feeding new horse ottb

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horseowner2602

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hi, i have bought an ottb who is underweight but they have not advised me on what brands of food and quantities, just that the horse was on a chaff, mix and sugar beet once a day. what is your opinion on the following feeds together?
one scoop dengie alfa a oil chaff
one scoop fibre beet
one scoop baileys ease and excel cubes.
i'd feed once a day for a while before upping it to twice. any advice would be helpful - thanks!
 
Following this with interest

I’m currently feeding my ottb

1/2 scoop Allen & page fast fibre
1 scoop grass nuts
1 scoop apple chaff
1 mug of micronised linseed
Protexin gut balancer
Another balancer equi something

I may have to push up to 2 meals again as he is looking a little leaner recently as he’s so slow and dopey the mini coblet gets through the grass and hay nets faster
 
My tb mare looks great and currently fed on fibre beet, speedi beet, thunder brooks chaff, micronised linseed and a progressive earth balancer and supplement.

With your suggested diet; you’d need to make sure you’re feeding the full amount of ease and excel to ensure the right vits/mins are being given and if you’re doing that then I’m not sure you’d need the fibre beet as well….
 
TheMule said:
3 Stubbs scoops in 1 feed is too much, you'd be better splitting that in half and feeding it twice a day.
But I would advise caution with trying to feed a new TB up quickly and expecting a sane horse to ride.
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That's useful to know re size of feeds, planning to give her a few weeks off before getting on!
 
horseowner2602 said:
That's useful to know re size of feeds, planning to give her a few weeks off before getting on!
Click to expand...

What is her background? If she is currently in work then I would get on and get in a ridden routine asap- you don’t need to work her hard, but good nutrition and correct work will keep her mind good whilst you build muscle. Otherwise you risk having an under-worked and over-fed TB who may be a bit more difficult
 
TheMule said:
What is her background? If she is currently in work then I would get on and get in a ridden routine asap- you don’t need to work her hard, but good nutrition and correct work will keep her mind good whilst you build muscle. Otherwise you risk having an under-worked and over-fed TB who may be a bit more difficult
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She last raced a month ago, been in light work with the retrainer, only had about 4 or 5 rides i think. I don't have a saddle, but will be doing lots of groundwork with her
 
horseowner2602 said:
She last raced a month ago, been in light work with the retrainer, only had about 4 or 5 rides i think. I don't have a saddle, but will be doing lots of groundwork with her
Click to expand...

Ok, she is fit and probably running a bit light rather than underweight. Good grass is what she needs most, definitely don’t pile lots of hard feed into her, you will find she lets down and gains condition anyway
 
I was in a similar siruarion last year, mine was not under weight but had also just run when I got her. She was on Spillers HDF nuts which I switched to Spillers Lay off by way of similar but backing off the energy. Then more gradually switched her over to just a decent high fibre diet. As much hay as I can get into her and as much grass as I have (never a lot really!)
As above don't go too nuts feeding her up, we are in Spring, or at least we were yesterday- not so sure about today!
Usually I think they need time off between racing and riding, however mine had only run the week before and I had to make a keep/return decision within a few weeks so I actually kept her going just lightly hacking/road work and gave her winter off.
 
I also think that is too much for one feed. It is quite a lot of energy feed for a horse not in work. I would reduce the cubes and add a powdered balancer. Add lib hay or haylage.
 
I'd feed a lot more small feeds during the day if possible. and I'd switch to a conditioning mix like equerry or turmash so you are getting more concentrated calories per small feed. and add the best balancer you can get,
 
My tb came to me straight from the trainers yard so was fit and borderline between running light and just plain poor.
Definitely don't be in a rush with the hard feed!
Forage forage forage.
I'd start off with a balancer and decent grass.
You can add more later if they really need it but go very slowly with feed and just be patient, it takes months to years for them to come off the track and there's a lot of physical changes you can't rush.
Mine now does endurance, is in proper hard work, and still hardly ever needs more than 2 scoops of ease and excel split into 2 feeds, good grass and ad lib hay or haylage when necessary.
 
I have a TB I got out of the trainers too.
I think what you're feeding sounds good, just too much per feed. I would split into two or three feeds. And ensure plenty of forage.

Additionally, I think it's something like >90% of racers have ulcers, so I would always scope else you'll be pumping feed in and you won't see much improvement. This was definitely the case with mine, she was slowly gaining, but once her ulcers were dealt with, everything was much easier.


If it's of any interest, I feed Honeychop Topline and Shine, Speedibeet, Blue Chip balancer and when she needs it (when I first had her and in the colder months) Ease and Excel (No.21 mix, I really rate it!).
I also feed Acid Ease, linseed oil + vitamin E and Boswellia.

The top photo was December 2024 when I brought her home, the photo below was in the June. Of course, grass helps! But she was progressively improving on the above feed and having had ulcer treatment.
 

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