Feeding Your Exracer or TB??

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Holzdweaver

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Just curious about what people are feeding their Tb's?

At the moment mine is 14 and an exracer, he is Ridden three to four times a week. hacking for two(walk and little trot), faster work for one (walk trot canter) and jumping for one, and is on:
1 x scoop of Alfa A Oil
1 x Scoop of Sugarbeet
2 x Scoops of Oats
1 x Scoops of Barley (will build up to two in colder weather)
(plus vitamins/veg oil/salt)
Twice a day

He is turned out 24/7 on rotated paddocks with a lightweight rug on (mediumweight if its nasty weather), he will have ad lib Haylage in winter as well as his feed and will have a quilt with full face hood with a heavy turnout over the top.

Now i thought oats would give him a bit of an energy boost when im showjumping him but it seems to have done the opposite lol

In your opinion does this sound sufficient for him?

Iv been told that im overdoing him, but i think i could give him a bit more feedwise... what do you think?

I hate the fact that i can see his ribs, but iv been told thats fine for a tb and they mostly look ribby when they are fit. But iv been worrying...
Pic link below:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/...0276543712636_693632635_7989774_1386212_n.jpg
 
4 scoops of oats oh my days!!!!!! lol. he does look slightly skinny, why not try a conditioning mix or build up mix, with some sugabeet? im not one for feeding ten different sorts of feed at one meal, but you can get non heating mixes but if oats aren't making a difference then don't see why a heating mix would. also could swear by mollichaff show shine for weight and condition, use it on my youngsters!
 
How big are your scoops? that seems an awful lot twice a day.
Is he on good grass and hay at the moment?
I would look at his worming and maybe get a test done as he does look quite poor in the photo.
Have you had his teeth checked?
Consider changing to a conditioning cube or balancer and cut back the quantities he will not be able to utilise that amount and would be better on several smaller feeds.
 
I do like to feed straights rather than mixes so i know exactly what he is having, do you think increasing his barley and taking away some of his oats would help with conditioning him? Iv not seen mollichop show shine, il have to ask about it :)
 
They arent the huge round scoops, i use the smaller open topped/slanted ones, although im not sure of the volume of them.

He isnt on hay at the moment as the grass is still good and he is up to date with worming also. He had his teeth checked roughly four months ago and other than filing a few down which werent sharp but had edges on (precaution as he choked a few times), the vet said they were all good. He does tend to rush his feed and spill a bit which the pony will hoover up, but 9/10ths of it goes in him :)
 
I've got a 10yo ex racer and I've had him for 3 years now. For the first 18 months I could always see his ribs but these days he is in great condition - I can just feel them but can't see them at all unless he really stretches away from me.

It does seem that you are feeding a lot of hard feed tbh. The amount of food you are giving him could be going to waste as he's unlikely to be able to digest all that in one 'sitting' and it may be more beneficial to split that into 3 or 4 feeds.

My lad does a simlar level of work but also competes (XC/SJ) a couple of times a month and I feed the following twice a day:

Baileys stud balancer (mug)
Top Spec Conditioning Flakes (Scoop)
Mollichaff Showshine (Handful)
Good glug of oil

He also is out 24/7 with free access to his stable and for the past few weeks he's been having a large net of hay/hayledge at night too. I'll be adding sugarbeet soon and for a couple of months in the depth of winter he'll be swapped from the conditioning flakes to barley as he wont be out competing (I find the flakes give him a bit of xtra sparkle). I really find that the balancer and oil make the difference - along with plenty of good forage.
 
He looks like a different horse before ,has anything else changed in the time he was off I would not expect him to drop that much weight..
Your scoops are not the round ones so probably fine in the quantity.
The grass may be plentiful but not so much goodness in it now so try giving him hay and see if that helps,he may be cold at night so maybe a warmer rug.
 
i use calm and conditioner. its fab for my ex racer. he has 1 x small baileys scoop twice a day and ad lib haylage at night and does really well through winter.
i would agree he looks very different and query something else going on. Wormed recently? or rug him to keep him warm, mine is having lw in day mw on cold nights and nasty days
 
I used to feed mine Oats and Alfa a.
However I think you are feeding far too much per meal. Your horse's stomach is the size of a rugby ball and therefore cannot take more then a few pounds of food per feed.
If you really want to get his weight up, feed him several small feeds a day.
I would also cut the barley.
From what I rememmber, Sugarbeet, Oats and Alfa is is a nice balanced feed. Feeding him so many calories could make him lethargic as opposed to more energetic.
 
Mine are on A round scoop of hifi original, a square scoop of cubes or mix, vitamin, speedy beat, carrots, apples oil, out all day and 12-14lb net at night.
 
