How are your skinny, not very good doer TB's looking at the moment??

Perfect_Pirouette

Perfect_Pirouette

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......And what are you feeding them?

This last couple of weeks, Merlin who's not a very good doer has dropped off a bit and is looking ribby. He's been put on 2 feeds a day, handful of hifi and half a scoop of conditioning cubes. Am going to monitor and see how he goes on that. I really don't want him going into winter ribby.

What do you feed your skinny TBs? Hopefully the conditioning cubes will bulk him up a bit, if not I want something that will keep his weight and condition without making him fizzy.
 
What's your grazing like atm?

My lad is looking fabulous he is on very good grazing (would make some better doers keel over) but is also fed alfa-a, oil and blue chip but in small quantities.
 
Grazing's okay, could be better but could also be a lot worse! I think as we've had cooler weather this past month (coolest june + july in 20 years!) he's lost it because of that.

He's now got his LW turnout on most of the time.
 
Big :) i feed mine two feeds of apple chaff and baileys no 4 a day and ride her for an hour a day.
Pink powder is great for building and maintaining over winter.
 
My tb is as fat as butter at the moment - he has a right tubby pot belly on him ! - he is on good hay - steamed - as much as he can eat in the day - out overnight on good grass for about 14 hours and gets two feeds a day of calm and condition (i swear by this stuff its fab) and a dengie orginal hi fi and loads of carrots.

Most important of all i think with a tb is that they have as stress a free life as possible - my little lad is an ex racer but i do try really hard to make sure his day to day life is as much the same as possible - I would love a weekend lie in but he is used to coming in at 6.30am in the week.... so weekends are the same... it really has made a differance to him. I also try and be as calm and determined round him and he has passed worry ownership over to me and that has made him gain a great deal of weight as he just is a chilled wee man now rather than the stresshead he was when I got him

:)
 
My boy is looking good, in fact a fellow livery just said today that he has put a bit of weight on and looks good. His coat is fantastic, bright chestnut with an iridescent sheen. He is out all day, on ok grazing, not brilliant, ad lib haylage at night and two feeds a day--I use Winergy Condition and have done for the last couple of years and I love how it keeps him. I just increase/decrease amounts at different times of year and it does the job. Oh and he's 15, so no spring chicken!
 
Well this is my gorgeous girl when she came home from two months in hospital last year
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And this was her a few weeks ago
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I was giving her readymash extra until last week when I have now changed her back to high fibre cubes as I feel that she is conditioned enough now. So she now gets 2 feeds a day of high fibre cubes with a handful of alfa A Original and a bit of water to mix it together. She is out 24/7 on excellent pasture. Don't let the photo fool you with no grass. She is standing by the rolling patch!
 
Mine is OK. He lost a bit recently, I think because the grass quality dropped and we did our first ODE so I upped his work to get him fit.

He's out 24/7 on his own in a gigantic field which has so much grass it's literally like a jungle! Most horses would probably pop lol but like I said he's just about OK he only eats so much and spends the rest of his time sleeping by the gate or playing with his next door neighbours over the fence :p.

I found ad lib haylage worked well at keeping the condition on last winter. I also feed Baileys lo-cal balancer which despite it's name seems to really suit my TB and keeps him really well muscled and well.

I don't feed conditioning cubes! They sent my last TB mare off her rocker so I daren't use them again lol.

I would use the slow release cubes if I needed condition but J did well last winter on the lo-cal with Alfa or chaff, beet and oil :)

My mum loves Baileys outshine, she uses that with Dengie chaff, fibre nuts and beet for her TB's :).

I think the state of the grass and haylage makes the most difference to my horses condition :).
 
Mine's looking very well! He's on poor grazing (out at night), but with haylage in the field & ad lib haylage when he's in during the day. He also gets 1/2 a scoop of power & performance and half a scoop of happy hoof plus haylage balancer. He gets that twice a day. Would post a photo but can't from my phone.
 
Glad its not just my TB looking a little tubby :) just out 24/7 light work and a handful or two of happy hoof and conditioning mix everyday just for him to take his danilon. But hes looking happy with his belly on him :)
 
Oh dear, now I feel even worse about poor Mr M dropping weight lol.

I'll get some photos of him in the morning and post on this thread so you can see, personally, I definitely wouldn't want anymore off him so I'm going to have to monitor it
 
Well, our TB isn't looking fantastic TBH, he seems to not be holding weight that well this year. However, he is 27, has very well srpung ribs so, even if he's fat you can always see his ribs. He's not been ridden for a couple of years so has dropped muscle which I think makes him look worse plus his sarcoids on his inner hind leg seem to be spreading. He's being fed a fair bit of high fibre twice a day and is on 6 acres on decent grass with his 4 pals. i think he could do with more grass actually but the others do not need more grass and if he's put on his own he can get a little stressed.

i think in the main he's an ok weight actually as he seems to have enough cover on his quarters I think it's more the lack of muscle that makes him look more bony but he's a bony type anyway!
 
