Feeding the barefoot active horse

Spillers Cool and Condition cubes. Very high calorie and fibre, minimum cereal (oat and wheat husks only), no added sugars.

My TB is a typical poor doer, he has 3kg a day and is in light work because I'm too nesh to ride in the rain and too lazy to work two horses harder 😂

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He doesn't need condition gets grassnuts, linseed and supplements in appropriate quantities for their condition and workload, currently on a token amount to get the supplements in, have had a tb and ISH in full work on the same just more feeds and larger quantities.
 
I'm not sure F ever really needed weight gain per se, but did need energy/condition maintenance when hunting (oats and linseed delivering most of that).
 
Ours do well on Pure feeds. I feed Easy as mine doesn't need to gain weight but when she dropped a bit too much at the back end of last winter the we went onto Working. I you need to put on a lot go up another notch to Stud.
 
TB who hold conditions ok - speedibeet, whole oats, cold pressed linseed oil, GP supplement (Aviform all in one). Plus as lib hay and lots of turnout. He seems to be doing well on it so far but we've only been BF 5 months. Upped during the summer when he's in full work and sweats a lot.
 
Rice bran oil pellets worked for mine. I tried oats and he tried rearing so we stopped that! I have found oats very useful on other horses though. I really rate the rice bran stuff. I used to top dress a handful on his feed of pink mash and balancer and that was enough to keep weight on when he was working really hard.
 
Mine is barefoot, a poor doer, fussy eater and hunts over winter. We have tried various things but what works best is Coolstance Copra, Alfa A Mollasses Free and Micronised Linseed. We very the quantity depending upon the time of year, her energy and her weight but go up to three feeds a day if necessary
 
Copra and linseed in varying amounts depending on waistlines.

I did use rice bran pellets when the big boy came out of winter too low on weight and they really do pile on the pounds quickly.
 
Thank you, that's all really helpful. My 15yo Irish Sports is going into winter where she usually comes out. I quite like her at this weight but she is starting to look ribby already and I really can't afford for her to lose any more, she needs to build up topline too, particularly behind her shoulders. She's fairly fit and lean, worked 4/5 times a week mostly cantering on the hills, jumping, xc (will be arena eventing over winter) and hacking for anything from 4 - 12 miles. I'm lucky that i'm on flexi time at work so I can keep up her routine over winter without worrying about the dark.
She's also super fussy and prefers a mix to a cube. At the moment she's just having unmolassed beet with micronised linseed, FlexAbility Pro and Pro Hoof but only eating it very tentatively so need to get her more interested in eating. She point blank refuses to eat grass nuts now.
 
One really picky event horse I had would only eat comp mix and refused various options to get onto lower sugar/ starch was a different horse when given calm and condition along with some soaked alfalfa pellets and linseed, he was only barefoot for about 6 months but they improved in that time as did his condition, previously he was a bit up and down, once I found what he liked even though it was less than ideal it was better than the mix and he ate up everything for the first time in several years.
 
I've got a fussy one and the Agrobs Musli really helped getting him to eat both in terms of getting supplements and increasing feed overall. have to get the consistency right as he doesn't like anything too sloppy. It gets him to eat however has a few more calories than some chaffs.

I mix it with Copra and Linseed for protein levels and calories. He's coming into winter this year better than he has (though that is to do with grass and hay) and I have just started to add an extra little pot of linseed each day. I
 
Mine refuses grass nuts too hence the alfa a mollasses free. The herbs and pellets in it seem to make things more tasty. She does like the copra better than unmollassed beet, and it gives her more of the "right" type of energy.
 
oats and corn oil.

he gets readigrass in winter and straw chaff in summer and i adjust the oats and oil along with the grass and workload.

he gets ad lib rough grazing and hay all year round.

he's only 4yo so working novice/elem but he walks and trots over any ground at all, even the horrible rough bricks and rubble farmers dump in gateways.
 
Sorry to drag this up again....those of you who feed oats, which ones do you use? Done a bit of research over the past week and I think oats would be a good addition to her diet.

Lady at the local feed store said naked would be best given the information I provided but that these were also the ones that get the blame for causing horses to fizz up - fwiw I don't mind that as she gets enough work and turnout to warrant the extra energy.
 
ester said:
I used crushed/rolled, it varied dependent on what the feed merchant brought.
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This.

They don't make mine fizzy (even the hot little gelding doesn't get hotter) but they are very palatable which is very useful with my chestnut mare as she can sometimes be dreadful for not eating her hard feeds, so needs them to be extra tasty and tempting.
 
Mine gets, a grass chaff, conditioning nuts, grass nuts and linseed, wouldn't touch copra, though I find the best thing for weight gain for him is good hay or haylage.
 
Leo Walker said:
Rice bran oil pellets worked for mine. I tried oats and he tried rearing so we stopped that! I have found oats very useful on other horses though. I really rate the rice bran stuff. I used to top dress a handful on his feed of pink mash and balancer and that was enough to keep weight on when he was working really hard.
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LW which make did you use? Have been looking at this and Equi-Jewel seems a possible. I have a pony who has in the past had lami (not with me, and was years ago, but I'm careful) but to be honest he could cope with a bit more weight on going into winter.
He currently gets Agrobs Weisenflakes, linseed and my home mix of supplements.
 
I fed the unbranded oats my local feed merchant stocks and neither tb hotted up on them. I don't feed them at the moment as bay tb v. 2.0 is a bit meh about them and the other is fat and retired and doesn't need them.
 
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