He's lost weight and Condition

[Morrigan_Lady]

I lunged Arch last night after his week off and was abit upset to see how he looks since we've moved yards!
There is no grass in his paddock at the mo, he is on haylage but I dont really know how much I should be giving him and Ive had to cut his hard feed right down coz he was getting too sharp!
I put Arch on Alfa-A Lite to help him put on weight without the fizz, but Im not working him as much at the mo so I had to half his feeds. When I lunged him last night he looks nothing like he did a month a go.
Has anyone got any advise for me please? Im hoping to get back on him after what happend last week (not looking forward to that!) so I really cant have him too lively.

 

[KatB]

Give him ad lib forage,even if you have to feed half hay and hayledge (if gets silly on pure hayledge), there should always be a small amount left in the mornings. Try adding Alfa Beet to his dinner, is great for adding condition but keeping head level. Good luck!!

 

[vennessa]

Give a feed company a ring such as Dodson & Horrell, all feed companies give excellent advice and can suggest a feeding programe most suitable takeing into account breed work etc.

 

[Morrigan_Lady]

Thank you, think I get a couple of bales of hay and give him some of that aswell. There is NEVER ANY haylage left in the morning, the floor is totally clean!
Please can you tell me what Alfa Beet actually is?

 

[FinkleyAlex]

alfa beet is a mixture of speedibeet and alfafla, it comes in pellet form which has to be soaked and then resembles green speedibeet, works wonders at putting condition on!

 

[Zebedee]

[ QUOTE ]
Give a feed company a ring such as Dodson & Horrell, all feed companies give excellent advice and can suggest a feeding programe most suitable takeing into account breed work etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

D & H "Build Up" is fabulous for putting back lost condition, but do make sure your horse has ad lib forage as well.

 

[jewel]

if you want advice on feed email baileys i've found them really helpful

 

[Flame_]

Did Archie have azoturia? I remember your post when you suspected he had. It can take months for muscles to recover and your feeding will need adjusting to help his system recover too. Apologies if he didn't, just trying to help.

 

[ladyt25]

When we got my sister's horse he seemed pretty underweight and we tried him on Allen and Page weight gain which bumped his weight up no end. It did make his wee smell rather strong though as full of protein i think (??). Anyway, he's not had problems since and, as far as I'm aware the weight gain doesn't cause them to be fizzy. Another option is to try stud and high fibre cubes. we fed these to our oldies to keep their weight up - worked a treat!