Feeding up

M

moocow

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 February 2006
Messages
2,487
Location
Leinster, Ireland
Visit site
Was down the yard last night and one of the girls has just taken her lad in as he has hurt himself and is on 2 weeks box rest.

Basically he is looking terrible. He has lost a lot of weight and needs feeding up. I used bluechip last year and found it good but we were putting loads of feed into my girl as well so I am not sure how effective the blue chip was or if it was just the amount of feed that actually got her to put on a few pounds.

Any suggestions for a good feed supplement to put some meat on his bones? Is bluechip the best way to get condition back on him?
 
What is he being fed at the moment? On box rest you want to try and get as much fibre into them as possible. Is his appetite affected?

Something like Blue Chip may help a little because it supplies vit/mins, protein and probiotics, which may help in getting the most out of the fibre diet. However, that alone will not put weight on - he needs plenty of fibre too.

Make sure the horse has good quality hay or haylage available at all times. For a bucket feed try something like AlfaBeet which is a combination of alfafa and unmolassed sugarbeet, to which they could add a balancer like Blue Chip if they want. If still losing weight then add a oil source, perhaps straight veg oil or something like Bailey's Outshine.

I would avoid cereals and feeds containing cereals (many cubes and mixes will contain cereals) for a horse on box rest.
 
Sorry, didn't give much information as have tendancy to write essays!

He has good haylage all the time. He is normally fed on cool and easy course mix and sugarbeet. Bascially I think he hasn't had enough grass this winter - is in a big field with other horses and gets bullied a bit keeping him away from the hay. he is quite light weight anyway but he has now gotten to the stage where he is thin. owner mad mistake when clipping him and gave him a surgical full clip a couple of months ago which doesn't help his look!
blush.gif


Will pass on your comments. Thanks!
 
If his basic feed is normally cool and easy course mix i'd start by adding some conditioning cubes. I favour Spillers as they don't heat my TB up (unlike Baileys on which he is nutty).
 
The best feed for weight gain I have found is Equi Jewel from Saracen. It is stablised rice bran. I would feed that, unmolassed sugar beet, alfa -a oil and either a good supplement, or something like Blue Chip. And ad-lib hay/haylage.
 
I have 2 pooring TBs. They struggle with the cold and lack of grass.
I feed:
Bailey Conditioning Cubes (3.5kg a day) 1.7kg per stubbs scoop
Alfa A Oil (800g a day) 400g per stubbs scoop
Speedibeet (200g a day)
(NO MORE THAN 2.2KG PER FEED AND INTRODUCE NEW FEED GRADUALLY)
Ideally feed 3 or 4 feeds in a day

You can feed the baileys on its own but it can get expensive. Also Equivite buildup is good but again adds a big chunk to your budget!

Naff pink powder is great to boost convalessing horses too.

Because these feeds are oil and fibre based they dont send them loopy but I find they fatten up well. If you want to feed veggy oil instead of an oil based feed you can give 100ml for every 100kg that the horse weighs, eg a 550kg horse can have upto 550ml of oil a day which is great for fattening!!

Hope this helps!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top