Last post about feed, I promise!

[katie_and_toto]

For a 14.1hh connemara x, 13 years old, he's about 460kg at the moment, a bit of a fatty! He's a good doer in the summer.

However he loses weight in the winter so he has haylage instead of hay, last year he had chaff and a vit/min supplement, which he did well on, I think it was the haylage as he had that for the first time last year. But, want to drop the supplememt and go for a feed that will provide them instead. Felt a bit mean only giving him chaff but steered clear of mixes as pasture mix sends him loopy. In the summer he's quite steady and sometimes lazy, but in the winter he does get sharp once he's clipped, in November, so we need a feed to go with his Hi-Fi Lite that will provide all of his vits and mins and that will maintain his weight, but won't make him fizzy. We were recommended Fast Fibre by Allen & Page, thoughts?

Any ideas?
Here's the dude himself, looking all prettyful

Thanks

 

[milliepops]

Never used Fast Fibre, but if you want to feed him 'something' why not try a balancer? My friend feeds her highland just some Baileys LoCal and he looks really well on it. Plenty of energy and not silly. Plus it is pelletted so really easy to feed.

 

[Lolo]

In the summer, I'd cut back pretty much any non-essential- local balancer is good, as is a good-doer mix with chaff. Then, over winter, bulk out his feed (we use alpha beet and it keeps the weight on my neurotic TB) and up his hay a bit. And mean only giving chaff? Our competiton pony spent chunks of the summer on chaff with little hard feed (ERS) because she's a good doer!

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Swap your hifi for Happy Hoof - it coantains all the vits and minerals he will need.

 

[katie_and_toto]

milliepops- have had several people say Lo-Cal but in the winter he needs high calorie intake to keep the weight on

 

[Lolo]

Honestly- happy hoof and alpha beet in good doses will keep him looking fine without whizzing him. It keeps a neurotic TB who is almost prehistoric and prone to looking like a hatrack in the summer looking well. One good way to prevent your pony dropping weight is to keep him fit throughout the year so he doesn''t carry fat but muscle. That way, if he's fed adequate amounts but worked hard he won't drop weight but also won't get fizzed up. What level of work do you do with him over the winter?

 

[katie_and_toto]

Hmm I meant that the chaff with the supplement didn't look very appealing at all, so would rather give him something that he actually wants to eat if you get what I mean. Sometimes he'd leave it, eat his hay and then eventually eat it, and also the Hi-Fi at the recommended rate for a 14hh cob is ridiculously huge, like a whole bucket full for light work!

So we'd use the chaff as a bulker for the Fast Fibre or whatever, without the vit/min supplement as the FF contains it all

 

[katie_and_toto]

Reluctant to use Alpha-Beet as have had some people saying that it made their horses fizzy. Oh he's fit, a bit chubby right now but still relatively fit

In the winter his workload is a bit less than summer because of the ground etc. so he's probably going to be worked 4-5 days a week, weather permitting! So that's schooling, jumping, hacking, small comps etc. The thing is though, I don't want him to get fizzy at all as he gets a bit sharp in the winter, he sort of goes a bit daft after he's clipped