Grass nuts for energy?

Mince Pie

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My cob gets very sluggish in the warmer months as I think he finds the heat difficult to deal with, he's always a lot fresher over winter! As it's getting to that time where he goes a bit backwards I'm looking to add a little something to his feed to give him some extra oomph but without putting weight on, so I was wondering if grass nuts would do the trick?

**Obviously keeping him lean and fit will help more than anything but he is worked 6 days a week over the summer months and will be competing nearly every weekend. The problem I find is him not having enough energy for his work**
 
Apart from the obvious of riding him at the coolest times eg early morning or late evening and considering clipping him for summer, try a small amount of oats daily. If that isn't enough oomph or he gains weight, change the oats for half a (human size normal tea) mug of competition mix an hour before you ride. If he's stabled over night ride him before turnout, he'll be fresher. I found feeding a balancer (I used blue chip original) helped with increasing stamina, rather than feeding low energy nuts or mix, when the horse needed something extra to keep weight on.
 
Some grass nuts are high protein (Spring grass in a cube) so they will be (a) rocket fuel :eek: (b) your good doer will convert them very nicely to excess weight :o
My big chunky cob went silly in the head when I added alfalfa chop to his diet so maybe that would be worth a try. Have heard good results from Alfa A oil as well.
 
He's had alpha a oil, oats re-leve and instant response mix with no difference at all. The idea is to soak them so he wouldn't have that much in dry weight. Also our grazing isn't fantastic (which is actually great!) so hopefully will be a bit easier to keep the weight off this year!
 
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