I think the hard feed personally, is too much for him. My ex racer recently lost a lot of weight in the space of week. Literally dropped off him. So I then began feeding him just some conditioner feed (2/3 scoops twice a day), just to build him up more, as well as garlic powder and oil for his joints (hes 14 so getting on a bit and thinking that in winter he's a wuss, and a poor doer), so in the space of a week, we moved yards, he was in the stable for 5 days and we went through a lot of hay, he got as much as he wanted and this has started to fill him up again. So he's now out during the day with a lw on to keep all warmth in him, occcassionally he's out during the night if its nice wether as the grass is very good where hes at, but if its even the slight bit of cold he's in with as much hay as he can eat. It's one of the easiest ways to build his weight back up I have found.

Some people think no doubt that I am babying him, but I am concerend a lot about his weight coming into winter. And although you can still his ribs slightly hes managed to put a lot back on in a small space of time. As long as its managed well, theres no reason that you can't get it back on easily. Just find out what works, and good luck, when mine lost weight I didn't have the best of times and was bvery unhappy with myself as I had left him in the care of a friend.
 
Have you tried some pink powder or brewer's yeast? That, with unmolassed chaff and plenty of fast fibre and grass has done the job for my lad :D

He gets about a scoop and a half (big round scoop) of FF, 3/4 scoop chaff and a couple of teaspoons of B and a dash of oil along with 24/7 turnout on ok-ish grass.

J&C
 
I think that it is generally accepted by most forward thinking horse owners that the feeding systems adopted for racehorses in particular, give rise to long term health problems, from which they never really recover and lead to difficulty in maintaining weight in many of these horses over their life time and certainly behavioural problems of one form or another.

The poor start given to TB horses in racing stable programs, though hotly disputed by those in the industry, cannot be justified when current research reveals that 90%+ of horses suffer from gastric ulcers of one form or another.

The preoccupation of feeding high levels of cereal and sugars with the wrong type of fibre, has to be the major factor in the majority of problems these horses become subject of.

Removal of all cereal and molassed feed from the diet and the use forage derived fibre has to be the way to rehabilitate the functioning alimentary tract of any horse under any regime, and this can only result in benefits all round particularly the physical and mental well being of the individual horse.
 
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Pj (fellow skinny tb) really struggled with putting/ keeping weight on however much hard feed I gave him.

Now I give him pink powders with a much smaller meal and he has perked right up!
 
I feed my ex racer what equates to a scoop (big round scoop) of Allen and Page Calm and Condition (after soaking), A good double handful of Allen and Page Ride and Relax, A good double handful of Hi-Fi, Garlic and Magnesium Sulfate.

He is on really good grass, hay at night and is rugged in a lightweight turn out now (has been for about two weeks now.

He is a light work, just hacking and schooling. He will be clipped in the winter and his food will increase slightly and C&C will be swapped for sugar beet. Have been feeding this for the 6 years I have owned him and he is a good dooer :D
 
trickivicki said:
Pj (fellow skinny tb) really struggled with putting/ keeping weight on however much hard feed I gave him.

Now I give him pink powders with a much smaller meal and he has perked right up!
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The normal functioning alimentary tract of any horse, means that food travels from the mouth through the stomach to the end of the small intestine in 11 minutes. This means that food is passed through the stomach very quickly having been bathed in gastric acid. However, when cereals are fed the normal functioning of the alimentary tract ceases and cereals tend to lie in the stomach for longer periods of time. By cutting down the amounts of cereal in the feeds given to this particular horse, in smaller feeds, means that the alimentary tract has been speeded up to a more normal situation and improved gut function will improve general health.
 
Pale Rider said:
I think that it is generally accepted by most forward thinking horse owners that the feeding systems adopted for racehorses in particular, give rise to long term health problems, from which they never really recover and lead to difficulty in maintaining weight in many of these horses over their life time and certainly behavioural problems of one form or another.

The poor start given to TB horses in racing stable programs, though hotly disputed by those in the industry, cannot be justified when current research reveals that 90%+ of horses suffer from gastric ulcers of one form or another.

The preoccupation of feeding high levels of cereal and sugars with the wrong type of fibre, has to be the major factor in the majority of problems these horses become subject of.

Removal of all cereal and molassed feed from the diet and the use forage derived fibre has to be the way to rehabilitate the functioning alimentary tract of any horse under any regime, and this can only result in benefits all round particularly the physical and mental well being of the individual horse.
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Agreed. Not just for TBs but for most horses. Horses that do okay on cereals simply "cope" with them - horses are not designed to digest starch well, and eliminating it often leads to needing fewer calories and cheaper feed bills.

