Is he getting enough?

[Hovis_and_SidsMum]

Hovis is my 15.3HH Cylesdale cross. He's just 5 years old and is being worked about 4 -5 times a week. A combination of schooling, hacking and jumping. His schooling and jumping sessions last about 30 minutes.
When i got him he was on carrots, 1 scoop of pasture mix and 1 scoop of chaff twice a day which I have continued. He is out all day grazing and has two hay nets at night - he doesn't usually finish them both.
As you can imagine from his breed he's a big lad and is now really starting to muscle up. His weight has dropped slightly but my YO says that he's losing his "puppy fat" and is fittening up. Before I got him he'd never really done anything and had been shipped from ireland.
So my question is - does that sound about right food wise for him or not? Hubby has said that pasture mix is a baby food and that he won't be getting enough from it? I haven't got a clue about feeds (which is why I kept him on what he was on). Should I be changing him to something else?

 

[AmyMay]

How does he feel when you ride him, and how does he look in himself??

 

[lexiedhb]

If its working, and he doesnt continue to lose lots more weight, then I'd be inclined to stick with it. If he continues to lose weight or gets really lethargic then think about changing it... but as the old saying goes "if it aint broke dont fix it"!

 

[fairhill]

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Hubby has said that pasture mix is a baby food and that he won't be getting enough from it?

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Tell your hubby to stop talking nonsense! What you're feeding sounds perfectly fine, especially if Hovis is doing ok on it.
Pasture mix is a good feed for leisure horses such as Hovis, and will be providing him with enough vit/minerals and energy for what you are doing with him

In fact I had to take my mare off pasture mix as it was providing her with a bit too much energy when I was breaking her in

 

[fairhill]

As an aside, if you want to learn a bit more about feeding, then take a look at Baileys horse owners feed knowledge award. It's free to take part, you get a t-shirt and jumper when you complete both parts of the course, and it's a great way to find out a bit more about feeding

http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/feedingexplained/hofka.htm

 

[Hovis_and_SidsMum]

I'd hoped hubby was talking cr*p!!
Hovis feels fine to ride but is certainly changing shape. He's starting to look like a horse now.
I'll keep an eye on his weight but was more concerend about the vitamins and minerals - i.e. was he getting the right amounts.

 

[fairhill]

If he's not getting enough vit/minerals then you'll find his coat might go dull, his feet may start crumbling, and he would be lethargic when exercised.

As a comparison for you, my 6 year old mare gets half a round scoop of safe and sound (which is a glorified chaff) twice a day, and a couple of carrots. She's extremely fit, well-covered and healthy on this diet, despite not getting a mix, balancer or supplement.

 

[TGM]

As regards vit/min intake, check what amount of pasture mix the manufacturers recommend for a horse of his size and workload. Most manufacturers will put this on the bag, or alternatively most have phone or email helplines. If you are feeding the full amount of mix you can be pretty sure he is getting the full RDA of vit/mins. If you are only feeding, say, half the recommended amount, then you could add half the recommended amount of a broad spectrum vit/min supplement if you want to ensure he gets all he needs.

 

[JenHunt]

Pasture mix is fairly concentrated in terms of its vits and mins - its kinda halfway between a balancer and a normal feed.

My guess is that Hovis is just finishing his maturing, like a teenager stopping looking teenagerish and looking like a young adult.

Don't worry about his weight changing slightly if he still looks ok and feels good. Just keep an eye that he doesn't get too thin. in that case i would try just increasing what he's on by a little bit to help him maintain his weight.

Like someone else said.... if it aint broke don't fix it.

 

[mickey]

My horse is 15.3hh IrishxTB. He works about 3 times a week - 45 min schooling/jumping sessions.
He is on 3/4 scp pasture mix, 1 large scoop plain chaff twice a day, plus a large net of haylage and a net of hay overnight- Basically ad-lib forage. Grazing all day.
I did have him on a scoop of sugarbeet in each feed as well, but I have just cut that back now that the grass is growing.
So, he's on pretty much the same as yours. Every horse is an individual though. I agree that if you need to up the feed a feed balancer would be good, or possibly alfafa instead of chaff. The ad-lib forage is very important. If you have a picture I could take a look.