Made to feel uncomfortable

Murphy has virtually the same, one scoop of hifi lite and a handful of speedibeet. He lives out 24/7 and competed successfully all summer on this. His previous owner field mastered on him and the only feed he had was alfa a and sugar beet.
As long as your mare is looking well, don't worry about it.
 
Just ignore her, if it ever comes up again just tell her you would rather your horse was in good condition and not obese and that your feeding regime works for you and your horse.
My horse gets quite alot of feed but its not got alot of calories in it so I only give him the amount I do as a bit of extra bulk and roughage but I could easily cut him right down and put him on a higher calorie diet.
At the end of the day it's none of her business, it's your horse and she sounds fit and well.
 
Rise above it, if it's me who happens to be on the radar that week, I get moaned at for all manner of things, from the fact I hide sliced carrot in my just grass, to the way I brush my horse's tail, to my noseband choice. I take great pride that my horse care comes under such scrutiny, and assume that if that is all there is to moan about, the major things that actually matter are completely without fault! :)
 
Maybe you've taken it the wrong way: perhaps YO was surprised having expected same as everyone else (with a long long list of complicated instructions with this suppliment and that suppliment and half a scoop of this a scoop of that). If I was YO I'd have been please it was simple, presuming she charges the same regardless of how complicated the feed regime!
 
Are you sure YO meant it the way you took it, could it be that she is used to the other horses being given hard feed that they don't need so was more surprised than anything rather than thinking you were not giving enough. I cannot believe that anyone would think you were wrong in feeding a token when you feed as much haylage as the horse can eat. Stick to your guns in any case, it sounds like your girl is just fine and forage is the best if they are doing well on it.
 
EAST KENT said:
Not surprised..it`s not very much is it? Those are just fillers to add to the "main meal",be it just grass nuts ,oats or whatever.Reduce your ,presumably, ad lib haylage and add in a bit more interesting stuff to her feeds.At the the moment she is getting a sandwich without the filler.
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Goodness me you'd flip at what Genie gets then... a handful of happy hoof and about half a handful of cool mix once a day, and that is it. In the winter she gets as much hay/haylage (I mix it) as she can eat and as a result she has a healthy gut and is not overweight. I hate to think what her waistline would be if she was fed the 'recommended amount'.

OP - Maybe YO was surprised at what you feed because their own horses have lots of different feeds due to competing. :) Anyhow, it will blow over before you know it! :)
 
EAST KENT said:
Not surprised..it`s not very much is it? Those are just fillers to add to the "main meal",be it just grass nuts ,oats or whatever.Reduce your ,presumably, ad lib haylage and add in a bit more interesting stuff to her feeds.At the the moment she is getting a sandwich without the filler.
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Please tell me this is a joke post?

OP never reduce your horses adlib haylage - that is the roughage she needs to keep her gut moving (said for EK rather than the OP lol). As long as she is getting good quality forage; dried or otherwise, she shouldn't need much hard feed (if any) if she is a good dooer. Just a little chaff to mix some vits in (but if your haylage is nutritionally assessed as balanced you may not even need this)

My 2p's worth...
 
Some people are shocked at what I feed my two for example;

B (16.1hh ISH) is worked 5 days a week, goes SJ,hacking, XC etc is FAT and has a lovely shiney coat (not bad for a white grey!) and is VERY well in himself

All he gets fed is a handfull of happy hoof, a cup of cool mix and a cup of speedibeet aswell as his equivite 2x a day.


I think SOME people forget that a horses stomach is very small and it cannot diest more than 1 1/2 stubbs scoop of hard feed per meal.
 
I agree with the other posters about your feed, only you know what is right. I have to say I did re-read the comment about the YM reaction, and I don't think it was ment in the way you have taken it. I think she may have been amazed how simple it was. I wouldn't worry too much.
 
