Feeding question

sam72431

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Hi any advice would be greatly appreciated

I have recently bought a 6 year old Irish sports horse mainly tb! She seems to be a fairly good doer our grass isn't great at the moment and she is looking well certainly doesn't need to gain anything and I'm hoping she might drop off a little! She is living out 24-7 I have some longer grass that I've rested at back of paddock but don't really want to give her it just at moment as I think she will get very fat so I'm gradually moving fence back. Only trouble is she seems to be hungry though she does have enough grass that she is grazing most of the time and plenty of poo to pick up! I'm feeding her about a scoop of chaff a day between two feeds and a small amount of Dodson and Horrell cool mix, she is also having required amount of Dodson and Horrell vits and mins. She also has about a section of hay in the evening. Ok so why I want ideas of maybe changing her feed. She can be lazy to school almost feeling like she doesn't have enough oomph partially due to her lack of fitness and also balance so I'm not schooling her loads I'm keeping a good balance of hacking lunging and schooling as well as day off but I do think she could maybe do with a bit more but nothing that is going to heat her up too much as when hacking alone she is really full of it although good in company but I need to keep hacking her out alone to get her used to it but without it being dangerous with her being full of it? Any ideas much appreciated! Thanks!
 
I'd wait a bit before making any changes to her diet and concentrate on improving her fitness - once her weight is down a bit and she's fitter, she'll likely have more "oomph".
 
I agree with previous poster. It sounds like she is getting plenty of forage and her vit and mins. What makes you think she is hungry... is it just the lack of oomph or is it some kind of behavior in the paddock?
 
Oh thank you I wasn't really sure what to do for the best! I only think she is hungry because she seems to be very foody recently which she wasn't so much before but not really doing any bad behaviour or anything possibly just her being greedy lol! Thank your
 
It is possible that her 'foodiness' is a reaction to something that she is eating, which is disagreeing with her and this would be what is making her lack oomph. If she is not underweight and has access to enough grass, I would cut all other feed out for 3 weeks, monitoring her very carefully over that time and keeping a diary. Then reintroduce each feed separately over an extended period of time, again monitoring carefully and keeping a diary. This would help you to identify what it is that she is reacting to.
I have found that when, as horse-owners, we notice something unusual, we should trust our instincts and act upon them.
 
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