HELP! Need Fizz without FAT!

Asimmons

Asimmons

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Saff is a 14.2 welsh d. A VERY good doer. Here's the problem...she needs a bit of sparkle as she is on a fibre/forage only diet. She's just lacking a bit of oomph at the moment and we have some dressage comps coming up. She does not need to gain any more condition!! We are in a catch 22...needs more energy for a more demanding workload but cd do with losing a bit of weight! She is ridden 6 days a week, in at night, turned out once frost has gone /post exercise. Schooled pretty hard 3 days a week. We have just stepped up demands on her and she obviously struggles to produce the extra energy( unsurprising given diet)....any ideas? Oats?
 
Take it hunting and up her grub. Did wonders for my little mare.

Failing that feed her conditioning mix on the day's she needs a bit of sparkle - was the only thing that heated Amy up, oats didn't touch her.
 
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I'm a wimp, I know

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Sensible I'd say......
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Vitamins seem to have done a lot for my previously very lazy coblet, he's got loads more energy. He has dodson & horrell equibites (he has 8 per day) - and they're OK for horses on diets.
 
Try adding some vits and minerals or a feed balancer, then racing oats, without the husks, helped with mine.

Tried the spillers mix and it just had to many ingredients for putting on weight in it!
 
I once had a diet to do for a case study which was exactly the same as your mare! Wish i could remember what i wrote as i got near enough top marks for it!!
Basically lower the fibre intake and increase the hard feed quantaties.
Ring a feed helpline, theyll tell you exactly what to do. Try and find an independant feed nutritionalist if possible, then you would get told to buy their brands!
My horse is on spillars instant energy, as he needs a bit of oompf, but he isnt the easiest horse to keep weight on! Its ideal for him. My lecturer was amazed that any horse could stay sane after eating it though when she read the ingredients!
 
Agree with Happy Horse. A lack of vits and mins can leave her feeling sluggish. Make sure she's getting what she needs of those and, if you still need more ooomph, give tiny ammounts of oats every day, so she's used to digesting them, then up them when you need the energy and drop them back down again afterwards.
 
My Welsh D is exactly the same as yours
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and she is fed exclusively on oats with a bit of plain chaff to slow her eating down a bit. She is in wonderful condition and really full of herself without being a total loony. She is ridden 5 days a week (proper hard work) and looks very well at the moment, well-covered but muscular and sleek.

Anything else I feed her just tends to put weight on without the extra energy boost. On a very cold night I might give her a scoop of sugarbeet to add bulk but that's it.
 
Lots of fab advice...thank you! She has vit and mineral supplements....I bought a bag of Badminton Competition mix today and may give her a smidgeon of that before lessons and competition. The feed merchant asked if she was a fussy eater...oh how I laughed!
Guiness....sounds good! Black Cob...may try yours if the comp mix doesn't work. It is very similar to the Spillers Instant energy but no-one stocks it round here and I am too impatient to wait ten days to order it!!
She's having a day off tomorrow. One other BIG lesson I have learned is not to have two horses with diametrically opposite metabolisms who refuse to be separated....Purdey is highly strung, rangy and explosive....needs to be out and on grass as much as poss and Saff needs to be banged up with a stomach staple!...Unfortunately, Purdey won't stay in the field without Saff( jumps out) so Saff gets to eat...I'm too soft to impose the muzzle...she just HATES it and either rubs it half off or stands looking pathetic and pretends she can't drink through it. Manipulative madam....I'll have to be tougher this spring or she'll be like a pregnant zeppelin....
The vet commented that she looked very well(ie porky!)and I joked that we had halved her air ..but she is like that...cut her food and her whole system goes into mega conservation mode...so black cob may have the answer....I've never had anything on oats and nothing else. Never planned on manning rockets!!!
 
If guiness helps, it means your horse had an Iron deficiency - you can get lots of horsey supplieaments for this like Red Cell, which actaully works out cheeper than feeding Guiness, and has lots of other vits and mins in it!

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