Keeping weight on your hunter

[Kat]

I am only an occasional hunter, but thoroughly enjoy it when I get out.

My mare can be difficult to keep condition on, this winter we seemed to have cracked it and she had a decent cover over her ribs although her quarters could have been better covered until we went hunting yesterday. ........

We had a fabulous day and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves but this evening my mare was looking a bit ribby.

So what do you think I should do to keep the weight on when we hunt? I don't want to change my feed regime completely as we only hunt occasionally but I would like to prevent her dropping off. She is pretty fit but doesn't do much fast work day to day.

She finished the day tired but not exhausted, at no point was she lathered with sweat and she was still up for it at the end of the day, the only clue to her tiredness was that she was starting to lean and pull.

Any tips or suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[AdorableAlice]

Linseed. The season is all but over now.

 

[EAST KENT]

Soya flakes I have been told are something of a miracle worker for keeping top line on a horse

 

[Kat]

She gets linseed already it is ghe reason we have kept her looking good this year! I could give her an extra scoop on hunting days though. ......

I will only get out once more this year but want a plan in place because keeping weight on is such a battle. I don't want to risk a hat rack horse next year!

 

[AdorableAlice]

Equi Jewel can be useful.

 

[Goldenstar]

I feed mine add lib haylage speedibeet , linseed , crushed oats mixed with chopped straw or alfalfa .
Tats runs up I increase his oats up to three kilos per day and his linseed to six hundred grammes .
He gets about one and a half scopes of speedibeet when working hard .
It key to him is too feed him when he will eat .
He has a small bale of haylege a day .
And likes to eat hard food at night so we accommodate him.

 

[Kat]

GS that is very similar to what I feed, when you say you increase the oats to 3kg do you mean for the whole season or just when required?

I am happy that I can keep weight on normally so I don't want to change my feed for every day just stop her dropping on hunting days. But I am also cautious about changing her feed too drastically and risking tying up or something.

Could I safely give her more oats and linseed the day before and the morning of hunting and then drop down to normal rations the day after?

 

[jess_asterix]

Dengie Alfa Beet is great for keeping weight on.

 

[TGM]

Do you think some of the perceived 'weight loss' is actually her tucking up and perhaps being a bit dehydrated? If you think about it, they go for a long period of time without forage when they are hunting - more so if they are the type who take some time to unwind afterwards and spend more time looking for hounds than munching their haynet! With little/no fibre in their belly they can look very tucked up and lean immediately after hunting.

 

[Goldenstar]

GS that is very similar to what I feed, when you say you increase the oats to 3kg do you mean for the whole season or just when required?

I am happy that I can keep weight on normally so I don't want to change my feed for every day just stop her dropping on hunting days. But I am also cautious about changing her feed too drastically and risking tying up or something.

Could I safely give her more oats and linseed the day before and the morning of hunting and then drop down to normal rations the day after?

I would increase the speedibeet before hunting and perhaps the linseed .
My horses tend to hunt a lot so when doing two days a week they will be getting three kilos oats a day well the slim one is the rest don't need it .
It's hard when you are doing the odd day and you always have to have azorturia in the back of your mind if you increase before work.
Perhaps you should increase how much you give her coming into next season and see how it goes .
However if a horses does a long hard days work verses normal it will lose weight it's normal.

 

[Kat]

Do you think some of the perceived 'weight loss' is actually her tucking up and perhaps being a bit dehydrated? If you think about it, they go for a long period of time without forage when they are hunting - more so if they are the type who take some time to unwind afterwards and spend more time looking for hounds than munching their haynet! With little/no fibre in their belly they can look very tucked up and lean immediately after hunting.

I don't think it is just tucking up as I really noticed it on Monday evening when we had been hunting on the Sunday afternoon. So plenty of time for her to rehydrate and eat up, she had the night in the stable and the day out in the field. Plus it wasn't just her belly looking lean she was looking a bit ribby.

 

[Kat]

I would increase the speedibeet before hunting and perhaps the linseed .
My horses tend to hunt a lot so when doing two days a week they will be getting three kilos oats a day well the slim one is the rest don't need it .
It's hard when you are doing the odd day and you always have to have azorturia in the back of your mind if you increase before work.
Perhaps you should increase how much you give her coming into next season and see how it goes .
However if a horses does a long hard days work verses normal it will lose weight it's normal.

