Gah! What else can I do.....

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glamourpuss

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One of mine has always been the slender sort. He's a narrow, fine, rangy TB who never looks round, but he's lost quite a bit of condition again & I really don't know what more I can do.

I've had TB's of all shapes & sizes previously & can usually hone the feed to get them looking their best, but this one has got me stumped.

He is on (split into 2 feeds)
1 & 1/2 large round scoop of Alfa-A oil.
2 medium scoops soaked grass nuts
2 mugs micronised linseed
2 mugs Baileys stud balancer
He loves his bucket feed & clears the lot.

He has ad-lib hay & haylage. By ad-lib I mean 2 massive nets, 1 of each, stuffed as full as I can. He seems fairly 'meh' about it & he always has plenty left :( The hay & haylage is wonderful quality. It costs me a fortune!

He is out for around 6-8 hours a day. The field is pretty trashed but again he has ad-lib haylage & hay.

He follows a good worming programme, teeth done regularly. He has a wonderful shine to his coat & is bright in himself.
He is unclipped & rugged.
Vet has seen him & says he is in perfect health just needs muscle & top line.
He is in light to medium work. Lots of hacking - working correctly not slopping along. Flatwork & jumping. He is worked long & low a lot as he's quite a 'tight' chap who curls back on the contact. His work load will be upping over the next few weeks as he prepares for his first event.

I haven't got any pictures, sorry but he does have a prominent jumpers bump, sligghtly juggy hips, a weak looking neck & there is always a ripple of ribs visible :(
I'm thoroughly fed up.
If he was yours what would you feed him?
 
I've recently added KeyFlow KeyPlus rice bran to my two Tb boys feeds - both have put plenty of weight on very quickly without any fizz and are building muscle....

Equi-Jewel or Outshine might be other options...
 
All being equal I'd change the stud balancer to stud nuts (a Stubbs scoopful) add oats (no, they won't blow his brains!) and up the soaked grass nuts but knock off the Alfa A completely as that is just filler and could be the reason why he's not too worried about his long forage. I'd prefer him to have more long forage than increase the size of his meals. It would help if you could split into 3 a day but if you can't, don't worry too much. I'd also add brewers yeast as that helps digestion too (Pink Powder without the price!)
 
we feed our two big boys a full scoop of fast fibre (before soaking) and a half scoop (yes, big round pan scoop, not mug!) of linseed meal, and a scoop of spillers conditioning fibre. then Tom gets a scoop of baileys endurance mix, while Ron just gets a mug of lo-cal balancer

They are getting this divided between two feeds a day and they are turned out 10ish hours a day, and have ad lib haylage day and night.... they have been hunting on this regime, and look fab currently.

to my mind you could increase the linseed and the fibre of his feed significantly.... if it's predominantly fibre based then you're not going to blow his brains, and you're increasing his calorie intake. If he takes a bit longer to eat it then it's no bad thing, but as someone else suggests you could consider 3 feeds rather than 2.

is he warm enough?
 
ImmyS - no he hasn't been scoped. I actually had the vet out with respect to discussing it but he talked me out of it because there is no symptoms at all. I don't particularly like the prep either so we discussed an omniprazole trial instead.
Toast - Not really :(
Scarlett - I'll have a look at that Keyflow thank you
Maesfen - I feed Alfa-a oil because its got the same energy as stud cubes/conditioning feed but as a fibre form with no molasses. Interesting about the oats definitely something I hadn't thought about....thank you
Hollybear - I've tried adding oil previously (soya oil) he wasn't a fan - that was why I moved to the linseed.
Jenhunt - I fear I may need to buy shares in Charnwood Mills at this rate :D but I'm willing to give it a go. Not really keen on Fast Fibre, lower calorie than the grass nuts & he loves the grass nuts.

Thank you all, definitely some more ideas to mull over/ try :)
 
Well you asked what we would feed so here goes

I'd feed Rowan and Barbary Readymash Extra - with adlib haylage - nothing else. It totally transformed my TB from a hatrack to "show condition"!!
 
glamourpuss said:
Holly Hocks I had never even heard of that feed! I will look it up, thank you
Click to expand...

They do three readymashes - it's definitely the readymash "extra" that you need - the other two won't do a thing about putting weight on! The horse in my avatar was after being fed the readymash extra- she was in a dreadful condition beforehand after three months in hospital.
 
glamourpuss said:
Jenhunt - I fear I may need to buy shares in Charnwood Mills at this rate :D but I'm willing to give it a go. Not really keen on Fast Fibre, lower calorie than the grass nuts & he loves the grass nuts.

Thank you all, definitely some more ideas to mull over/ try :)
Click to expand...

thats fine, they are still fibre after all. but maybe increase them a fraction - or perhaps consider adding a little unmollassed sugar beet (like speedibeet or kwikbeet). In fairness this is what I'd usually use, but one of them has decided he won't eat sugarbeet any more :(
 
You could try Equijewel its a rice based feed, my friend had an elderly WB who lost loads of weight he started gaining before finishing the first bag, its not cheap but once the weight is on you might find you can stop feeding it.
 
I think Alfa A Oil is mollassed which is why I get the unmollassed version, I don't think it has as much oil in it but still has some.

You could add a mug of sunflower oil in each feed, calories without fizz

I'm having a similar problem at the moment with my oldy he's 34, had lami few years back but have just moved yards and he is out longer with his muzzle on so has gone a little tucked in, I'm too scared to leave his muzzle off so have got him some alfa A Mollasses free, and he was already on spillers high fibre cubes and Rowan and Banbury mash the green one, which is suitable for lami's. So I'm just trying to get fibre into him as he's limited in the day.

I was thinking of doing the oil thing myself but he's so fussy, he's refused it in the past, he only seems to like Flora sunflower oil for some reason and I have to put the oil in the feed the day before so it soaks into the cubes then he has eaten them, so am going to try that again.
 
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