Hard feed - needed or not?

[Araboo27]

At what point would you consider introducing hard feed?

5yo native mare, has been in light work but stepping it up now, she's a good weight but does need to improve top line/general muscle tone. She has been on ad-lib hay over summer but thinking she will need more than that now? Any advice/opinions?

 

[TGM]

If she's a good weight and has enough energy for her work then I wouldn't be giving her much more than a balancer or vit/min supplement and some chaff. The muscle will come from correct work. Reassess if she starts to lose weight or you find she needs more energy.

 

[EQUIDAE]

Have look as what is considered light work - I did an equine nutrition course and the average pleasure horse ridden 3-4 times a week, would not need anything more than a balancer and then only if the forage is deficient.

There's an old thread on it

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/archive/index.php/t-242231.html

 

[tallyho!]

Stepping up to what?

Generally, natives coming up to maturity will tend to need less calories growing so will need to work now to maintain a healthy metabolism. Just see how you go this winter with ad-lib hay and a mineral mix. Don't add more than you need - you only create problems from being overweight and overworked kidneys and liver.

Unless you're off eventing, just keep it as is and monitor.

 

[catkin]

Natives usually do very well on good quality forage and perhaps a vits and mins supplement. Increase the forage ration before adding hard feed, and the old adage 'work before feed' is very very apt in this case.
What do you class as light work and what more will the pony now be doing - is it truly going to be medium work? (we all kid ourselves that our horses are working harder than they actually are). The pony I have now is ridden nearly everyday including gymnastic schooling - she is on good quality forage and a vits and mins supplement only - her muscles are building through the work. My old pony hunted hard and only needed oats after Christmas in the depths of winter - she was on good ad-lib forage alone the rest of the time.

 

[supsup]

Agree with the above comments. Just to add: if you are worried about muscling up, then the essential amino acids included in most balancers is what you might want to add. These help the horse use all the protein available from their forage. Of course, she'll still need correct work to build those muscles. Most of the time, forage provides plenty of "crude protein" (i.e. overall protein amount). But sometimes those essential amino acids can be lacking (this is about protein quality, rather than overall amount), and adding a small amount of them via a balancer will allow the horse to make proper use of the protein in the forage.