Feeding

[Lucyann89]

Just a quick post about my horse and his feed to see if people agree on his current feed or think a few changes could be made to help improve his health/appearance/performance.

He is 15.2hh thoroughbred gelding 13years old. Gets worked 6days a week for an hour plus with walk, trot, canter and jumps anywhere between 90cm-1m35 when training. Competes at the weekend. Is turned out most days in the morning and stabled the rest of the time and overnight. Is an ex-race horse but been re-schooled very well. Generally forward going off the leg, tends to get a bit excited and rush to jumps and could do with a little more muscle and topline. (could be done through exercise though?)

Currently fed twice a day, each feed consists of:
1 scoop dengie alfa original
1/2 scoop dengie cooling mix
1 small scoop electrolytes
1 small scoop equivite
1 small scoop superflex
garlic
carrots/apples

The vet suggested this when we had him a while ago but he was generally just getting lightly worked and hacked out and not competing.

Sorry this ended up being a long post

thanks

 

[TiaPony]

How does he look and feel? Does he have enough 'spark' for your liking or too much?
xx

 

[Lucyann89]

Body condition is grade 3, taken about a year to get him to it though as he was a 2 as he is SO hard to keep weight on. However he lived out before (hes at Uni with me now so has to stay in) so weight will be easier to keep on now I imagine? Could do with a bit more muscle and top line but as I said, specific exercises can improve that.

Generally goes well but gets very excited when competing showjumping and goes rather fast and can be quite strong. That should not be a hard problem to solve without changing his diet though, just schooling really?

 

[hannah87]

hiya lucy! i feed taz spillers topline conditioning cubes as he doesnt keep weight v well and naturally doesnt have much topline nor much neck. since feeding him that everyone has commented on how much better he looks for it, much more muscle tone and topline than b4, also gives them really shiny coat etc. it doesnt make them fizzy etc - over the summer i was also also giving taz instant energy mix to give him a boost as he is v laid back - altho ive cut that out now due to the turnout (or lack of!!).

 

[TiaPony]

You really need to find a good balance between schooling and feed - Calm&Condition may be worth a try? I really advocate calling up a feed line though - they are so helpful and full of knowledge!
xx

 

[ErinDoig]

Blue chip is fab and most people see a physical differnce in just a couple of weeks regarding condition etc. Do you need to feed electolytes every day? Most people just pop them in their water after an event and provide a salt lick for general day to day. But obviously if he is sweating excessively everyday then u must.

You are right in saying that topline and muscle is acheived through exercise and no amount of fancy feed can beat interval training, trotting and cantering up hills and of course brisk walking on roads.

Everything else you are feeding seems ok considering his work and temperment