More feed questions...

[Governor]

I've well and truly screwed up with Governor's feed. Poor thing is covered in lumps which I think are due to barley/fat/protein. He has a couple on his belly the size of my fist.

He had barley (cooked, flaked) last year with no problems, so i'm guessing it was the combination of Bailey's Outshine and barley thats done it. I really don't want him dropping anymore weight (he's ok at the moment but started to drop prior to being given barley 2 weeks ago).

So any ideas of diet overhauls? I'm considering fibre cubes and using a soya oil coated chaff instead of HiFi Lite?

 

[KatB]

What is his full diet at the mo? What is his temperament like? I would be tempted to put him on a balancer like Topspec and the bulk him up with Alfa Beet and a good quality chaff. Means they are getting everything to digest and get the most out of their feed, and keeps them in a high fibre/oil diet. If more energy is needed (unlikely when feeding Alfa oil!) You can then look at adding something like Topspec cool conditioning cubes or flakes.

ALthough balancers look expensive, A bag lasts me 6weeks and I get away with feeding alot less hard feed

 

[YorkshireLass]

I would say that the Barley is the culprit. Outshine is expensive, so I would ditch that too.

Soya oil is great, but corn oil is more palatable. It is also cheaper... 56p per 1 L bottle at Sainsburys.

The oil is 100% fat, and Outshine is 25% fat. So, 4lb of outshine = 1lb of oil. 1lb of oil is roughly 1 pint. If you feed more than 1/4 of a pint of oil (roughly 250ml) you will need to suplement selenium. http://www.feedmark.com/show_product.asp?productid=6 Feedmark's version works out cheapest based upon how much selenium it supplies by weight... as opposed to the NAF version which is cheaper, but you need more.

Fiber nuggets are great too.

All my horses are on a fiber and oil diet. I have an EPSM horse and is easier if all my horses are fed the same thing. Studies have shown that high oil feeding is safe and benificial for all horses, even if there is no medical need for it. Horses fed oil and fiber are less likely to get colic or tie up than horses on a cerial diet.
I use Healthy Hooves (dengie) and Badminton High Fiber nuggets, sometimes Calm and Condition to soak up the oil.

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

Ring a couple of the helplines, that's what they're thee for, and they are always very friendly. Try Baileys, as you are already feeding their food, and whatever other major manufacturers your feed merchant stocks.

 

[toomanyhorses26]

I agree about the outshine being v expensive and a bit overated!! My very wimpy tb who can lose weight literally overnight is doing really well on conditioning cubes,the new spillers conditioning fibre and alfa beet but is only in light work and my mare who is in medium work has enduro 100 and the conditioning fibre and does about 15 hours of work a week on a scoop of each a day

 

[cosmicblue]

agree with the alfa beet!
ask your feed people about a new feed from D+H called Equine Sensitive. It's barley/mollasses free so might be a starting point.
I also have a skinny who is doing really well on the new spillers conditioning fibre instead of 'normal' chaff

 

[conker]

i feed balanced show mix to my show animals
as well as my skinny tb's types. its chaff based and dose not fizz them up.and i dont need add a balancer just garlic, carrots. it's brill

 

[JenHunt]

i had a similar problem with my lad 2 years ago and he went thin, and scruffy and incredibly stupid to ride.

i would say to ditch the barley, and put in a feed balancer(baileys, topspec blue chip, whoever) with either outshine, full fat soya or oil. but you will need to put in about 1kg per day of any of them and this much oil can upset their tummy.

as for fibre i would say alfa oil and either speedi-beet or fibre-beet depending on how much condition you need to put on him. give him a course of Naf d-tox to help get rid of the bumps too.

i feed speedi beet, alfa oil and full fat soya with a vits and mins supplement to make sure they get everything and they look brill, behave beautifully and love their feed! need any more help PM me.

 

[Governor]

Thanks for the help.

I decided on Spillers Conditioning cubes and Conditioning fibre so we'll see how it goes.

The bumps haven't gone down much so i've given him a couple of Danilon and will try NAF D-tox if that doesn't help.