Feeding

[10past6]

Hi i have a Tb who as most Tb can get very excitable ( likes to rear and bronk) He has been out of work since april with lameness and before that he was off for the winter due to the dark nights and no floodlight school to play in.
I have now been told by the vet that i can start bringing him back in to work but needs to walk for at least a month. Does anyone have any reccomendations of what i could feed him to help keep him chilled out. He also winds sucks so would prefer to use something that was mainly fibre based. Anyone used Ride & Relax? Any help would be great, thanks

 

[Lucy_Ally]

I would keep him on an entirely fibre diet, so use chaff/alfa and oil if he needs condition and a general vit/min supplement with plenty of hay and turnout if he is allowed. You could try one of the calmers on the market, I have heard good things about the topspec calmer and temperalax (although expensive), they may just take the edge off him.

 

[miamibear]

Ride and relax sounds good, i think it actually has bits of chaff in it. My friend has used it. Im not a great fan of these commercial mixes though.

I would consider putting him on a chaff like happy hoof with not much sugar in it suitable for laminitics and has added vits and minerals, then add speedibeet to it, Its fibre based with no sugar but great for putting weight on.

You want to stay away from anything with high starch and sugars as its quick release energy which can cause more attitude!

 

[10past6]

Thanks for the advice, he gets loads of hay as much as he can eat (people on the yard say hes got more hay then bed lol) and get turned out everyday in a small paddock that has a small amount of grass in but i also give him a big bad of hay as well. Just been looking at the alfa a with oil sounds quite good should provide him with enought energy with out the excitment i think. I'l have to give the speedibeet a miss tried it before when i was trying to get some weight on him and it sent him loopy. These Tb's who'd have them lol

 

[kick_On]

IMO would not feed any hard feed and just feed lot of roughage, little veg oil and carrots etc...
And depending on work load i would look at feed again - if you just hacking around i would not even bother getting any hard feed, but if you thinking and going back in to competeing then defo buy hard food.

Good motto:
Feed for what you've done, Not for what you're going to do

 

[miamibear]

If the speedibeet made him loopy i would imagine the oil may do the same, its worth a try, alpha a oil is a good product, have used it before and much better than sugar based feeds.

It would be cheaper to feed a little chaff and put some oil in there with carrots as said in another reply.

The ad lib hay is good - no matter what anyone says

 

[10past6]

Thanks, whats the best type of oil to put in?

 

[miamibear]

Crikey i used to be well in to feeding this oil lark but im out of it now - new horse!!

I think i remeber i just fed normal veg oil from tescos. I know your not supposed to feed too much linseed oil as its bad for them.

If you start to feed lots of oil it has to be supplemented with vitamin e and selenium supplement. But thats a lot of oil which i dont think you will need, i would start with a good glug!!

Good luck

 

[10past6]

Cheers, going feed shopping tonight so will see what chaffs they have. How sads this im quite excited about looking at feed for him, i really should get out more lol

 

[Happytohack]

As posted before, I would feed him on ad lib hay as you are doing, plus something like Spillers Hi Fibre cubes and hi fi. Ride and relax still contains starch and sugar and mixes are always more heating than cubes. Speedibeet also heated up my big draught horse - he does brilliantly on the hi fibre cubes.

 

[10past6]

The hi fibre cubes would be great to put in his ball, haven't been giving him it to play with as didn't want him to have anymore engery so they would work a treat ( he wasn't amused, he loves his ball). Cheers

 

[rcm_73]

I have a Tb mare who is a jogger and always fresh and has days when she will stand up, twist and turn! I fed her on Ride & Relax last winter with plain un-molassed chaff, her usual codlivine supplement, garlic & NAF Magic calmer. It seemed to work for us and that's all I will be feeding this winter as so far it's the best result I've had with her. And yes if my vet said I had to bring my horse back into work just walking, I'd be thinking not a chance!

 

[rcm_73]

Let me just say, I fed Alfa-A oil with bad results, had a rocket fuel effect on my mare! Again it's trial and error. If you do try Ride and Relax then it's recommended it is fed with a chaff that is un-molossed and with no alfalfa as these are ingredients left out of R&R along with barley so be sure not to unwittingly add these!

 

[10past6]

Thanks for that, theres just soo much on the market these days you just dont know whats best to get. Thanks again everyone