feeding my 2yo

velocette

velocette

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Since I got such good advice and info about bits and backing I thought I would ask about feeding my youngster now. :)

She is WB x Cob and will be 3 in October.

I bought her at the end of December in all that awfull snow (that was fun trying to move her to my chosen livery yard!!!)

When I got her she was a wee bit on the chubby side, breeder said she had never had any hard feed and was living out (with rug) on grass and haylage.

I have kept her living out and now snow gone am trying to wean off the rug too. She is now on ad lib hay in the field (no grass growing here yet). Her weight has come down and I can feel her ribs nicely and she actually looks like a leggy 2yo now rather than a chubby cob.

I started feeding a handful of chaff with 2 or 3 carrots on the days I take her in from the field (4 or 5 days a week) more so that she got into a routine of being caught and coming in for something to avoid possible catching problems.

There have been suggestions that I should feed her something to help healthy growth but I am not sure what would be best if anything.

Chaff is currently Dodson and Horrell Fibergy

Should I be adding anything else or even bothering with the chaff??

Dodson and Horrell Suregrow

Dodson and Horrell Stud Balancer

Equivite Original

The Baileys website is confusing as they seem to have 3 different feeds for horses at rest or in light work

No2 horse and pony cubes
No13 horse and pony mix
No14 lo cal balancer

I have been told that the lo cal balancer doesnt have enough essential nutrients for a youngster

they also have a stud balancer

How do I choose??!! :confused::confused:

Vel xx
 
Here's a photo I took yesterday

LolaMarch2010.jpg
 
I feed D&H Suregrow :) its fabulous stuff!


Tbh though having said that, if shes a bit on the chubby side and doesnt really need much, id go with the lo cal! You dont want to pump her full of feed and encourage rapid growth if you can help it.
Lo cal is just a vit/min supplement without the calories, if she doesnt need the weight on her but your worried that shes not getting vits/mins... seems fairly ideal to me :)
Id feed maybe with a handful of dengie hifi lite and see how she goes. Shes lovely by the way!
x
 
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Sorry! just re-read that you said her weight had come down! Id still stick with the lo cal but make sure shes getting ad lib hay or haylage too. If her weight drops you can always try something else. :)
x
 
No advice to offer but I just had to say what a charming little horsey you have !! Absolutely gorgeous, I bought mine at a similar age and they grow up really quickly so keep up the handling and it will pay off - but I think you will have lots of fun !
 
i have just started feeding my rising 3 winergy growth because she dropped a bit,once they reach a nice weight they tell you to go on the low energy one,it has everything in it you need for them i just add sugarbeet, have a look on the website,i have just put 3 other of mine on it too, www.winergy.com i phoned them too and they was very helpfull.
 
I wouldn't bother with any balancers - they are very protein rich. Instead I'd just add a powder supplement like D&H Surelimb, equivite or NAF youngstock supp to her chaff. She'll be fine!
 
winergy growth has 15% protein and the low has 10.5% i look at the protein level in feeds this is a oil and fiber feed with low starch level 3.5% and 5% my filly has calmed down abit since being on this feed not so stressed if she is stabled she kicks the back of the stable being wood i have a hole in the back,she has only kicked a couple of times since.
 
She's very cute :D

She's past the stage of lots of fast growing so doesn't really need anything specificity
for growth. Just a good quality broad spectrum supplement (various available, all pretty much the same) and enough grass to keep her a healthy weight.
 
She looks fantastic - well done! Considering her breeding, that she was overweight even in winter and seems to do well on forage alone, rest assured that you are on the right track.
Howeevr while her current diet will be giving her enough energy (grass and ad-lib good quality hay or haylage) it will not be providing her with all the vitamins and minerals she needs for optinum health and development. While she is nearly an adult and does not need a youngstock or stud feed, a balancer would be ideal as it wil provide her with a balanced diet. Also, as balancers are based on protein, it will give her a small amount of this to help her muscles develop. Howeevr would like to clarify that as balancers are fed in such small volumes (typically 100g per 100kg bodyweight) the protein is inot ideal to be used as the sole protein source, or for weight gain or increased muscle tone. I would recommend feeding alfalfa (or lucerne) with it aas this is a fantastic source of fibre, calcium and protein without being high in energy. I would recommend approx. 2kg of Dengie Hi Fi or Alfa-A Lite (both with a similar energy content to a low energy working mix or cube) as it is low in energy and is a 50:50 mix of quality alfalfa and oat straw.
A compound mix or cube would probably give her too much energy and encourage weight gain again, especially considering that you would need to feed 2-3 kg each day to provide her with all the vitamins and minerals she needs. However you can safely adjust the amount of alfalfa fed without imbalancing your youngster's diet, as you would be feeding the balancr as well.
I hope this helps.
 
To be honest it dosent look like she needs to be fed anything.....

I have a rising 2yr old, hes lived out all his life and never had anything apart from hay (he dosent have a rug either). However since i have just started working with him, when i catch him in he gets a very small feed after ive done what i want with him (i handle him only once or twice a week at the moment). He just has TopChop with a cup of baileys stud balancer and some Naf Pink Powder. He really dosent need anything but i want to give him a 'reward' for coming in. The only reason he has that is because its what my mare gets and Baileys said it is fine to feed him a cup once a week as a 'treat' with some chaff.
 
Tempi said:
I have a rising 2yr old, hes lived out all his life and never had anything apart from hay (he dosent have a rug either). However since i have just started working with him, when i catch him in he gets a very small feed after ive done what i want with him (i handle him only once or twice a week at the moment). He just has TopChop with a cup of baileys stud balancer and some Naf Pink Powder.
Click to expand...

Can I ask how you decided to use Naff pink powder over all the other supplements that are available?
 
She looks very sweet!

I'd try contacting some of the main feed companies and see what they suggest- think they normally recommend Stud balancers until the horse is 2 yrs of age- the stud balancers/balancers in general do vary GREATLY too (esp if you read the ingredients!). If she is a good doer what about feeding a complete chaff like Happy Hoof (a lot of other companies have similar products too) and a vit/min supplement, or a fairly low calorie balancer if you decided you wanted to feed a balancer . My youngster who is nearly 1 gets a handfull of Happy Hoof and not even half a cup of grow and win and that's all he needs together with ad lib hay. The main thing I think is they are getting their vits/mins, calcium for strong bones and are not growing too fast.
 
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