food to help increase stamina??

AFlapjack

AFlapjack

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14.2hh pony is currently on one scoop of topchop lite and 400g of topspec lite balancer once a day but is lacking 'oomph' and has little stamina.

He is fairly fit and has done quite a few unaff ODEs throughout the summer.

Unfortunately he is a lazy pony at heart and I know schooling will help but are there any hard feeds that can help a pony's stamina or help them use energy for the right things...does that make sense? :confused:

Any ideas or comments more than welcome. :)
 
Outshine is supposed to be great for this, but feeding enough for the oomph might result in weight gain, It depends how much you ride and stuff really, im sure there are lots of other things but my brain isnt functioning all too well lol
 
I posted about something similar recently and got some very helpful advice. Apparently the starch and sugars in branded mixes do nothing to help stamina and give short term energy boots and nutrients which the horse finds hard to digest. The best thing for stamina is certain good quality fibres and oils. Have a look at Simple Systems and Pure Feeds - I am currently looking into both and am thinking of changing to feeding these when my current load of horse feed runs out at the end of the month!
 
I feed straight oats and alpha a oil to a laid back lazy WB. it keeps him ticking over but i wanted something more so someone suggested straight maize if you google it you will see it has double the energy levels of oats. so far ive only tried it out once on a xc practice but i noticed an improvement. obviously what works for one horse doesn't necessarily work for others but its cheap enough to try.
 
Unmolassed natural feeds.
We use fibrebeet, unmolassed alfalfa (eg alfa oil) and oil (outshine). Naturally idle pony has been transformed from one who did as little as possible and could be a bit spooky on old diet of nuts and chaff to calm, laid back, non spooky, but with the energy in the tank to carry on all day if required.

The simplest comparison I can make is it is the difference between us eating processed foods/refined carbohydrates vs wholesome natural food and the difference that makes to our energy levels and all round health.

I should add that the other thing we did was take him on the drifts (pony round ups) and then hunting, which worked miracles for making him realise he had to think for himself when it came to not tripping up etc. Also to be just more forward thinking. Gallop was not really in his repertoire before, but it is now and he just loves the opportunity to do it!

I would thoroughly recommend Outshine, yes its expensive but at a cupful a day the bag lasts about 6 weeks, so really not so expensive when you look at it like that. He has never looked so good and he has a wonderful shiny coat which is so difficult to get on a fleabitten grey. I am currently trying a cheaper version, D&H Build and Glow to see if it is a good (its £11 cheaper per sack) so worthwhile switching if it works as well.
 
Fibre and oil provide slow release energy. Cereals provide quick release energy.
Oil provides approx 2 and a half times more energy than cereals for the same weight so is very energy dense. If feeding for energy (rather than coat/skin) then you need to feed a reasonable amount- approx 100ml per 100kg of bodyweight. This can be unpalatable to some horses and you also need to balance the diet with vit E and selenium as the requirements will be greater on a high oil diet. feeds like dodson and horrell staypower are high in oil and balanced with vit e, etc for you, so may work out better than adding oil yourself.

Worth noting, It also takes approx 8 weeks for a horse to adapt to using oil as an energy source.

Your current diet provides vits/mins and a tiny amount of fibre but wont actually be giving much energy or protein.

Have you checked the other obvious things that may contribute to the laziness? Saddle fit, rider blocking or nagging, etc?
 
teddyt said:
Fibre and oil provide slow release energy. Cereals provide quick release energy.
Oil provides approx 2 and a half times more energy than cereals for the same weight so is very energy dense. If feeding for energy (rather than coat/skin) then you need to feed a reasonable amount- approx 100ml per 100kg of bodyweight. This can be unpalatable to some horses and you also need to balance the diet with vit E and selenium as the requirements will be greater on a high oil diet. feeds like dodson and horrell staypower are high in oil and balanced with vit e, etc for you, so may work out better than adding oil yourself.

Worth noting, It also takes approx 8 weeks for a horse to adapt to using oil as an energy source.

Your current diet provides vits/mins and a tiny amount of fibre but wont actually be giving much energy or protein.

Have you checked the other obvious things that may contribute to the laziness? Saddle fit, rider blocking or nagging, etc?
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That's interesting you say about staypower cubes because I recently sent off for a sample of them so will definitely try them - must know more than I think! :p

As for the other things, yes checked all of them and he is lazy ALL the time, from in the field to being lunged to being ridden.
 
Hi Alice

I would suggest calling a couple of the feed company helplines - or email them; ie Baileys, Topspec etc.
A slow release energy feed would be suitable for Jack. My old connie was really lazy despite being quite fit, and he did well on Calm and Condition - although I had to watch the amount I fed him as the recommended amount sent him a bit loopy; I cut it down and he did well on that.

As has been suggested before, an oil might just be enough to make a difference; soya oil is a cheap alternative to adding something like Outshine to the feed. And it works.

Good luck!
(PS - you do know me - the Molly part of my log in name might give it away)
 
MollyMalone said:
Hi Alice

I would suggest calling a couple of the feed company helplines - or email them; ie Baileys, Topspec etc.
A slow release energy feed would be suitable for Jack. My old connie was really lazy despite being quite fit, and he did well on Calm and Condition - although I had to watch the amount I fed him as the recommended amount sent him a bit loopy; I cut it down and he did well on that.

As has been suggested before, an oil might just be enough to make a difference; soya oil is a cheap alternative to adding something like Outshine to the feed. And it works.

Good luck!
(PS - you do know me - the Molly part of my log in name might give it away)
Click to expand...

Hello ;) :D

Thank you. I will definitely be getting in contact with various feed companies as to me searching for the right food is like looking for a needle in a haystack!

He's only recently started on the Topspec so I don't want to rush into feeding him anything new soon so will spend the time researching.

Thanks again :)
 
I use Saracen Equijewel for increasing stamina - T Bag only gets Bailey's Lo-Cal and Hifi as he is intolerant to most feeds (they make him loopy) at the manufacturers recommended levels. He used to struggle to last a 45 minute jumping lesson but is now on two mugs of Equijewel and is fine, it also helps maintain topline in those that you can't feed too much to without making them silly. The nutrionists from Saracen said that I could keep up this regime to BE eventing level just by upping the Equijewel to 4 mugs a day + his normal ration of Lo-Cal with no probs.
 
This is interesting, my Connie is just the same, little energy and no stamina, but can spin and spook! have tried various feeds, the only thing I would say about Simple systems, I have tried it, the amount I was told to feed him would have cost a fortune, and I would have struggled to lift his bucket!! A friend told me to take him hunting, but I feel I am not up to it, he was a nightmare on a pleasure ride the only time I took him.
 
willhegofirst said:
This is interesting, my Connie is just the same, little energy and no stamina, but can spin and spook! have tried various feeds, the only thing I would say about Simple systems, I have tried it, the amount I was told to feed him would have cost a fortune, and I would have struggled to lift his bucket!! A friend told me to take him hunting, but I feel I am not up to it, he was a nightmare on a pleasure ride the only time I took him.
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It must be a Connie thing! I've also taken Jack on his first pleasure ride this year and he was bonkers :eek: Constantly jogging and throwing his head up and down. However, I have also hunted him (he acts the same!) but hasn't helped him long term unfortunately!
 
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