Help/advice on winter feeding

[SatansLittleHelper]

My cob x Connie starts to look a bit rubbish at this time of year, he's only just started to do any work and he's rising 7.
He seems to lose condition quickly in the areas highlighted in the pic below (taken today, moved over to bigger field with more grass now). His hind quarters dip in quite alot.
I realise that he needs work to build muscle etc but I want to look at the best way of feeding him this year to get the best condition on him. I usually feed Spillers Daily Balancer, Speedy Mash and Chaff in the winter. Can I improve on this somehow?? I'm thinking yo add a natural Vit E supplement and keep reading about proteins etc but my brain is exploded from it all ??

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Increase the protein content and oil content would be my first go to. If it were me I’d put him on the grow and win balancer, the mash isn’t something I’m familiar with as I’ve never fed it but I prefer to feed readigrass as a chaff in the winter, however a friend swears by Alfa A oil. I prefer to feed linseed meal as well.

I feed a mash of grass it/alfalfanuts/beet pulp in winter to my youngster as it’s mostly fibre but good fibre. Kia was on the same for years and he competed and hunted and looked good.

 

[I'm Dun]

Add tri aminos from progressive earth. and I'd add a small dose of vitamin e as well. Both drop off in grass over the winter.

 

[PurBee]

my gelding when younger would drop condition in those areas too, when grass growth slowed this time of year - i’ll echo Cheeky chestnuts recommendation of ground-up linseed - a mug a day in winter for the omega 3 mainly, as that is deficient in hay and they get loads from fresh grass.
I started off using really good quality linseed oil, but weirdly they didnt show much change on that, so i switched to the ground up linseed and within the week had better health of coat.

viovet are doing ground up linseed for 1.40 per kg which i thought was a good deal:

https://www.viovet.co.uk/Omega-Equine-Linseed-Meal/c48833/?quick_find=297117

Aside from adding linseed in winter- i also introduced high fibre ryegrass haylage and he would regain better condition on that than just mixed meadow hay as their only forage.
If you have a nice hay source, i’d keep that in the diet for variety, but consider adding some haylage and build up to 50/50 haylage/hay.
It seemed with him i couldnt feed enough hay, and grain mixes sent him loopy for various reasons….so i increased calories from higher protein forage, omega 3 fat.
Due to lack of fresh beneficial digestive microbes from much less winter grazing, i also feed protexin probiotic - not daily but for 2 wks, then maybe 3 weeks off, then another 2 wks. This helps them digest all the nutrition from everything that’s being fed.

Since i added the above to their winter regime, they both do very well and he holds a nice weight over winter, filling in hollow-prone areas.

 

[SEL]

My big lad drops about now and I think it's all that coat growing effort just as the grass drops off. Linseed for him, plus a little vitamin E. My hay has good protein levels and that's made a big difference this year.

In prior years he's had ERS pellets which are higher protein but without being heating. I've also added haylage which is higher digestible energy if needed.

 

[TotalMadgeness]

I use micronised linseed and timothy haylage. It seems to keep the condition on really well.

 

[TGM]

I wouldn't say he looks 'rubbish' at all in terms of weight, but appreciate that you might not want him to lose any more at this time of year. He seems to have quite a big neck on him so I wouldn't go too mad with increasing the feeding. Does he get hay or haylage when the grass value drops? That would be my first option before significantly upping the bucket feed and will make him look more 'filled out'. Speedy Mash seems to be Spiller's version of Fast Fibre - both are full of ground straw to make a filling low calorie feed for good doers. With a calorie count of only 8 MJDE/kg it would make sense to swap that out for something like Speedibeet which has a calorie count of 11 MJDE/kg or soaked grass pellets.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I would feed more hay or haylage and add some micronised linseed and I do agree about the speedy mash being low calorie, although I do feed it to mine but they are really good doers so it suits them.

 

[AandK]

I agree with adding some linseed meal, also what about swapping the speedy mash for the senior version? It has a bit more in terms of DE/oil/protein.

 

[Antw23uk]

I use calm and condition by Allen Page with a handful of Alfa A oil on my ridden boy and although i have a fair amount of grass he is looking a little too well, so maybe one to research?