lovely laid back pony, now we need some oomph!! Feed advice please

dsth

dsth

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We have the most lovely laid back pony 14hh Welsh D cross, he is rising 7 and has been through the teenager phase and now has settled to be the loveliest boy, very kind laid back, well behaved but also slow off the leg, has been schooled, XC is great cos its open space i suppose and he loves his hunting he is strong then until he wears himself out, but showjumping is an effort, my son is 12 and needs to ride him very strongly around the course, his riding ability has really come on, he needs a more forward pony now but he hasnt outgrown our lovely pony has another 2 years on him i would say, I am hoping to tweek with food, advice please, we have tried adding some tiger oats to his original food which for the summer now is Alpha A with Spillers conditioning Mix and cubes, the tiger oats made no difference and we went upto a big scoop each feed with the other, Haylage in the winter when stabled at night made him fizzy - that was lovely and is wot we are looking for now without the haylage! Have tried the slow release Competition Mix by Spillers - saw no difference. Recommendations most welcome please, Instructor recommends trying a fast release competition mix? Which brand is recommended for results? This pony works quite hard doing Pony Club stuff, Tetrathlon & Hunter Trials (all great its his thing) would like to do some Show Jumping if we can get some Ooomph! He jumps very lazily but never stops or refuses and just about clears jumps unless a stick is used and lots and lots of leg, completely different in field at home tho I hasten to add -arent they all i hear you say! :D
 
My boy was like this, oates and comp mix made no diffeence. Saw a huge improvement with red cell, but only after about 6 weeks of feeding it and also top spec comprehensive balancer. Both provided my lazy horse with lots of stamina and motivation to work.
 
Sunflower oil! From the supermarket so very cheap :) It has worked wonders for my lazy pony. Worth a try before you go spending lots of money on bags of feed. I found that gives the 'sparkle'.

For added stamina, Staypower Cubes are good. But defo try the oil first.
 
Only thing is that if your pony is fine in XC and hunting but strong, if you up the feed, might that make him a real handful when he goes out XC again?

He sounds like he is fit enough, just not motivated. What does your trainer say about schooling the pony so he is more off the leg? or would your son be secure enough to wear spurs?

Would be careful about the red cell or propell (cheaper version) as when I have fed it in under the weather horses, once they were back to normal they were definately a bit hyper when left on it!
 
I used Nupafeed staying power a few years ago on my mare to give her more stamina! It did help give her loads more energy in the summer. it has really good reviews.
I find that my mare gets bored quite easily and switches off so I have to vary her work load as much as possible! Hacking, show jumping, schooling, blast round field with other horses helps loads as she gets very excited in company.
She is also a very good doer so I keep her weight down and feed her a lo cal balancer so that she has minerals and vitamins and find that this helps to give her enough energy to do what I want.
 
Thank you all for your help, you know wot I think i have worked it out myself, this pony has a temperament to die for like a cuddly teddy, he is a big character, he loves XC, he adores hunting (no stopping him then - too strong etc), he hates Schooling and he loathes Showjumping, Rallies or lessons in an indoor school puts on his bored face and drags his heels looking very disinterested, more keen in a showring and very keen in the field at home, arent they all! Instructor says he needs more schooling to respond off the leg, but he hates schooling i said, she said it must be done, "schooling, schooling and more schooling is the answer" she says, my son is only 12 i dont want him to ride in spurs he has to learn to ride harder but he is bored with schooling also and i am too heavy for the pony :( last summer we had a girl come and school him 3 times a week he looked lovely but no difference in being more forward off the leg unless she was riding him. If i start messing about with the feed it could make him unmanageable in the open field and cross country. I think we do need to work on his fitness and stamina, shall lead him out off my horse when i ride and my son can still ride him for an hour in the evenings and compete at weekends. Shall try a Competition Mix but go steady with it and see how it goes ;)
 
Ali27 said:
I used Nupafeed staying power a few years ago on my mare to give her more stamina! It did help give her loads more energy in the summer. it has really good reviews.
I find that my mare gets bored quite easily and switches off so I have to vary her work load as much as possible! Hacking, show jumping, schooling, blast round field with other horses helps loads as she gets very excited in company.
She is also a very good doer so I keep her weight down and feed her a lo cal balancer so that she has minerals and vitamins and find that this helps to give her enough energy to do what I want.
Click to expand...

