hi, and some feeding advice please

[AnnaBaxter]

hi everyone have lurked here for a while but now i could do with some advice of my own. i am anna, i am 27 and i have a part arab mare. i got her in may but have some questions about feeding her now the winter has properly arrived. she is stabled at night with lots of hay, there is always some left in the morning. right now she gets this feed twice a day -
a big handful (both hands, probably around 2 3rds of a scoop) of chaff
3 small handfuls (one hand handfuls this time!) of cool mix (this is own brand of the feed shop i use)
about a handful of balancer
supplements - garlic, naf oestress etc depending on the season or how moody a mare she is being and something out the goody bag like carrot or apple or whatever

i have done it this way as this was what i was shown by the guy who used to own her who did similar things with her, what do you think i need to increase for it to be a good feed for winter? i ride her on average about 4 times a week for about 3 quarters of an hour, so she is obviously clipped and rugged according to weather and a very good doer (i would say she is looking about right weight wise for going into winter, she is 15.1hh). the guy told me she gets about 2 and a half times the amount of mix and twice as much alfa-a but i just think then it would be a massive feed and seems like a really big increase?!

sorry if this is a silly question but it is years since i have had a horse.

 

[zoelouisem]

Hi, if shes maintaining her weight and not loosing it, and has enough energy for you to ride, i would leave her feed alone. Some horses dont need more food for winter in fact some get fatter been in more stuffing there faces. Shes obviously got unlimited access to hay if shes leaving some. I a great believer of if it isnt broke dont fix.

 

[Holly Hocks]

Well as above, if it aint broke, don't fix it. I would add some warm speedibeet on the cold days to add a bit of moisture and give a few extra calories, but that's just me personally, everyone does it differently.

 

[spotty_pony]

Welcome to the forum!

Well my question would be, if you are feeding a balancer, are you feeding the correct amount for her height and type? If you give her the correct amount then you won't need to worry about feeding her the recommend amount of mix (which will be a really big feed and will cause her to put on more weight!) You say she is a good doer, so I would stick with the same amount of chaff as you feed in the summer if she is doing well on that and feed her the correct amount of balancer, and then just give her a bit of cool mix as a treat. (Be aware that feeding too much mix, can make horses fizzy. If she becomes fizzy, then she may be better on the same feed but in cube form)

Hope this helps.