Feeding oats

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samp

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OK so I had a dressage lesson last night and my mare is currently being fed Baileys Endurance Mix. She is still pretty lazy and needs a bit of spark, however she is a fussy feeder and also is too much hard work on performace mixes.

My instructor is now suggesting I feed oats and TBH I am not sure if I want to go down this route in case she will not eat it and she gets too much. Has anyone gone for the swap? If so what make do you use and what do you feed it with?
 
Pickle is fed oats, just gives him an extra spark, as otherwise he is a bit lazy. Allthough I only fed them after I had given the medication which vet reccommended when he was lethargic.

Have you tried an iron supplement such as red cell, equisup, blood liquid. They usually give them a bit of a boost and means you do not need to change there feed
 
I have not thought of trying a supplement, only downside is if I add it to her food she may not eat it?
 
Can you not work on her schooling to get her to be quicker off the leg? Feeding oats may not solve your problem, it's quite possible that she will still be lazy and not focus on you and what you are asking. If she isn't going forward because she doesn't have the energy, then fair enough, but if it is her personality, you'll struggle to change her with food. Only my opinion, but I've tried it before and it's always come back to schooling....
 
I think it may be a bit of both as she is fit but we loose spark and end up carrying her around a XC course by the end of it
 
Pickle found the supplements fine, he has never refused his food for them, allthough they dont look nice (they are green) once there mixed in there fine, I did as T_W said hid it in some sugarbeet initially
 
if you go down the route of oats i highly recommend tiger oats. my lad had normal oats and had colic. Tiger oats are made to prevent colic and he never got again on them
 
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