Thanks to Ali27 I've been using Nupafeed staying power for the last couple of weeks and can honestly say its made a huge difference. I was worried at first it would fizz her up to much...it hasnt and she is now perfect. It started to work just after a couple of days and is really helping me to keep her weight down as well. Huge thanks for the recommendation.
 
Shall have a research now on Nupafeed that sounds just wot we need thanks for your info plus extra work on fitness and stamina and intermixing his activities to prevent boredom, we may have to order it here have not seen it for sale in my local stockists but shall ask them;)
 
Glad nupafeed staying power is working for you Jo! I am going to buy some again ready for when my daughter does PC camp. Her pony is very feisty and forward going but lacks stamina when doing x country! She was exhausted by the end of camp last year! I am just going to use it for a few days before hunter trials for my mare too!
 
Nupafeed can only be ordered online from their store. It is pricy but cuts out the need for hard feed as you can just put in chaff. The only downside is it needs feeding twice a day which I struggled with as my mare was on part livery at the time and it has to be added at the last minute so had to reply on yard doing it in morning. I think it is definitely worth using for a few days before an event as this is definitely the most economical way to use it.
 
Ali27 said:
Glad nupafeed staying power is working for you Jo! I am going to buy some again ready for when my daughter does PC camp. Her pony is very feisty and forward going but lacks stamina when doing x country! She was exhausted by the end of camp last year! I am just going to use it for a few days before hunter trials for my mare too!
Click to expand...

We had exactly same problem at PC Camp last year, went to see wot they had been doing on the last day - a sort of display with XC and SJ for all the parents, well the pony looked almost dead he could hardly break into a canter! Camp was for 5 days and they had 4 hrs plus each day of instruction,- 2hrs in morning and 2 hrs in afternoon, shall have to revise feed for this year, I was also advised of electrolytes, to help replace the salt, obviously the pony had sweated after being worked hard each day, i thought he was quite fit last year but shall be trying to make sure he is more prepared for the onslaught this year, took him a week to recover when we got him home! Nupafeed stuff sounds very good, thanks again;)
 
Ha ha - PC camp definitely wipes them out and our pony lost weight too! We had her on power and performance and electrolytes but she was still exhausted by the last day and trotted some of the x country course which is not like her! I def think the staying power is the solution for PC camp! I will probably start feeding it a week beforehand as it doesn't take long to work!
 
Approx how much did you give your mare Ali27, and what height/weight was she?
Thinking of trialling this with my 15.1 cob to prevent her dying on me in summer dressage tests. Could this be fed for odd one-off events like this?
 
My mare is 15hh and aprox 500kg. Sorry but it was a while ago so can't remember how much I gave her but I know it was twice a day and their recommended amount for a horse. One litre lasted a month for continuous use. You can just use it for special events though and need to feed it a few days before. I would email them and ask their advice. I always got the 3 litre bottle as it was the same postage as 1 litre. However, I then put some in a smaller bottle as I was paranoid about spilling and wasting it.
 
Baileys outshine
propell plus
redcell
soyal oil
and of cause oats
dodson mixed flakes also but best in winter as puts on weight tool


all these can add omphh
 
How much work is he getting?

Improving fitness by increasing work helps a great deal to spark up a quiet pony.

Another thing to consider is that although your son is using his legs to rde him forward is he just repeatedly tapping the pony or actively and mentally using his legs to increase forwardness. I've found that sometimes lazy ponies work better ehrn the rider uses the brain (positive thinking) such as "You will trot on NOW' rather than "pleeease trot on my legs hurt"

Otherwise the oats sounded like they were doing the job, if two scoops fires him up too much then reduce the amount until you get the reaction you want. Flaked maize is also good for fast energy and you can control just how much you give him. Maize is often used by racehorse trainers for a few days before a race.

Oils are slow release - suitable for horses that do long periods of work such as endurance horses.

Sometimes having the pony in and off all food for an hour before riding can perk them up.
 
Thanks Ali27. Very tempted to try a bottle but as you say will speak to Nupafeed first, see what dosage they suggest for pre-comp energy!
 
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