good doer +feed

Rosie'smum

Rosie'smum

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Rigbt i dont know weather to feed rose a, good doer thats worked min of 5-6daya a week and is currently 30kgs overweight, either naf general supplement thats has more biotin in it or dodson and horrel safe and sound.
Safe and sound would b the cheaper option cause otherwise I would have to get local chaff an the supplement.

What would u think would b best for a good doer? I don't wanr her to b fed more but what to have vits and mins
 
Have you looked at the quantities needed to feed the Safe and Sound in order to feed the RDA? It might actually work out costing more.

Personally I'd feed a general supplement in a tiny amount of chaff, it should last longer and provide fewer calories that way.

You could always try something like Equibites that provide all the vits/mins in just a handful.
 
Do you *need* to feed anything, supplement or otherwise?! My experience of good doers is that they don't actually need feeding...horses are designed to live off very very poor grass/scrub land. It doesn't sound like you're feeding her because she needs the energy, more like you think she ought to take her vitamins. Personally my good doer doesn't get fed, and he works 6 days a week....
 
Mine is a good doer, she gets a handful of chaff. Not because she needs but to give her something to come in for (on full livery no 24/7 t/o) as she has been known to plant in the field beforehand. She comes in eagerly now.

If it wasn't for that, she wouldnt have anything.
 
Good doer, overweight... feed??? I don't get it. Is there something wrong with the grass? :confused:

I would understand if you needed a carrier for meds. If it's for vits & mins may I suggest a field lick? I highly recommend Rockies 5 Star or Laminshield. Last ages, weather proof and horse will lick as much as it needs so you don't overdo anything.
 
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If she is on a restricted diet then ideally you should feed a low calorie balancer like Top Spec Anti Lam or Baileys Lo Cal to make sure she is getting all her vitamins and minerals.
 
I feed mine forage nuts, less sugar and no molasses unlike chaff, and only 7 quid a bag lasts for ages, as long as they're getting grass they dont need anything else nutrition wise!
 
ISHmad said:
If she is on a restricted diet then ideally you should feed a low calorie balancer like Top Spec Anti Lam or Baileys Lo Cal to make sure she is getting all her vitamins and minerals.
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Yes, this what the feed company want you to think! Marketing works!!!!
 
I have a good doer and at this time of year living out 24/7 gets a mineral lick/salt(I mean old fashioned hard block like a brick) not molasses sticky lick

Thats all he needs. No other feeds I would stop feeding feeds!No carrots nothing.

The only time he got hi fi lite for ie laminitics and a handful of pony nuts/low heat speedibeet was in winter when grazing was poor and only after he had been ridden.

But not at this time of year. So save some money just an old fashioned mineral lick(its £2+ on the ground in the field)! Lasts weeks he may break it up but it lasts a while.

He is now retired good doer and since the rain we have had the last couple of nights I have just moved the electric fence in to make it smaller the bare grass already has greened up in the past couple of days. He can blow up overnight and I know standing behind him if I can see belly poking at sides too he has too much.
 
She is having 100grams of fast fibre currentlt and that only after she has been ridden. Have had experience in past from not feeding my horse at the time jus didn't want to know me.
 
Opps pressed send button. That's why I feed her. Been ridden 6daya and goin to hopefully be ridden twice some days. She does have a horse lyx lick
 
If she's got a lick, shouldn't that be covered?

My new boy is a good doer (good hardy Connie) - however, he arrived four weeks ago with a fair whack of weight to shift (there is actually a warrant on my spigging insurance referring to vet's instruction to lose some on the certificate! It's on its way off at a nice healthy rate, tho). He's on limited grazing and given that he's porky and youngish (only turned five two weeks ago), he's on TopSpec AntiLam for the first several weeks and will then switch to Lite when some more of the weight's off. He has no history of laminitis but it was an even lower cal and lower sugar option. On overnight turnout and he's not standing in the sort of grass he'd need a muzzle for and it's pretty inexpensive. Vet's happy, he's happy, I (born worrier) am happy.
 
You could try naf slimline which is vitamins and minerals in a powder fed with a handful of chaff. Though I have just taken my pony off it as I think it was making him very sharp possibly because he was getting what he needs from the grass.

I give him a handful of good doer chaff and one bag of 20k lasts nearly 6 months so not very expensive.
 
Actually this is nothing to do with marketing. The recent conferences re laminitis, equine obesity, restricted diets and the like confirmed this. A horse has nutritional requirements which are essential for good health, more so when their diet is drastically restricted.
 
I feed Dodson and Horrell Equibites to my good doers who don't need feed. They are small biscuits that contain the vits and mins they need. No extra food required and I find them economical too :)
 
Looked at the equi bites. They don't have any of the vit b's in thm or any biotim there the main ones I am wanting to feed. Hmmm u've given me some food for though so to speak =) thanks x
 
My pony refused to eat these so may be worth getting a sample from them first.

appylass said:
I feed Dodson and Horrell Equibites to my good doers who don't need feed. They are small biscuits that contain the vits and mins they need. No extra food required and I find them economical too :)
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Mine get bugger all apart from the odd treat, they have 2 types of licks and see to themselves.
Both healthy as anything.
In terms of wanting to come to you, why not some chopped carrots and apples?
The callorie content of an apple and 2 carrotts is about one tenth of a scoop of chaff.
I see so often people say cut out the carrots and apples with fat ponies or good doers yet its the one thing that's verging on negligable calorie wise when compared to any food on the market, including those claiming to be low calorie x
 
ISHmad said:
Actually this is nothing to do with marketing. The recent conferences re laminitis, equine obesity, restricted diets and the like confirmed this. A horse has nutritional requirements which are essential for good health, more so when their diet is drastically restricted.
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Quick!!! Un-brainwash this poster!!!