In case you have failed to notice ..grass nuts ARE fibre,the reason to add them in is simply to vary the feeds and make them more appealing.There is nothing wrong with "the old way" (or correct way) of feeding,and as for adding all these silly additives..WHY?? With a decent diet there is no need whatsoever.If I gave my two just what this one is having I would get a pained look,and quite probably they would leave it.Obviously an animal not i much work does`nt need oats,but grass for grass nuts is cut at it`s peak nutrition and therefore can make up for deficiences in hay that may not be of "racehorse" quality.
Seems to me ,instead of taking offence at the YO maybe something could be learnt from her greater experience.
 
Hi, if your horse is carrying enough weight and has enough energy for work then id stick as you are.
People are just set in a one track mind that you must feed a mix or nuts with chaff, it doesn't have to be that way, I feed mine both as he'd loose weight without the mix, but my mother inlaw only feeds mashed up mix as her 36yr old pony cant eat chaff, a lot of people wouldn't like that either.
Id go back to the yard owner and ask her if she thinks your horse looks like she needs anything extra, in a nice way, and then she'l think your wanting her advice which will make her feel a lot better, and if she says to stick her on a mix then just say she's not lacking energy or weight so how else will mix benefit her, as see what her reply is then.
Some people just like you to do what they think is best for your horse.
The only thing I may want to add to your horses diet in the winter in a multi vitamin suppliment as there is no godness in the grass in winter and not much in hay, but its totally your choice.
Dont take too much to heart over it, look at it in the way that she may now be thinking she's wasting money and feeding hers too much if yours looks so good with out the added mix!
 
well my ex boss must be really really cruel his 4star horse(plus most of his others) at sydney olympics was fed 1 scoop of cool mix 3x a day plus oil and supps and ad lib hay, if i remember rightly Mark Todds horse Eyespy was fed only carrots plus supps ad lib hay!! and both horses completed and Todd won a medal!!
Its an animal you have to adapt feeding regimes for YOUR horse!!
I read it in a book so it must be true......
How come the cases of lamintus is increasing yearly horse are being fed too much and doing too little!!
A bit of commonsense goes a long way!!
 
EAST KENT said:
In case you have failed to notice ..grass nuts ARE fibre,the reason to add them in is simply to vary the feeds and make them more appealing.There is nothing wrong with "the old way" (or correct way) of feeding,and as for adding all these silly additives..WHY?? With a decent diet there is no need whatsoever.If I gave my two just what this one is having I would get a pained look,and quite probably they would leave it.Obviously an animal not i much work does`nt need oats,but grass for grass nuts is cut at it`s peak nutrition and therefore can make up for deficiences in hay that may not be of "racehorse" quality.
Seems to me ,instead of taking offence at the YO maybe something could be learnt from her greater experience.
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EAST-KENT, if you re-read the OP you'll note that nowhere does it complain that Fleur doesn't eat up her ration with gusto or appear unhappy with it. If yours are happy eating up a ration of oats and grass nuts then brilliant, but from my experience grass nuts can be a tad un-palatable; often being rather bitter. Perhaps Fleur would give a pained look, and quite probably leave it if that were offered to her. "Each to their own", I believe they say!

Also, "silly additives" (i.e. a decent all-round multi-vit/min supplement) can be suggested as a precaution for a horse which isn't receiving the recommended levels of a supplemented feed product i.e. mix, cube, balancer or supplemented forage-based feed. Few of us can be positive our forage-only (or forage-majority) diets offer a complete and comprehensive supply of every micro-nutrient necessary for the long-term wellbeing of our horse/s. (And BTW, I certainly don't advocate the use of masses of supplementary products and believe many of them are simply a marketing ploy to make money.)

OP, a few posts have suggested that your YO may have been merely expressing surprise that you didn't hand her a toilet-roll length of feeding instructions!!! Maybe a valid point. Could you possible have mis-construed her comment and assumed the worse? Hope so :)
 
EAST KENT said:
In case you have failed to notice ..grass nuts ARE fibre,the reason to add them in is simply to vary the feeds and make them more appealing.There is nothing wrong with "the old way" (or correct way) of feeding,and as for adding all these silly additives..WHY?? With a decent diet there is no need whatsoever.If I gave my two just what this one is having I would get a pained look,and quite probably they would leave it.Obviously an animal not i much work does`nt need oats,but grass for grass nuts is cut at it`s peak nutrition and therefore can make up for deficiences in hay that may not be of "racehorse" quality.
Seems to me ,instead of taking offence at the YO maybe something could be learnt from her greater experience.
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As they are cut at the peak, grass nuts are also higher in protein and energy(although slow release) than most competition mixes and are why I feed to my grain intolerant competition horse and aren't the best feed for light work horses unless they need to GAIN weight!
 
