Good feeding advice resources?

[Dolphin]

I would really like to get some feeding advice for my mare, and its quite a long story which is why I haven't posted it on here.

I have tried two feed manufacturer's helplines, and although I felt they were helpful, I couldn't help feeling that the advice I was given was rather slanted towards products which were sold by them!

I would really like some "unbiased" advice but am not sure where ask. Does anyone have any suggestions please?

 

[Bossanova]

Try us HHO lot, releaves boredom for us at least

 

[Dolphin]

OK, will give it a go but this could be long and boring!
Basically she is 14.3 Welsh D x Warmblood. She is a very good do-er, lives out all summer and piles on the weight during the summer. I have tried various ways of restricting her with no success, so last year I tried to get the weight off over the winter. I switched her to a forage-only diet, (she has always been a bit of a loon in the winter), and last winter she lost a fair amount of weight slowly over the winter and seemed to do really well on the forage-only diet, BUT she was not doing any work other than walking due to a tendon injury.

If you are still with me and not asleep

, this year she piled on the weight again during the summer. She came in for the winter 6 weeks ago and I decided she needed a strict diet to get the weight off (horse now resembling baby elephant

) so she has been on:

2 sections of hay at night,
breakfast and dinner the same - level scoop of hi-fi good-doer plus handful of unmolassed sugarbeet plus formula4feet supplement (which my vet put her on)

The problems are that a)she is now losing weight too quickly in my opinion (about 20kg in 5 weeks) b)I am not happy with the number of hours she is in her stable overnight not eating - the 2 sections of hay will not last very long, even in a small-hole haynet) and 3) she seems to be lacking in energy - she is now back in almost normal work following her tendon injury.
She is usually a loon in the winter but this year she is so laid back its like having a different horse!

My questions are:

As she has only been on the forage-only diet whilst doing little or no work, does her current flatness means she needs to have concentrates re-introduced into her diet?

Or should I increase her fibre intake up to say 3 sections of hay and rounded scoop of hi-fi good-doer in each feed and see what effect that has on her energy levels?

If you are still with me by now - congratulations! I did warn it would be long - having just re-read all of the above it just sounds like a complete load of rambling waffle to me

but never mind, I have typed it all now so will post it anyway!!

 

[Theresa_F]

I would first just increase her hay up to 4 slices at night or even go to ad lib hay.

If she is still drops the weight too fast, try changing the good doer to either original denghi or you could try her on alfa a lite.

Add a good general vit supplement like benevit.

If you need more energy, then you can add a little speedibeet and alfa a.

If you like the forage diet, may I recommend you try calling the helpline at Simple Systems. Jane is very helpful and my boys are doing extremely well on the simple systems diet of green gold (alfa a) and lucie stalks with their all round supplement of total eclipse.

 

[Faithkat]

The advice given by individual feed producers is bound to feature their own products but, at the end of the day, you've got to buy something so why NOT buy theirs? I've contacted Dodson and Horrell on two occasions for diets and their advice has been spot-on.

 

[aran]

i think that a fibre only diet is a good idea - too many mixes/nuts are fed in my opinion anyway. all diets should be based on fibre and then added to if needed.

with your mare I would give her more hay. if she is a real piggy and eats it too fast then a small holed net (maybe even one inside the other) to slow her down. really you'd like her to have a few scraps left in the morning. once you have done this - if shes still loosing a bit more than you'd like - up the hi-fi to an alfalfa mix and a bit more sugar beet (you can also add some veggie oil to add condition and slow release energy).

hope this helps

 

[Dolphin]

[ QUOTE ]
The advice given by individual feed producers is bound to feature their own products but, at the end of the day, you've got to buy something so why NOT buy theirs? I've contacted Dodson and Horrell on two occasions for diets and their advice has been spot-on.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am quite happy to buy any feed which I feel is right for my horse - the point I was trying to make is that although I did find the feedlines helpful, I just felt that maybe I was not getting truly impartial advice and therefore perhaps not the best advice for my horse from the feedlines.

I am just trying to do the best for my mare at the end of the day....

Thank you for the other replies - I think I will increase her hay and see how she goes from there.

 

[seabiscuit]

She is not getting enough essential vitamins and minerals,which is why she has no energy...I would agree with what others have said about increasing her hay, but put a mineral lick into her stable PLUS add a good broad spectrum vitamin supplement into her feed like Selanitivite E.....

 

[Happytohack]

Suggest you contact an independent nutritionist - all the feed company helplines are obviously biased towards their own feeds. Clare Macloud is brilliant - whether you have a top competition horse or a happy hacker, she will give you sound impartial practical advice. clare@equinenutritionist.co.uk Can't recommend her highly enough.

 

[CBFan]

I would feed at least 4 sections of hay per night and continue with the good doer and formula 4 feet as you are with a vit and min supplement added. Stop the sugar beet - its just bulk but doesn't keep her busy long enough. If you find after a few weeks on this she's still lacking energy try adding a small amount (a handfull) of alfa a to each feed (this will help with the weight and energy).