High fibre increased protein feeding??

Roasted Chestnuts

Roasted Chestnuts

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As in title how would you expect this to affect your horses weight and temperament :)

Boxrested horse, lost fair amount of weight, not been ridden or turned out since Sept not likely to be ridden until March at the earliest (unless miracle happens), has fluffy shiny coat, decent belly but everything else has disappeared. Wormed for everything about 4 weeks ago and eating regularly.

Getting readigrass, veteran vitality, linseed, beetpulp. As well as hoof supp and meds.

Vets wanting me to add more protein to the diet, I have taken her off straights as was on barley but not making a difference and might be contributing to her stressing.

I was looking to adding alfalfa nuts to her feed or giving her a playball of them to get at through the day. She is normally fine with alfalfa products, but would this be classed as adding protein?? The only thing I could think of adding would be a comp feed but not a fan of mixes, vet suggested power and performance for higher protein but I dont really need excess energy so looking at other options. Calm and condition is pretty much the same as the VV.

Im a fan of the A+P feeds as they seem to suit my horses so would rather stick with them in another format or add something in as shes getting the recommended levels so is getting full vits and mins :)
 
Probably wants more protein to slow the muscle wastage. Soy meal is a good protein provider, most bagged compound feeds will add too much sugar even if denoted higher protein percentages. Also milk or whey powder. but would also want to be sure why you are feeding higher protein? Can tax the kidneys.
 
It depends what you are already feeding - cereals are not natural for horses to eat and are especially dodgy for a horse on box rest, I would feed a good low starch balancer like Top SPec Comprehensive that contains good amino acids (ie top quality protein) and then add alfalfa and beet well soaked - it takes an age to eat so helps keep a box rested horse, or an ovrnight stabled nonresting horse, occupied for longer. If you still need more protein I would add linseed, never sure about milk powder as by definition it is unnatural for an adult horse.
 
TGM said:
What specific reason does the vet want her to have more protein? What has she been on box rest for?
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Shes loosing too much and looks terrible depsite being on 6 massive haynets a day (2 three times a day) and finishing the lot and shes on two feeds a day but might go back to three.

Shes has badly damaged her SDFT, she did this back in Sept, shes not at the turnout/walking out stage yet and vet thinks maybe an increase in protein might help her :)

Cortez said:
Probably wants more protein to slow the muscle wastage. Soy meal is a good protein provider, most bagged compound feeds will add too much sugar even if denoted higher protein percentages. Also milk or whey powder. but would also want to be sure why you are feeding higher protein? Can tax the kidneys.
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He wants me to increase it to try to give her something to keep as high fibre/oil isnt really doing her any good at the minute, I have removed the Barley from the diet. She competes well on this but its not really doing her any good right now.

sbloom said:
It depends what you are already feeding - cereals are not natural for horses to eat and are especially dodgy for a horse on box rest, I would feed a good low starch balancer like Top SPec Comprehensive that contains good amino acids (ie top quality protein) and then add alfalfa and beet well soaked - it takes an age to eat so helps keep a box rested horse, or an ovrnight stabled nonresting horse, occupied for longer. If you still need more protein I would add linseed, never sure about milk powder as by definition it is unnatural for an adult horse.
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Feed (scoop + big round scoop)

2 cups of Veteran Vitality soaked with 1 x scoop of water
1.5 x scoops of readigrass
2 x 15ml scoops of linseed meal (with vits and minerals)
1.5 x scoops of soaked beetpulp
measure of hoof supp

This fills a round rubber (black tyre rubber) bucket and as you can see is mostly fibre based :) There was half a scoop of barley being added to this but its now removed.

So would adding alfalfa nuts to this feed be the equivalent of adding protein, enough but not too much?? She was getting alfa oil but again still looked poor. :o

I normally feed for energy and weight gain but most weight gain/energy mixes come with excess energy and Im not wanting that as I might as well stop paying for her calmer to keep her in the stable :o So this is a new territorty for me, I could work off any excesses and I normally have my horses out 24/7 If she was sound but with the box rest Im trying not to blow her mind but keep a good weight on her :)

I cannot touch copra meal I am allergic to coconut, that has been suggested before :o
 
Although the feed may look to be a lot, there is a high volume of soaked or chaff type feeds in there, so the dry matter and total calories may not be as much as you think! (Obviously soaked feeds contain a lot of water and chaff is 'fluffy' so a scoop doesn't actually weigh that much!)

Are you sure the amount of Veteran Vitality you feed is the recommended amount because two cups doesn't sound a lot? (Unless you meant two scoops?) I'd either up that to the recommended amount for her size or cut it out completely and replace it with a balancer. A balancer like Top Spec Comprehensive would give a good protein boost to the diet, supply a probiotic yeast to help the horse make the most of the fibre it is getting, plus supply the daily recommended amount of vit/mins.

I presume you have her on adlib hay/haylage? Haylage would be preferable for a poor doer and would be likely to be higher in protein than hay.
 
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I should have said, Its not a measuring cup like top spec/blue chip/balancers but an actual soup mug (I just call it a cup as it looks like one but bigger maybe should have stated that :o) so 2 cups is nearly 3/4 of a scoop and I made a typo its 1.5 scoops of water thats what I get for not reading back :o

Sorry for the wrong info :)

Eta kinda like this but it say big mug for a big mouth on it :o

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=bi...rt=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:0&tx=67&ty=132
 
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