Mine live out 24/7 and get a token feed of half a scoop of fast fibre and a balancer as grazing is plentiful but pretty rubbish. One is a hardy TB x connie worked once or twice a week rugged and clipped, the other is an 18yr old Welsh A companion unrugged.

I think what you are feeding is absolutely fine, I maybe would add a general supplement if your grazing isnt very good and you felt she needed a bit extra but if her coat is shiny and supple and her feet strong and droppings of a good consistency then I wouldnt worry too much. Ignore your yard owner - there seems to be a lot of pressure to be feeding high amounts of commercialised products when in 90% of cases its not needed and a fibre based diet with a good vit/min supp is alll that is needed.
 
OP I do feel for you, its always horrible when someone more experienced than you is slightly derisory. However, arent we blowing this up a little bit. I dont want to get at you, far from it, you asked for advice because you felt rotten and I will never knock that. However, for gods sake, like said above, if it aint broke, dont fix it. If your horse is fine on what he is fed then great.

Mini TX's eventer is fed,when fully fit and in work just two scoops of economy mix a day. SHe is a good doer and as long as she gets this, plus adlib hay and turnout, she has enough energy to compete at Novice level. Breeding is WB/TB. Most of the other liveries on our yard, who compete, as pretty envious as our feed bill is less than £14.00 a month, and that includes my cob.

The horse world is far too judgemental, including some of the people who post on here, just carry on and dont worry.
 
OP, if your horse is happy then just carry on with it and ignore the YO. Just because she was an experienced eventer doesn't mean she is more experienced in horse care than you...I know plenty of eventing numpties don't worry :) Every horse is different, and there are some people that think they know it all.

My previous loan gelding got less than your mare. He was given half a scoop of chaff, quarter pony nuts and quarter sugarbeet once a day, ad lib hay, all day turnout. He was hacked out 6 days a week for a couple of hours, and worked quite hard with schooling out on hacks and plenty of fast work, as well as a few RC activities. Some people forget how small the horses stomach actually is!! It is designed to accommodate trickle feeding, little and often....not huge buckets of feed a couple of times a day. Otherwise the feed is pushed through the digestive system too quickly.

It is what works for your horse that is more important. There is a huge problem with over feeding in this country. I have a friend who actually has 6 eventers up to intermediate and feeds nothing but ad lib haylage and a handful of nuts to give them some vitamin supplements. Has made me think twice about what I feed mine!

.....Unless of course the YO meant "is that it? I don't have a humongous list of what goes in her feed"!! :)
 
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Take no notice so long as she's not underweight or lacking energy! My boy even when he's in moderate work only has a handful of chop with his supplements and a little oil, dread to think what she'd say to me!
On the other hand my elderly retired mare has 2-3 biggish feeds a day with chop, sugar beat and a senior mix in the winter, just to keep the weight on her :eek:
just depends on the horse ;)
 
Seville said:
Hi, OP,
Just playing Devils Advocate here....but do you think there is any chance your YO said what she said in the context of " Wow is that all I have to do?" Because I bet with others who need to have her do their horses when they are away she has shedloads of instructions!

Maybe she was amazed at how little you wanted her to do? I have no idea, none of us here was present for the conversation to hear emphasis or see facial expressions, but its really NOT in the YO best interest to alientate or upset her clients, because if she does, they walk! No livery client is going to pay the high livery costs now imposed on them and then listen to insults....maybe she didn't mean it the way you took it?

