feeling guilty about not feeding!

[magpiesyard]

My new little man has been with me for a couple of weeks now and my intentions were not to give him any extra feed other than grass and hay. I'm getting guilt pangs from not giving him any din dins or brekkie!! do you think i'm being really mean or do some of you guys do the same? He's 3 and a half, welsh x new forest and there is soooo much grazing for him and he gets a haynet during the night. He's currently in minimal work, lunging and long reining a couple of times a week. My old girl gets dinner every night with her supplements and this makes it even harder!
To feed or not to feed??!!
xx

 

[EllieBeast]

Horses were made to live on forage, if we had enough grass, then i would keep my girl in exactly the same way!

 

[Baileysno1]

Why not give a handful of chaff and a couple of carrots, we had a really fat mare who lived of air and its all she got, it was hard not to feed her she was so happy eating!

 

[Lucy_Ally]

If he is upset by you feeding your mare then I would give him a small handful of chaff (like Happy Hoof) a general vit/min and some carrots when you feed her. He should be fine on grass and hay although by giving a broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement you ensure he is getting everything he needs.

 

[magpiesyard]

Yes, I did think about giving a handful of chaff, my OH half will give me an earfull i suspect saying oh you've given in again!! But his cute little face over the stable desperate for something! I was just reluctant to give him something for the sake of it. And I want him gleaming next year ready to take him out and about, can you get a good coat shine on grass and grooming alone?

 

[lorenababbit]

And if your paddocks anything like ours the grass is still plenty good enough for small ponies. Our one is as fat as the proverbial but apparently i am told by my boss that he will not get lamintis because he has not had it before! Bet thats a relief for all the people who havent had cancer before......

 

[Lucy_Ally]

My horse is fed happy hoof, vit/min supplement, carrots, splash veg oil, hay and grass:

Spring is proof that they can be shiny on roughage alone!

 

[magpiesyard]

Lol never heard that one before! Hope your boss isn't a vet!! Yes the grazing is well and truly out of control this year - last year I had the opposite problem and was spending a fortune on feed and hay! He's got little fat pockets at the base of his neck so keeping a beedy eye on him!

 

[magpiesyard]

wow Lucy_spring thats amazing! If Ruben looks half that good on roughage alone i'll be well happy!

 

[Lucy_Ally]

[ QUOTE ]
wow Lucy_spring thats amazing! If Ruben looks half that good on roughage alone i'll be well happy!

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, hours of endless grooming, honest.....

 

[Chex]

Mine gets a handful of chaff so he can get his danilon, but if he wasn't, he would get nothing. He is still so fat, not showing any signs of dropping either. If they're coping fine then they don't need feed.

 

[pottamus]

My Welsh just gets 2 small handfuls of Hi Fi Lite, some carrots and an all round mineral supplement at tea time...it looks pathetic in the bowl but he loves it!!!

 

[skye123]

my mare doesnt get anything at the mo just lots and lots of hayledge!

 

[Farm Kat]

I wouldn't actually give him anything, he's a full native, if he has fat pads now, then he will be at serious risk come summer. I have some grazing and mine is on a large scoop of happy hoof, and wearing a LW rug as he is arthritic, he is out 24/7, when we start putting out hay he will probably get no feed at all. if he was stabled, which he has been in the past he'd be getting no bucket feed.

 

[kildalton]

That's exactly what my old mare had, and she had an amazing shiny coat which didn't come from hours of grooming!

 

[Tia]

I very much doubt he needs anything to be honest. All of our horses are fed here (most live out 24/7) but there is one little shetland who I believe is just verging on becoming overweight. I don't feed him and as he is at the bottom of the pecking order in his field, he barely gets a sniff of feed, however he seems perfectly happy waiting for all the others to finish and then he goes around like a vacuum cleaner and polishes all the buckets off.

 

[spaniel]

My young chap doesnt really need feeds either but as he has to watch everything else get a bucket twice a day I do give him a token gesture of Pure Grass at mealtimes. It takes him about 30 seconds to eat and is exactly what he has been grazing on all day but it keeps us both happy!

 

[icemaiden113]

It's so nice to see someone that doesn't feed if they don't have to! I am sure your boy is quite happy. I have 4 horses 3 are fed 1 isn't! He looks over the stable door at feed time but soon reaslises there is non for him and goes back to his haylage! (not a young horse tho, he hunts once a week but haylage is enough!)

 

[GTs]

[ QUOTE ]
do you think i'm being really mean or do some of you guys do the same?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the majority of horses do not need extra feed - not only are there a number of fat horses around, most horses are not in enough work to justify the extra energy and then people will complain that their horses are 'fizzy'.

Our cart horses are not fed any extra hard feed, and I am certain they work 10 times harder than the average HHO horse.

 

[Forget_Me_Not]

GT-How Could You Say No?

Humm maybe its a face only a munny falls for...


Hee Hee no I was good..... Living off grass *tell you if and body anybody said she was under weight I wasn't nice* but most people comment what great condition she was is....

 

[GTs]

I can say no very easily - remember I am COLD!!

 

[SamuelWhiskers]

I have the same with mine, feed my old boy, as he needs it (and has always had his tea..he get depressed without it!!), just happy hoof, carrots, seaweed and three oils...oh and nice and hot but don't feed my youngster, just a big fat haynet (which my old boy has too!) Tried giving the young one just a tiny amount of happy hoof and a few carrots too, but because he wasn't having enough work...it made him into a monster...i did feel mean too at first, but i always just make sure the oldies tea is already in his stable when i bring them in and the young one doesn't even notice then, he just has his haynet! Which sometimes i put some carrotts in for a treat!!! Must admit, can't believe how well and shiney my youngster looks from having hay and grass....and he is a much nicer horse for no food, so its almost cruel to be kind really!

 

[Christmas_Kate]

I had exactly the same dilema, little welsh x and I felt guilty when the others got fed and he didnt. He wasnt in work, and was only a baby, So I just gave him a handful of Hi fi lite and a tiny bit of multi vitamin. I fed him off the floor so it lasted longer too. My hay wasnt top quality, and the grass was too rich for him to graze it properly (he was in a grazing muzzle) so the multi vitamin did help there.

 

[dieseldog]

I have a 17.2 warmblood who competes BSJA and I don't feed him anything as he is fat and full of energy. In the summer when he was eventing he got food as I had to bring him in all day to stop him pigging out on the grass, which was making him lethargic so he needed the extra energy.

Very cheap horse to own

 

[SouthWestWhippet]

[ QUOTE ]
apparently i am told by my boss that he will not get lamintis because he has not had it before!

[/ QUOTE ]

I had a YO exactly like that - in fact he said those precise words!

I remember one time when a pony came in with a nasty injury from an unlucky kick and his reaction was to shake his head in bemusement and say 'well, we've never had that happen here before...' Like injuries are something that either happen as routine or not at all.

And incidentally, his pony DID get lamanitis.