Keeping weight on?

Cornish on the Cob

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When I got Bridie, previous owner told me she needs hard food all year round as she drops weight quickly which I have found to be true after owning her nearly a year. I am keeping up with her weight but it's a constant battle to keep a happy medium. She is on a scoop of pasture mix and a couple of handfuls of happy hoof which is just keeping her ticking over and she is healthy and shiny etc so could anyone advise me anything to add just to keep the weight on constantly rather than battling to keep it on. Something that won't make her fizzy as I'm just getting my confidence with my riding at the moment. I was thinking maybe speedi-beet but would love to hear any other suggestions. Thanks in advance :)
 

HuntingPink

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Unmollassed forage and unmollassed sugar beet are the best. Hard feed is for energy and Pasture Mix is like rocket fuel. I know plenty of cases where horses lost weight on hard feed but put weight on with forage. Pure feeds is very good for maintaining weight and condition. If you still need extra weight something like linseed or linseed oil is very good.

A lot of people swear by Thunderbrook which seems to be linseed based and also recommends bean and oats. I'm not sure about it to be honest but have seen some good before and after photos.
 

Kat

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My horse drops weight easily too so I feel your pain. I've switched to pure feeds and whilst it is a bit too early to tell what it is doing for her weight it is reassuring that everything is in one bag and it is low sugar and low starch.
 

Cornish on the Cob

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My horse drops weight easily too so I feel your pain. I've switched to pure feeds and whilst it is a bit too early to tell what it is doing for her weight it is reassuring that everything is in one bag and it is low sugar and low starch.

That is exactly what I'm looking for. Something in one bag as I get confused with 'scoop of this, and a half a scoop of that, and soak this and that!' I don't mind two things, but it just gets too confusing! All in one bag woul be great!
 

Kat

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That is exactly what I'm looking for. Something in one bag as I get confused with 'scoop of this, and a half a scoop of that, and soak this and that!' I don't mind two things, but it just gets too confusing! All in one bag woul be great!

Have a look at the pure feeds website, you can get a diet plan from them but it is pretty straight forward. Mine has the pure condition, I order direct from the website and it is delivered in with the price. It doesn't look cheap but when I worked it out and allowed for the fact that I don't need any suppliments and I don't need to drive to the feed merchant I decided that it actually wasn't bad. Mine has 2kg a day of feed in total now, compared to more than double that when she was on cubes, beet, chaff etc.
 

zaminda

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I'm not a huge fan of mixes, too much barley for me. I use a chaff based diet and add equilibra. Outshine or equijewel are great too. Mine won't eat much oil, so I have to go with solids. I also use alfa beet, rather than speedi beet.
 
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