Your feeding of your horse sounds great but you don't really need everyone here to tell you that...you can see the horse itself! And if it was starving, then the YO would have said something.....after all, her comment came when you and your horse have been there a few months and if the horse was in poor condition, you would have heard! You are doing a good job, but I bet she would she would be astonished to think how upset her remark had made you?
Just a thought........I'm often accused to sounding XYZ when the remarks I make are innocent...it happens!
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I agree - it sounds to me as though the OP misunderstood her YO's reaction. Maybe YO is used to getting 'War and Peace'-length lists of feeding instructions from her clients, and was pleasantly surprised to be given such a simple and easy list!
 
I have been away this weekend and asked one of the girls to do my horse. I said she could ride him as well if she had the time. To keep it simple and in case he only got turn out I said 'Two feeds of two flat scoops of Readigrass and one measure of sugarbeet two spoons of Sarc-Ex, forget the hard feed and just a 3/4 hay net at night'.
Knocking the feed back to the minimum IS NOT starvation.
 
Wow, been away for a few days - thank you so much for all the replies!

It's possible I may have misconstrued YO's comment - it's just that she has a bit of a reputation for being judgemental and grumpy (don't get me wrong - she's a great YO usually - I'd much prefer a YO who told people what's acceptable instead of leaving it to liveries to get into arguments - but she does scare me a bit!). As it is, I will leave her to think whatever she thinks of me, kindly or otherwise, and continue to feed my girl as is. My mare loves loves loves her sugabeet and I think that in her old age I will cater to her tastes as long as they aren't doing her any harm.
 
htobago said:
I agree - it sounds to me as though the OP misunderstood her YO's reaction. Maybe YO is used to getting 'War and Peace'-length lists of feeding instructions from her clients, and was pleasantly surprised to be given such a simple and easy list!
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Agree too. Having had horses that very a major pain in the backside to keep weight on, then moving to a good doer, I was staggered at how little the good doer actually needed - and "is that all?" was my comment at the time too..!
 
Wow I must be a wicked owner, 3 of mine get absolutely no feed at all!
One gets a little healthy hooves with added hoof supplements as they are prone to laminitus, but other than that, they all live off the land with hay/haylage only when required in winter.

The UK is full of fat horses with ignorant owners who dont understand the risks of letting them get so overweight.
I believe in keeping horses in good condition and not fat, and they are happier for it :D
You're doing fine, your horse sounds in good health and a good weight, bugger what anyone else thinks - you know your horse and there needs better than anyone :D x
 
dont you worry one bit at least your horse isnt overwieght with lami. that sounds like the ideal feed for your horse it is high fibe!!!!!! low in starch!!! i think you are feeding perfectly maby you should remider your YO that 80% of lesure horses in the uk are over weight and that that can actually cause more problems long term than a horse slighty underweight.

keep doing what your doing and keep your head held high there should be more horse owners like you
 
missyme10 said:
Wow I must be a wicked owner, 3 of mine get absolutely no feed at all!
One gets a little healthy hooves with added hoof supplements as they are prone to laminitus, but other than that, they all live off the land with hay/haylage only when required in winter.

The UK is full of fat horses with ignorant owners who dont understand the risks of letting them get so overweight.
I believe in keeping horses in good condition and not fat, and they are happier for it :D
You're doing fine, your horse sounds in good health and a good weight, bugger what anyone else thinks - you know your horse and there needs better than anyone :D x
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my thoughts exactly well put
 
EAST KENT said:
Not surprised..it`s not very much is it? Those are just fillers to add to the "main meal",be it just grass nuts ,oats or whatever.Reduce your ,presumably, ad lib haylage and add in a bit more interesting stuff to her feeds.At the the moment she is getting a sandwich without the filler.
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nooooo.... don't reduce ad lib haylage/hay/grass to replace with hard feed... not unless you need something in particular... ad lib food is far better for them.

Op if your horse is in good condition there is no need to feed them anything else xxx
 
Dont feel bad, as you said she is your horse and look well so you cant be doing much wrong.

Yes YO does have a reputaion for being a bit opinionated but as long as you stick to the rules of the yard she cant tell you what to do.
 
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