Thanks, if we manage the last meet I will give her extra beet and linseed the day before and in the morning. I have upped the linseed to try and put some weight back on anyway. And next autumn I will see if I can get a bit more weight on beforehand so it matters less if she drops off.

 

[Kat]

Dengie Alfa Beet is great for keeping weight on.

She won't eat it, she is very fussy, and I think when I checked it was lower energy than speedibeet anyway.

 

[Clodagh]

I would add oil as well. Can you feed her several times a day? That way you can more food down as well.

 

[maccachic]

Oats, but if weight is dropping that quickly Id be checking her comfort pain normally causes a rapid drop in weight.

Our SB hunts on just lucerne and supplement my TB needed oats and my new WB will get oats if she needs them.

 

[Kat]

I would add oil as well. Can you feed her several times a day? That way you can more food down as well.

She already has micronised linseed, so oil wouldn't do anything that the linseed can't. I can feed her three times a day if necessary and did do when she stressed off a load of weight last year due to a change in stable. I don't generally need to day to day, so not sure how I would work this just to keep weight on on days when we hunt......

 

[Kat]

Oats, but if weight is dropping that quickly Id be checking her comfort pain normally causes a rapid drop in weight.

Our SB hunts on just lucerne and supplement my TB needed oats and my new WB will get oats if she needs them.

I have no reason to suspect pain, she was happy and sound all day, she was carefully checked that night and the next day and didn't appear stiff sore or uncomfortable. Her saddle fits well. She works well in the school and on long hacks when not hunting and looks shiny and well. She is difficult to keep weight on and drops weight easily, but she has always been like this, and her weight has been better this winter than any other. I am not one to avoid calling the vet if it is needed but I can't think of anything to suggest she is in pain.

 

[spotty_pony]

Baileys Outshine helped keep the weight on my boy this winter

 

[Addicted to Hunting]

Mine is feed Top Spec, did her last day yesterday and prop nearly looks too well! I do think it's harder when they aren't hunting all the time though, as they get more excited mine took a while to get settled into it. My old pony was a bit off a nightmare to keep the weight on as even going all the time she was just soo excited that would literally lose weight on the way and tuck up looking ribby, for a couple of days. I would say that she could well still be tucked up. I also feed mine salt and I think that makes a massive difference, I feed it every day.

 

[tinker88]

we feed sharps to some horses and also alot of oil as recommened by our vet. lots of calories and good fats without the fizz

 

[JenHunt]

we use micronised linseed, alfalfa oil, and usually speedibeet (but Tom has decided that speedibeet is evil, so we've resorted to fastfibre this season), with pink powder to keep their guts happy. They also get adlib haylage.

I have also used full fat soya meal in the past, and that works well too, but it's more difficult to get hold of!

 

[PolarSkye]

Copra. It has picked Kal up no end.

P

 

[The wife]

Until this last season I have struggled terribly with one of my liveries hunters and his weight... tried everything but this season I hope we cracked it! calm and condition and conditioning cubes, good scoop of each split into 3 feeds, a good heaped dry weight scoop of both per feed. Ad- lib soaked hay (he gets seasonal COPD) and good turnout . Milk powder if he's starting to look a little lighter.

 

[Festive_Felicitations]

My horse drops weight really easily (can loose kilos over night if he gets stressed!) and I noticed after a days hunting he would look a bit skinny.

I was hunting once a week on average and as he ties-up it made feeding a bit challenging. What I found worked best was a) accept that he was going to loose a bit of weight hunting and not overly stress and b) the day before and the day after up his roughage (hay and chaff) and give him 2 hard feeds a day instead of one. It didn't stop the weight loss but lessened it and meant he recovered more quickly. I couldn't up his feeds all week or I'd risk him tying-up.

Yes his weight did go up and down a bit over the week, which was less than ideal, but he always looks good as new by the time the next hunt rolled round and he comes/came out of winter looking and feeling great not skinny or run-down.