how much fast fibre?

[potty_4_piebalds]

Hi everyone,

I have got a mini shetland i have had her since october last year I fed her just a small handful of happy hoof and hay through the winter and she done well on it but have been looking at fast fibre as a few people have reccomended it.

how much should i feed??

she gets lunge/free-schooled twice a week small amount of plodding around with 2 year old on board and walks out in hand round the village every couple of weeks

she is just having soaked hay and i have sectioned her paddock so she has just got a garden as my little boy calls it! and is out at night in during the day.

she is just a nice weight but i feel she needs something for her vits/mins.

 

[AngieandBen]

Hi, mine just has a couple of handfuls of fast fibre plus I buy Equibites which are vitamin and mineral little biscuits you buy in a tub. made by Dodson and Horrell you will only need to feed about 4 a day, I think the're around £8 a tub, should last at least a month

 

[SmartieBean09]

Fast Fibre is low calorie but high in fibre. You need to feed 1.5kg (1 stubbs scoop) in order to supply all of the necessary vits and mins. 1 scoop will swell up once the water is added (2 scoops of water per 1 scoop of feed) to atleast 1/3 of a feed bucket which you may feel is too much for her.

Perhaps try her with 1/2 a scoop for now and add a vit/min supplement.

I used to feed 3 scoops of FF in with my hay replacer but when she started eating hay again and have a "normal" breakfast and dinner, I just added 2 mug fulls. This swelled up lots and gave the impression I was feeding lots. However my pony thrived on it and it was a good way of getting water into her system.

 

[TGM]

If she is a good doer then will probably be better to feed a vit/min supplement of some sort, mixed with a minimal amount of feed, as explained above you will have to feed quite a bit of the Fast Fibre to give her the required amount of vit/mins.

The Equibites mentioned above are good in that you can feed them by hand like a treat rather than mix into feed.

 

[texel]

I have a mini Sheltand and he has hay in the winter and all year round access to a Rocky's mineral lick which provides all the minerals he needs.

He also enjoys the odd pear, apple and carrot. He doesn't need any extra anything in the way of feed and has plenty of energy. Shetlands have evolved to withstand extreme weather conditions and to optimise what little nutrients they can get their muzzles on. He got through the entire winter on this regime.