Help: What to feed an Arab yearling colt

[sallyellis]

So my new baby arab, a chestnut yearling colt is being delivered on Tuesday, he has been well and truley molicoddled admitted by his current owner! Now she has been feeding him Alpha A, Sugar beet and D&H pasture mix but apparantly if fed any other mix it blows his brains! Now I have owned arabs before and always fed them on cubes rather than mix as it has been known to fizz them up so what are your thoughts on what I should feed him?


Also posted in stable yard....

 

[lucytoo]

I think, if he is looking well and is well in himself i would leave him on what he is being fed at the moment.....if its not broke and all that

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[the watcher]

I would agree that nuts tend to be less heating than mix, and you could always combine the two and gradually reduce the mix if you want to change over, you might want to swap to speedibeet rather than sugarbeet too.

 

[Maesfen]

Even if you decide to change feed like the others have suggested, please think about leaving him on what he is on at the moment for a fortnight or so until he settles in really well. It's hard enough for them to move house at that age, let alone his diet suddenly too. It's why mine all go with a week's worth of feed to help them settle in better.

 

[Faithkat]

I bought an Arab yearling some years ago and fed him on youngstock mix until he was 3. Arabs are slow maturers. If you want to change his feed, do it gradually but personally I would stop the sugar beet (that's got to be heating - it's SUGAR after all and I loathe the stuff anyway) and I've known horses get silly on D&H Pasture Mix too. I ended up feeding mine oats, barley and maize to try to buzz him up a bit, but that was when he was much older I like feeding straights anyway, you know exactly what they are getting. I have an AngloArab x WB yearling who is 1/4 Arab and she gets Suregrow and oats + good grazing of course.

 

[JaneB]

Yearling Cubes or, at least, something with vit and min levels for growing youngsters. A balancer is a good option if you don't want calories.

 

[sallyellis]

I was going to leave him on what he has been on for now but was just after some advice on what would be better for him in the future, ie: Baileys stud cubes or whatever can be recommended...I just dont like feeding mix as not sure what is really in them (IMO)

 

[Spyda]

I'd wean him over onto Bailey's Stud Balancer of D&H Sure Grow if I were you. No need to rush the transition on to the new diet, but both of these are fed in low quantities and ensure fully balanced nutrition for the growing animal so would be worth considering once he's settled in. Those fed with ad-lib hay or haylage keep my youngsters looking great. If they need a few extra calories I add sugar beet and/or Alpha A in the winter but always keep the base feed of balancer the same.