck with the diet!!