Horse feed

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New horse owner here, could anyone recommend any feed that will put weight on my rescue 16 year old TB mare or tell me where I'm going wrong please

Currently on
3 stubbs scoop of chaff
1 scoop of Grass pellets
1 and a half scoop of fibre nuggets
Only started to introduce her too sugar beet
Cup of vegetable oil
Unlimited hay if she will stay in her stable

She is fed 3 times a day so all above is split into 3 meals, dentist has filed her teeth a couple of weeks ago so shes been checked out on that side and she hasnt got any other health conditions
 

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ycbm

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In all honesty, I would have expected any reputable rescue to get more weight on her than that before releasing her. Have you had her long?

What's the worming situation?

Not all TBs do well on sugar beet, be prepared to stop it if she's one that doesn't. I had one who put on weight as soon as I stopped the beet. Another did very badly on anything with soya in it, and was best on oil and grass pellets.

Lots of grass will be best, but it's coming to a bad time of year if you are northern hemisphere. She needs unlimited hay in the field, but you say she can only have that if she will stay in her stable? If she frets being kept in, then it's going to be a struggle to keep weight on her over winter if you can't leave her out.
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In all honesty, I would have expected any reputable rescue to get more weight on her than that before releasing her. Have you had her long?

What's the worming situation?

Not all TBs do well on sugar beet, be prepared to stop it if she's one that doesn't. I had one who put on weight as soon as I stopped the beet. Another did very badly on anything with soya in it, and was best on oil and grass pellets.

Lots of grass will be best, but it's coming to a bad time of year if you are northern hemisphere. She needs unlimited hay in the field, but you say she can only have that if she will stay in her stable? If she frets being kept in, then it's going to be a struggle to keep weight on her over winter if you can't leave her out.
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When I mean rescue I mean I got her from someone's back garden like that as she was used as a broodmare and just left, ive had her for a month and half but I've had to introduce her to all the above slowly, she got wormed twice now since I've had her, as i moved yard, shes in a herd so she has to be brought in to be fed, im trying me absolute best to do every thing for her
 

ycbm

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I feel your pain, I struggled all last winter to keep weight on a TB. He was fat when I bought him, the previous December, when he had been living out without a rug on. Some of them just won't keep weight on if kept in and you might need to consider if she is one of them.
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I feel your pain, I struggled all last winter to keep weight on a TB. He was fat when I bought him, the previous December, when he had been living out without a rug on. Some of them just won't keep weight on if kept in and you might need to consider if she is one of them.
.

Luckily there is a few people on the new yard that knows her breeder and she was given away 2 years ago to really bad owners, ive got pictures of her from before she got given away and shes in perfect condition, im definitely going to get different feed with more calories in, i just want her back like she was 2 years ago
 

Ellietotz

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Mollichaff original is full of molasses as far as I'm aware. I'd swap it for grass chaff which has natural sugars and protein, add a couple of mugs of micronised linseed a day and potentially add copra too if still needed after that.
 
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TPO

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My current TB did better on Keyflow Pink Mash than he did on speedibeet despite speedibeet being higher calorie.

I presume its because Pink Mash contains a probiotic that helps the hind gut therefore they can get more out of their other feeds.

I've also feed micronised linseed and Copra/Coolstance (a coconut meal that you soak into a mash) with success.

Grass nuts are great too.

I did find that my usual feeding regime wasnt quite hitting the mark coming out of winter for the TB. Like you I fed fibre but even splitting into more feeds they were pretty big and not that appealing. I switched him to Baileys no.21 Ease & Excel mix. He picked up really quickly on this even during the slow introduction and I didnt even build up to feeding the full amount. I'm normally not a fan of commercial mixes but this one has been designed with gastric health in mind. The barefoot TB looked great, it didnt blow his mind and I didnt notice any detrimental effect in his hooves.

I feed Dengie Meadow grass too. Its 11mj/Kg so a decent calorie content too.

Personally I'd cut back on the chaff as its bulking out the feeds with little benefit. I'd also introduce pink mash over speedibeet.

Again just a personal thing but I'm not a fan of adding mugs of oil. I went to a vet talk donkeys ago and he was very anti-social. I cant remember specifics but that much stuck with me. I dont mind dressed chaffs etc but personally wouldnt be adding glugs or mugs of vegetable oil.

I never normally put much faith in feedlines because at the end of the day they need to sell their products but if I were you I'd contact Keyflow and Baileys as a start point. Saracens feeds also have a good reputation on here.

What is your grass like? We've had such bad weather that most of the goodness is out of it and it didnt grow that well after all the bad weather in winter and spring. Do they get hay in the field?

It might be that she benefits from stabling overnight with adlib hay?

Is she warm enough? Not that I'm a fan of rugging too soon but you sont want her using any of the calories that tou are putting in to be used keeping herself warm. A 50gm rug might be enough to help if the weather has been chilly/windy/wet and/or if the grazing is exposed.

Could she be in any pain? Horses who are often struggle to put in weight. I'd assume based in her condition that she wasnt seeing a farrier regularly and if shes had foals there could be something underlying from that exertion. I know you've not had her for long and it's a long list to "MOT" a horse but a visit from a good therapist (I'm assuming shes already been seen by a vet when you've said all health checks ok) in case theres maybe just some stiffness or muscle damage.

When she was wormed was an egg count down? My 3 get worm counted and then treated as required. Despite being on the same grazing and management TB nearly always has a count and needs wormed whereas the other two are fine. He always counts clear after the worming. Apparently 20% of the herd carry 80% of the burden so it might be that despite being wormed she still has some residual ones? It might be worth getting a count done if it hasnt been already.

She looks very sweet and I cant resist a chestnut mare. Best of luck with her
 

Griffin

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I have had really good results with an elderly TB feeding Baileys No.4 Conditioning Cubes. I have tried lots of others over the years but these ones actually seem to work! I am not usually a Baileys fan but their conditioning cubes do the job.
 
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paddi22

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we get rescue horses in who are skeletons at times. the best feed I've found for putting condition on is equerry conditioning mash. that plus access to good forage at all times.
 
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TPO

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I have had really good results with an elderly TB feeding Baileys No.4 Conditioning Cubes. I have tried lots of others over the years but these ones actually seem to work! I am not usually a Baileys fan but their conditioning cubes do the job.

Back in my (blissful) "ignorance" I fed Dengie Alfa A Oil, speedibeet and Baileys no.4 with Equimmins Omega Diamond or NAF Pink Powder.

I try to feed "better" these days but cant deny the old way work!
 

Griffin

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Back in my (blissful) "ignorance" I fed Dengie Alfa A Oil, speedibeet and Baileys no.4 with Equimmins Omega Diamond or NAF Pink Powder.

I try to feed "better" these days but cant deny the old way work!

I know, I have come to the conclusion that while you may know there are better feeds out there (my barefoot mare will not eat powdered balancers, so we use Spillers), sometimes you just have to go with what works for your horse.
 

P.forpony

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I also really rate pink mash.
Worked wonders for mine and although it’s not conditioning in itself it seems to make whatever else you’re putting in work better.

The fibre base of her current diet is a great place to start but she would benefit from a balancer. In that condition she will definitely be juggling some deficiencies.
Other than that I’d personally always go for linseed over liquid oil.

Final thing is a good dose of patience! It feels like it takes forever and you will fret for weeks and weeks that she looks like a hat rack. Then one morning suddenly you’ll walk on the yard and and from nowhere all the pointy bits will be round and shiny ?
 
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Henry02

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You probably won’t go far wrong with 3 x feeds on pony nuts and sugar beet a day. Scoop of each and jobs a goodun. Cheap enough as well.
 
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