Help.......what to feed my 3 year old ID x TB mare !!

km-j

km-j

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I have been feeding my 3year old with Mare & Young-stock Mix with a handful of alfalfa oil.....she is looking great and a good girl however I need to find an alternative now that she is 3, I have no idea!


I increased the alfalfa oil and she had been a little excitable last week or could this be the M&YS mix!


What is the next step in terms of her feeding regime, she is in very light work and stabled every night.


Some people say 'safe and sound' but isn't that for those prone to laminitis! I still want to give her the vits and mins she needs


Thanks
 
Is she a good/medium/poor doer? How long does she get turned out for?

To be honest my preference would be to give no hard feed to a three year old. Generally they simply do not do enough work to justify it (except for 3yo race horses of course!). And as a youngster their digestive system is better off on lots of roughage.

As you have already identified, all that feed is giving her excess energy that will not help any behavioural issues. As she lives in she is not using much energy to move around or stay warm so all that energy has to go somewhere.

I am very much of the old school and I think people over complicate feeding nowadays.

In many cases ad lib hay would suffice for a 3yo.
 
Darremi said:
Is she a good/medium/poor doer? How long does she get turned out for?

To be honest my preference would be to give no hard feed to a three year old. Generally they simply do not do enough work to justify it (except for 3yo race horses of course!). And as a youngster their digestive system is better off on lots of roughage.

As you have already identified, all that feed is giving her excess energy that will not help any behavioural issues. As she lives in she is not using much energy to move around or stay warm so all that energy has to go somewhere.

I am very much of the old school and I think people over complicate feeding nowadays.

In many cases ad lib hay would suffice for a 3yo.
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I disagree, as I think youngstock, in fact any age stock need balanced vitamins and minerals, this is why she has been on Mare and Youngstock, if she can't cope with it, I would change, but I kept my boys on minimum M&Y as long as they looked like growing youngsters. I would stop the alfa and see if that is affecting behaviour, but you have to expect unpredictable behaviours when breaking horses. I used to add Feedmark Steady-up, taking a belt and braces attitude rather than risking any over-excitement.
I did try Safe & Sound with my NF pony, but he spat out the cubes, it seems to be more like a chaff based feed with minerals, so should be fine, just check the recommended amount needed, as this usually relates to the daily mineral requirement.
 
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Dodson and Horrell recommend Hi Fibre Nuts as this also provides the right level of vitamins and minerals but I have never tried this......I will definitely cut out the alfafa oil but think she might be going through her naughty 3's at the moment x
 
She is a good doer and has a good weight/condition for this time of year, she leaves out in the day and stabled each night, has as much hay as she can eat.
 
My horse is the same age and breed He gets adlib haylege and a general powdered supplement in a little chopped oat straw and sugarbeet. He doesn't do enough work to need anything else.

He cannot eat alfalfa at all as it blows his mind.

If you want to line the pockets of feed companies then there's all sorts of exciting feeds you could give at the recommended daily amount. Alternatively you could feed as nature intended, which is as much fibre as she wants (assuming she's not fat) and a sprinkling of low sugar chaff to carry a general supplement. And even that's not really nessesary if the hay is good quality.
 
My rising 3yo is just out in the field at the moment! Im not looking to feed her hard feed till she is 4 as she is very good doer and the work she will do this year will just be backing.
 
You can give her a lite balancer with a bit of chop and plenty fibre ( hay ) she shouldnt need much more esp when (haha) the spring grass starts popping up...nuts etc will give her too much energy which is unnecessary, feed to the ratio of work, which at 3 shouldnt really be a lot...:)
 
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