Help with what to feed my mare

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KalaJ

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Im a novice owner and it seems i panic over every decision regarding my mare and the latest one is food. Before i had her she was pretty much left in a field with the odd bucket of oats when owner could be bothered! Ive owned her since June and have taken advice from various people and she is currently in once a day with a full haynet, 1 scoop of healthy hooves chaff, top spec lite balancer, garlic, codlivine and since its got colder a scoop of speedybeet.

She is ridden 2/3 times a week and is a very good doer in fact she could do with losing a little bit of weight!

Opinions please, too much? Too little? Do i need to change or add anything?
 
If she needs to lose weight either cut the feed down or increase her work, it is not yet cold so the speedibeet could be stopped until she has lost some weight and requires the extra feed. Coming in each day for a haynet is a good idea, it keeps her on a routine and allows them to dry off and get checked over.
 
its the speedibeet that i was unsure of, it was on the advice of another livery, because she lives out most of the time. Ill leave it out as going to be difficult to increase her work at the moment.
 
I'd suggest a small amount of speedibeet (you need to feed considerable amounts for weight gain), balancer and salt or plain salt lick.
You don't need to add chaff or any other vitamin and mineral supplements - in fact, you're just messing up the balance of vitamins and minerals provided by the TopSpec balancer by feeding the Healhy Hooves and Codlivine. And I'd ditch the garlic - it doesn't have any benefits in horses, in higher doses has been shown to cause Heinz Body anaemia.
 
eeek i did not know that about garlic! Can i give her ordinary salt?I got her one of those salt licks and she doesnt seem to like it, or know what to do with it!
 
If you're not sure re feeding I'd advise speaking to one of the feed companies, most of them do yard visits and are happy to come even if it's just to see one horse.

We use Allen & Page and the advise has been really helpful xx
 
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