anuvb
Well-Known Member
Hi - am looking for advice. Have recently acquired a young and definitely still growing warmblood. At 4 years old he is going to be a big old boy. Any thoughts/experiences on what to feed him? Am a little confused as there seems to be conflicting advice (ie don't feed to much protein/feed protein) on most websites because of the risk of arthritis in these breeds. He will be coming home soon and want to start to stock up on food before he arrives.
He is currently on a scoop of hi-fi plus stud balancer, am & pm and ad lib haylage. However, he is being backed and is starting to drop a bit of weight as he is obviously doing a bit more. Although he is no hat rack, he is leaner than I would like and could do with a bit of extra condition.
Despite having once been lured by the ease of mixes and cubes, I always base my feeds on fibre these days and only use cereals where needed. This has worked on my previous horses (particularly the poor do-ers) but I am now worried that I may not be feeding enough protein for a horse that still needs to grow more.
I currently have (easily available) readigrass and fibrebeet. He will probably move onto hay (again ad lib) when he gets home as this is easier for me to get.
Will I need to feed anything else? If so, what are your recommendations? What about a balancer? Keep him on stud balancer or shift over to something like lo-cal?
Are high oil feeds ok in young, still growing warmbloods?
I am probably over thinking this, but having scared myself when I googled the advice thought I would ask people who may be in the same position! Thanks in advance
He is currently on a scoop of hi-fi plus stud balancer, am & pm and ad lib haylage. However, he is being backed and is starting to drop a bit of weight as he is obviously doing a bit more. Although he is no hat rack, he is leaner than I would like and could do with a bit of extra condition.
Despite having once been lured by the ease of mixes and cubes, I always base my feeds on fibre these days and only use cereals where needed. This has worked on my previous horses (particularly the poor do-ers) but I am now worried that I may not be feeding enough protein for a horse that still needs to grow more.
I currently have (easily available) readigrass and fibrebeet. He will probably move onto hay (again ad lib) when he gets home as this is easier for me to get.
Will I need to feed anything else? If so, what are your recommendations? What about a balancer? Keep him on stud balancer or shift over to something like lo-cal?
Are high oil feeds ok in young, still growing warmbloods?
I am probably over thinking this, but having scared myself when I googled the advice thought I would ask people who may be in the same position! Thanks in advance