Low calorie feeds for good doer?...

[K95]

Hi all. My welsh X has lived out his whole life - he's not obese but definitely on the chubbier side. He's 3 so not in work. Recently just moved him to a stable where he'll be able to use turnout as soon as he's been wormed.

I'm wanting to try him on Rigcalm supplement (just a low dose) as I've heard good reviews - he's not great to handle due to the fact he's lived out his whole life with 0 handling (rescue!) and the fact he's gathered there's mares on the yard, in addition to time in a stable, it's all so new to him.

I've tried mixing the power with grated fruit/veg and blended fruit/veg but he just refuses. Is there any feed people can reccomend I can give to him thats low calorie and not really going to do any harm to give a small amount per day purely to get the supplement into him? TIA

 

[be positive]

My fussier ones tend to be happy enough eating soaked grassnuts which is easy to add supplements to but you need to get him happy eating a feed out of a bucket before very slowly adding a supplement, as he is not used to being handled I guess he has not been fed from a bucket previously so he needs to learn that is a pleasant experience and some take a while, he will probably improve more from being handled properly than from any supplement.

Just to add most very low calorie feeds are pretty tasteless so may not be enough to tempt him, a tiny amount of something higher calorie and tasty is often the better solution.

 

[Leo Walker]

pink mash is 0.5% sugar and less than 4% starch and is the lowest I've found. A small amount also fluffs up a fair bit as well. Mine is ridiculously fussy but will eat pink mash at least in the winter, but some horses don't like it. You can get a sample to try from keyflow.

 

[ester]

For mixing purposes soaked is usually better and I'd probably see if my friends had any I could try/borrow though you can probably get small samples.
My go tos would be meadow magic, fast fibre or pink mash.
My own fussy welsh very much like agrobs wiesencobs too which are fed soaked but less easy to get hold of.

 

[Aoife 2020]

Speedi beet is brilliant for good doers it’s sugar free