Feeding my horses..

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Parkbridge dream

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Hiya, I was wondering if anyone had any tips on gaining extra weight and condition on my thoroughbred, he's currently on barley, conditioning cubes, apple chaff and oil 3 times a day, with a gut balancer and a muscle supplement. I bought him in a bad way and would prefer a lower starch diet for him with the calorific value as high possible.
 
yes, indeed I love thinking about diets I will assume he is currently under "racing weight" ie showing ribs but is also lacking condition. He has had the teeth done by a good dentist and that the worms are done [Westgate labs advise]

For a 500gh TB to gain weight at approx 2kg per week.
Buy a weight tape or do a weight calculation with an ordinary tape measure. Do this every week and use the average ove two weeks to find his gain/loss. You cannot force feed you must monitor and feed accordingly, he will put on 2kg per week naturally, so I think you should just be content with that.

Ad lib haylage, as long as he can take it. Plenty of turnout.
Use a light [Amigo] sheet in stable or out to prevent loss of heat[winter really], but obviously not if sweating.
Plenty of light exercise lots of walk, include hill work, slow work. Remember you want to build condition not just add fat.

If you want to use bagged feed, then Spillers Conditioning [20% starch] mix might be the answer, but any of the feed firms will give you good advice. Add some micronised linseed and a handfull of alfalfa type chaff and some salt.

I prefer to make up my own diets and adjust as I think is needed, but it is a bit of a faff, and I am looking both at build and temperamant.
Nonmolassed sugarbeet for fibre, at least two soaked petscoops per feed.
25gms Minerals [original not advanced, I consider they are essential when once I thought it was a faff]
Micronised linseed for condition, 50 to 200/250gms
Proprietry non mol chaff [for fibre and texture and tasty bits][in your case I'd buy Spiller non molassed with alfalafa]
Oats energy, adjust with exercise one petscoop at a time.
25gms salt [it is not in feed and they don't self medicate]

He is on three feeds a day, so as long as he is not fizzy you can feed up to the feed manufacturers recommended feed. I would not bother with the barley in summer to be honest, and I would feed micronised linseed for slow release energy, a TB can take 200 gms for maintenance, 250gms for extra. You can easily weigh all his food and keep a spreadsheet, so you know what to feed for what gain.
I like to provide hay and haylage, and if he is stabled all the time add some grass nuts.
 
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I would put a picture up but I'm not quite sure how to aha! He's a picky eater which makes it a pain. I have a weight tape and do monitor his weight.. He's on adlib hay. Why wouldn't you feed barley?
 
Parkbridge dream said:
I would put a picture up but I'm not quite sure how to aha! He's a picky eater which makes it a pain. I have a weight tape and do monitor his weight.. He's on adlib hay. Why wouldn't you feed barley?
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Barley is a winter feed, it is used for older horses and is traditionally fed boiled in winter, it goes against my experience to feed it in summer, is it micronised, that would be almost acceptable.
Get some haylage to add to diet as this is more nutritious than hay as we recommend soaked hay for keeping weight down in fatties.
If you must keep him stabled overnight get a few trugs and let him browse, grass chop, moist chaff, dengie chaff.wet beet pulp with apples, alfalfa chaff. He he must never be without fresh grub. A horse can eat 16 hours per day, but if picky, you need to give him a variety, and if he won t actually eat, shave some carrots and try some tasty chaff [feed wet/damp]. I have only met two or three TBs who don t eat, and they were exceptions. I did get them eating enuff for maintenance, but they were in full training, so hyper. If all else fails turn him out all summer to play with his pals.
 
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[duplicate

Barley is a heating feed, so he might get an itchy skin and his behaviour is less controllable, in my experience over feeding barley produces an overfat horse, fat is not condition. It is like eating a Big Mac every day.
Barley is a cereal, and modern thinking is hi fibre plus oil not cereal.
By definition starch breaks down into sugars. each molecule of starch is made up of two/three molecules of sugar [simplistic] but true.
 
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Barley is pure starch.
The only cereal I would feed horses is oats, and that is for horses in work.
I do not feed anything with flaked maize or wheatfeed, or any other rubbish so beloved of makers of pony nuts. I have fed tiny feeds of Mare and Youngstock to babies, that is as far as I go with such feeds.
 
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