Why do you think all these brands are quick to spend money sponsoring such events???

I'll tell you a a secret... it's called Sales Bonuses... It's big business because people like YOU believe in such rubbish.

Horses require FAR less than you think, infact TOO MUCH can cause serious problems and they do - it's called laminitis & equine obesity caused by FEEDING huge amounts of crap.

TopSpec, Spillers, A&P all jumping on bandwagon creating new packaging for laminitis prones when infact what's inside is the same stuff maybe with a bit less molasses. If they didn't put molasses in, horses wouldn't eat it. They're all laughing all the way to the bank. I mean, think about it.... would you keep feeding yourself sugar if you wanted to lose weight? No. You'd eat less!
 
Any post on here are completely correct to say stop these special feeds etc promising xyz just stop feeding to good doers. They do not need them if they are out on monitored 24/7 grass.

A plain old fashioned brick mineral/salt lick(non molasses is right). Your horse will look and pester you to give it more food(mine paces the electric fencing expecting me to move it along every day). Since the rain the grass has started to grow again. If he had no grass due to severe drought he would have some plain hay(monitored of course). I dont believe in starving even laminitics/good doers as they do need roughage to keep their system going.But they do need to be managed.

I sometimes have to remind myself that horses are grazers.The only time I ever gave mine a small bowl of feed was if he had worked hard mid winter and again it was not a lot couple scoops. He would be satisfied with a jug of pony nuts in a bowl. In Winter he just gets hay thats it. The dentist told me recently she knew he lived out as his teeth were in excellent condition well woren naturally as he had been foraging which is what he should be doing. You really can save some money here.
I bought my horse one of those big square horselick (brand?? that lasts for some time..black tarry molasses stuff ) and he ate it overnight!!! So greedy!! Never again.He eats for England!
 
Horses are actually browsers, in their natural environment they will eat a wide variety of plants/shrubs/ herbs/trees etc.

We stick them in a square paddock with often a single species grass, which is often treated with fertiliser which further depletes the mineral content of the soil or the pasture is horse sick and neglected. Even the vegetables that we eat nowadays have less vitamin content than they used to years ago due to the production methods.

It is often found that horses with metabolic issues are deficient in certain vits/minerals.

There is also a difference between 'feed' and supplying the correct vits/mins and my bugbear with the tailored feeds is that you often have to feed quite large amounts to an already overweight pony which is counter productive. All an overweight good doer needs in my opinion is very restricted grazing, soaked hay to provide fibre, and because the likelihood will be that vits and mins will be lacking on the restricted pasture, soaking hay reduces the nutrition too, a handful of unmolassed chaff with a good supplement is fed. A handfull of chaff isn't going to add to the calorie content in a great way, the horse stays sweet to bring in and the owner knows that the horse is provided with most of the vits/mins it needs.

In an ideal world all forage would be analysed and then a tailored supplement made up, but this isn't always practical so many choose to feed a general purpose supplement.
 
Rose has a little one horselick in her field that she has access to when ever ahe wants it she has it when she feels the need to. Her field is well grazed you can see dirt and so every other day give her soaked hay.
I will try be ruffless ans not feed and see how that goes. But she's a funny soul wicker at me and if I continue to ignore the wicker gets deeper its so funny like ahea tellin me off! Lil
 
Gee thanks Tallyho. So 39 years of keeping horses, mainly good doers, in good shape, good health and laminitis free means I am brainwashed. That's made my day, thanks for the giggle.
 
I use Benevit in a feed which consists of 1/2 Dengie Good Do-er and 1/2 plain Oat chaff (bought from a local feed producer), I add Benevit Advanced to this and it takes my boy quite a while to munch through for very little calories but a fair amount of fibre :)
 
Hiya,
I give my very good dooer New Forest 1 and a half mugs of Bailey lo-cal a day. It works out around 30p a day I think..

She's been on it ages and looks really good on it. She got very fat when I was doing my final exams at uni then switched to this and restricted grazing which seems to suit her perfectly. The vet is very happy with her weight loss, she's happy because she gets a bit of tea and I'm happy because I don't feel mean restricting her grazing!

She also gets a handful of chaff, but only because she's on a joint supplement so I need something to mix it with. Personally I wouldn't give carrots to her, she only gets them as an occasional treat.
 
ISHmad said:
Gee thanks Tallyho. So 39 years of keeping horses, mainly good doers, in good shape, good health and laminitis free means I am brainwashed. That's made my day, thanks for the giggle.
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No worries, 39 years of how much money you have spent and you didn't need to... it's ok, as long as you keep believeing that my friend get her bonuses :D
 
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