help with feed needed.......

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sallypops

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i really need abby to out on some weight u can see her ribs
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and i would prefer her to be a little more rounded if u kno what i mean.

she hasn't eaten her breakfast this mornin and didn't earlier in the week either. she quite often leaves like half the bucket. is there any way of encouraging her to eat her breakfast??

also should i add vege oil to her meals?? i heard it could help put on weight?? or should i change her feed?? i'm rubbish at these things???

she is currently fed 1 and a quarter scoop spillers conditionin mix and a big scoop off alfalfa twice a day, she also get a large haynet at night and is out through the day. and she is a 15yo 16.2hh TB
 
also we are only gettin out a couple of times a week just now due to the crap weather, usually would be out hacking 4-5 times a week
 
She doesn't sound as if she is getting very much at all. I would feed her ad lib good quality hay/high fibre haylage - she should have a little bit left in her haynet in the morning, plus hay out in the field as there is no goodness in the grass as yet. Personally, I would feed conditioning cubes as opposed to mix (cubes are less heating), plus alfalfa oil and unmolassed sugarbeet. If you aren't feeding to manufacturer's recommended amounts, you need to add a broad spectrum vit and mineral supplement or a balancer. Keep her well rugged and warm. TBs are notoriously difficult for keeping weight on. I know she is on loan to you, but have her teeth been done recently?
 
no not since she's been with me, she eats all her hay so i'll start giving her extra.

we feed her as her owner told us too, but we changed her from plain pasture mix to conditioning mix to try and get the weight on her (advised to by the feed person at the horse shop) so should i change her alfalfa to beet or still giv her the alfalfa too??
 
ok, i actually have some speedibeet somewhere. how llong does it last before its out of date??
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btw the scoops she gets are like the massive bowl sized ones, just incase u thought it was small feed scoops lol
 
Ditto the advice given by the other posters, especially the importance of adlib hay. I wonder whether she is leaving her breakfast because she is anxious to go out in the field - I know my old mare is like that. Give a smaller feed in the morning and give extra in the evening, although you might have to split the evening feed into two to avoid over-loading the stomach. You could give one when she comes in from the field and perhaps someone else could pop the extra feed in later in the evening if you can't come back to the yard to do it.
 
I would say over a scoop of mix in one feed is too much, her system probably isn't managing to digest it. You need to be careful feeding too much concentrates at once. There system is not designed to digest it.

Can you split her feeds up into several smaller ones? Give her system a chance.


I had a new very skinny tbx to put weight on and this is what I did. I had him on 3 meals a day. He had (per feed):

1 scoop of Alfa Oil
half scoop D&H Build up cubes
1 scoop Alfa Beet. (more conditioning than normal sugar beet. speedibeet)

I also made sure he had ad lib haylage when he was in. Can you swop to haylage? Or buy in the green ryegrass horsehage? He always had some left. His teeth and worming were up to date. He put on weight quickly and now looks fab. I cut it to 2 feeds a day once he was beginning to look better and he's kept it on. 5 months later I've cut out the cubes altogether.

Good luck!
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she's always desperate to get out to the field in the morning especially when its sunny outside. majority of times she will eat her breakfast and just leave a couple of dribs and draps at the bottom nothin major just the crumbs. just the odd couple of occasions she just doesn't want it.

when we changed her feed to conditioning mix there was a huge improvement in her condition and she has an amazing shine atm if the sun hits her u need sunglasses!! could it also be this cold spell which is havin an effect on her??
 
hi galaxy, we only have hay at the farm and tbh i doubt i could afford to buy it in all the time. what does readigrass do?? could i give her some of that to munch on when she's in her stable???
and do u mean like a whole scoop of actual oil?
 
No, Alfa Oil is made by Dengie. It's Alfafalfa with the oil already added. Fantastic stuff!

A big bucket of readigrass (it's quite high in calories which is what you're after) would help to supplement the hay if you can't swop to haylage.
 
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hi galaxy, we only have hay at the farm and tbh i doubt i could afford to buy it in all the time. what does readigrass do?? could i give her some of that to munch on when she's in her stable???
and do u mean like a whole scoop of actual oil?

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Alfa Oil is a chaff and is made by Dengie, it is alfalfa plus oil and is more conditioning than just plain alfalfa.

The speedibeet should have a use by date on the bag - but if it has got at all damp, it will have gone mouldy, so don't feed it. I am not sure what size scoop you have got - but it is important to weigh the amount of feed you are giving Abby as 1 scoop of mix will weigh less than 1 scoop of cubes.
Readigrass is a bit like chaff, but it is dried grass and so has more nutritional value.

To give you an example, I have two heavy horses (17.3 and 17hh). They have as much hay as they will eat as well as some high fibre haylage. They have high fibre cubes, Graze on (this is similar to readigrass) and umolassed sugarbeet. They have kept their weight on throughout the winter (one weighs 1 tonne and the other 800kgs).

Hope this helps
 
Yes! Massive haynet, and a big bucket of Readigrass (dampen it down, I've seen a horse choke on it before) Make sure you give enough hay/readigrass that there is some left in the morning. As a rough guide, if you buy a huge haynet (I'd suggest one with large holes so it's even easier for her to eat) it should be stuffed so full you can't get any more in! Can you feed off the floor? That's even better for digestion.
 
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so if gave her her usual hay, as well as a big bucket of readi-grass? i'm easily confused lol

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You need to give her as much hay as she will eat, you can supplement the calories/nutritional value by giving her readigrass as well.
 
yep i can feed it off the floor there is also an old water trough in her stable which isn't used for water anymore which i could fill with hay for her
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excellent thanks for all ur help everyone!!!! will give u an update on her weight in a couple of weeks and see if theres any improvement
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I also feed my TB sp conditioning mix - I believe for his size 16.2hh he should be on around 3 stubbs round scoops a day according to packaging. I wouldn't feed more than 1 scoop per feed though.
Mine is also on alfa a oil & speedi beet - would possibly suggest adding some grass nuts if not much grass at moment - mine loves them & they are great for tbs.
 
Phone the feed companies for free advice. I have had exactly the same prob with my 16.2hh tb, they advised exactly how much feed to give and how often to feed. I found Baileys the most helpful. They will also send you free samples of feed if you ask them, so you can try before you buy.
 
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