I like Top Spec balancer plus straights like alfalfa, beet and linseed, Simple System being a great source of a variety of forage based and oily feeds.
 
Victoria25 said:
My ex racer is fed once daily during summer and twice during winter.

Alfa A Oil
Sugar beet
barley rings
top line mix

x
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Obviously only half the story as the main food for any horse is, or should be the grass, hay or haylage fed.

With regard to barley rings and top line mix, I would be looking to remove this from the diet and if required replace with a forage based fibre. You may find that overall condition and health may improve mearly by removing the cereal(starch) from the diet. As previously mentioned most horses 'cope' with cereals, but they are not designed to be fed this and in most cases benefit without.
 
please dont think i,m slating you but from looking at your photos i,d think the problem with his lack of condition is the quality of your grazing , it looks to be full of weeds and rough poor quality grass , my tbs are still out 24/7 on one feed a day of alfa a and a scoop of conditioning mix , they be event most weekends , thier grazing is excellent , but if it wasnt i,d be feeding ad lib hay or haylage , i,d be concerned at the amount of hard feed you are feeding in one meal and would split it into at least 3 feeds per day and as i said add lib haylage
 
maggiehorse said:
please dont think i,m slating you but from looking at your photos i,d think the problem with his lack of condition is the quality of your grazing , it looks to be full of weeds and rough poor quality grass , my tbs are still out 24/7 on one feed a day of alfa a and a scoop of conditioning mix , they be event most weekends , thier grazing is excellent , but if it wasnt i,d be feeding ad lib hay or haylage , i,d be concerned at the amount of hard feed you are feeding in one meal and would split it into at least 3 feeds per day and as i said add lib haylage
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Rough poor quality grass is far preferable to some sort of improved rye grass pasture. However, getting rid of toxic weeds and docks always helps. Improved pasture really is the wrong thing for horses.
 
no pale rider i,m not talking about ryegrass lay , all our fields are original pasture with a good mix of grasses , the farm is organic and the fields are cross grazed and fertilised with cattle and sheep , they are then harrowed rolled and rested till the horses graze on them , my tb are looking amazing on a nearly grass diet , my 2 yr old homebred tb has no supplementary feeding neither does his retired mother , for my cob mare , she grazes a rough old patch , full of weeds and rough grass and her body weight is perfect , what i,m saying is it is the type of grazing that seems poor for the type of horse the op is posting about
 
maggiehorse said:
no pale rider i,m not talking about ryegrass lay , all our fields are original pasture with a good mix of grasses , the farm is organic and the fields are cross grazed and fertilised with cattle and sheep , they are then harrowed rolled and rested till the horses graze on them , my tb are looking amazing on a nearly grass diet , my 2 yr old homebred tb has no supplementary feeding neither does his retired mother , for my cob mare , she grazes a rough old patch , full of weeds and rough grass and her body weight is perfect , what i,m saying is it is the type of grazing that seems poor for the type of horse the op is posting about
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True it does 'look' poor but I assumed it was just around the gateway as the picture is limited. I agree whole heartedly with what you say about your grazing, if people are able to get it right, it's perfect.
 
I feed mine:-
1 stubs scoop Hifi
1/2 stubs scoop D&H fibre nuts
1 mug baileys lo cal balancer
Sunflower oil
x 2 per day

I will prob play around with the amounts of hifi vs fibre nuts over the winter depending on weight, may play around with some kwick beet amounts of oil but I always stick to fibre based feeds.

Mine is a 16.1 TB worked 6 days a week doing various things and compete twice a month max. He looks amazing. He is on good grass and he had ad-lib hay/haylage during the winter.

Mine drops off I notice when for ever reason he doesn't eat enough fibre. Usually if he doesn't like a batch of hay or the grazing drops off.

Therefore I would look at how much good quality fibre your horse is eating first. Also I think you are feeding a lot of oats. He may be struggling to process that amount of starch. I would suggest calling some feed companies and looking at the forage/grass he's getting :).
 
I have a ex racer who was in a 'roughed' off state when i got him...in other words very lean, no topline and not an ounce of cover on his ribs. When i first got him he had 6 months of poor grazing, 24 hour turnout (rugged when cold) and as much haylage as he could get down his skinny neck. He had a scoop of balancer morning and evening and a mineral lick in his field. When i fetched him back into work he also had a midday scoop of baileys nuts. He is calm but forward and has a good topline and keeps his weight well throughout the year. All the family ride him 6 days a week schooling, long hacks and we have just started doing abit of jumping.
I am not an expert and im sure there will be people who think i am wrong but it works for my horse
 
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