Our 18 year old tb used to be really hard to keep weight on but since we have moved to our new house, whether its cos she is more relaxed and stressing less or whether the grass is just better but she has been chubby!
Sh get ridden regularly as she is trained for dressage and I have only just started giving her some feed just so that she gets her globalvite supplement in it so shes getting everything she needs.
I do have to say though, since we have started feeding her winergy equilibrium low energy she keeps weight on so much better without getting fizzy!! we usually give her a bit of oil with it too so this winter as she is going to be in harder work she is gonna get "equilibrium condition"

pic of her just as we moved into house:
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february:
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and may:
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Our gelding is weird if you look at him he looks a little ribby but if you run your hand over him he is perfect (vet said no more weight) however our very good doer (on the same fields) has been prescribed 24/7 use of a grazing muzzle from the vet....he offered a horsey gastric band :o ;) ;) ;) although his problem is that he had 8 weeks off doing nothing so piled on as much weight as possible!
 
Reg is 'eventing fit' atm! He's covered, you can feel but not see ribs and he has a lot of muscle.

He's out 24/7, fed twice a day with Falcon Feeds equitoner, hi fi oil and cherry chaff (Falcon Feeds again). We tend to feed him what he'll eat, hence the cherry chaff, and in quite large quantities...

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When she started riding him, off 2 years in a field chillaxing. Prior to this, he'd only raced.
 
mine is a little on the tubby side!! infact he is now coming in off his grazing for a few hours a day and has had his work load increased he just gets 1 handful of alfa a unmollased for his calmer a day. although i prefer him a little tubby before clipped as he will drop some then no doubt!
I totally agree with whoever said routine is key and also i think them living out 24/7 doe shelp to keep weight on.
 
Mine is looking ok. He's got a bit of a tubby belly, but really needs the topline, so doing lots of hillwork etc, you know the drill!

He's on..
1 scoop Alfa A oil, 3/4 scoop TopSpec Cool Cond. Cubes, 1/2 scoop TopSpec Super Cond. Flakes and PinkPowder twice a day. He's got adlib haylage and out on not so great quality grass (hence provided haylage). Adding speedibeet to this in winter.

Only started him on TopSpec stuff about 4/5 weeks ago, and its definately made a great improvement already. He's a really fussy eater, and nothing I gave him before made a difference (Tried him on various diff conditioning feeds!) but hopefully found one that works now.
 
Rounded :p

I'm cheating tho as he's on box rest due to being a typical self harming tb and he's picked up a stack (seems he doesn't like being out anyway). He's on hay, alfa a oil and high fibre nuts and pink powder.
1.5 scoops of alpha a oil, 1.5 scoops of pink powder and 1/3 scoop of high fibre nuts (D&H) fed twice a day. He pootles round the yard hand grazing for an hour a day during the week and a good 4 hours on a weekend.

I am v happy with him, did notice he dropped a little when the weather turned so the wuss has a stable rug on too (thin one) :)

Both drop quickly if there's a change in temp, even a couple of degrees will make a difference.

T'other one on loan is also looking well, not as fat at the other but he gets a scoop of barley, scoop of sugarbeet and a scoop of topline cubes a day and is out 24/7 :)
 
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My older boy has dropped a lot of weight despite good teeth and some nights Im even putting a MW rug on him. I can see his ribs and everything :(
 
Mine is looking quite skinny! However a little fatter than when I got him last month :) His ribs look slightly more covered - allthough they are still visible and he has hardly any topline :(

I feed him nearly a full scoop of Calm & Condition, 1 scoop of Alfa-A and some Pink Powder twice a day... It nearly fills his bucket!!... Feeding is his favorite time of the day :rolleyes:
 
Two words - bloody awful :mad::(

Our temperatures went from 31C to 11C in 24 hours :confused: The sun has gone to the West Coast it would appear :mad: The tb and one of the arabs got fluffy and tucked up over night, now both in LW's.

Feed hasn't changed, they have ad-lib hay and are both on Veteran cubes.
 
My tb is looking really well, although he does all winter also. Whether he's just that way or I'v got the balance of feed and rugging perfect for him I don't know, but I don't want to risk it by changing anything!! Although I was tempted to give the new mollichaff condition a go! At the moment he gets half a scoop of happy hoof, half a scoop of high fibe nuts, with pink powder and some linseed oil twice a day. When the temp drops a bit more he'll be on a scoop of mollichaff calmer, half a scoop of calm and condition (which is fab!) and pink powder and a glug of corn oil twice daily. He'll be coming in over night also then with ad lib hay. At the moment he's in a lw rug but soon he'll be well and truly wrapped up for the arctic!!
 
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