My mare has dropped weight

S

samhorse

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Currently being fed
1round scoop honeychop
1/2 round scoop basic horses and pony mix
1round scoop sugarbeat - the 24hour soak stuff.

She gets this twice a day. Turn out in day. In at night with 3 slices of hay, if i give her more hay she leaves it. Only change is we moved yards in the autumn and the grazing is as rich.

What can i add / change to make her pick up again? She is fussy and she's been on this feed for years and has been fine until recently. She can fizz up so i want to pork her up with out making her too lively.
 
Micronised linseed, 2 mugs a day. Also fenugreek, appetite stimulant so should encourage him to eat more hay. Make sure his hay is ad lib - don't give him what he eats, give him ad lib so he can eat when he wants. i'd also swap to speedibeet instead of sugarbeet and use 1 scoop dry weight per day. Good luck :)
 
Is speedibeet better for weight gain then? Instinct would have said it wasn't as it's approved by the lami trust so i would have said otherwise?
 
Speedibeet has a DE of 12, so it's pretty high calorie, whilst being high in fibre and low in sugar and no starch at all. It's probably a safer base for a horse that tends to fizz up as it is unmolassed. I'd just use speedibeet as a base with a chaff such as alfa a molasses free or spillers conditioning fibre and linseed. Focus on fibre and oil instead of starchy/sugary feeds :)
 
Oh ok thank you. I just assumed lami trust equalled fatties so not much weight gain. With regard to hay she won't fat out a net so i have to feed on the floor and anymore than 3ish slices she just pulls it around and mashes it up in her bed so it gets wasted.
 
I agree linseed is great stuff. What your pon is currently on is quite high in sugar so your pony is using more energy to process what you are feeding. You are better off doing what another poster has said and swap to. High fibre low sugar diet. Be warned though if your pony is a sugar addict then swapping may take some convincing for him but keep a it. He will soon come around. I normally recommend fast fibre with linseed but I've gone right off fast fibre. It contains nutritionally improved straw which means it goes through a process where it is treated with caustic soda! My mare does well on it but I've got to a point of feeling very guilty for feeding s once this bag is finished she will be swapped to cool stance copra meal with the linseed. Copra meal is low sugar high fibre and has a good reputation. Good luck with ponio!
 
Honeychop is just oat straw in molasses so you might as well change that to something with more protein in like anything with alfalfa if she can have that. I would also suggest oil so Alfa A oil might be a good choice.

If you don't go for Alfa A oil then micronised linseed is a highly digestible way to feed oil, or you could feed a separate one like corn oil.

I think you have plenty of room to add more calories there :-)
 
Thank you, i wonder if anything from the hi fi range might work, she before hasn't touched alfa at all, but would eat the yellow bag hi fi. I am slightly reluctant to change too much as for years she's been fine on what she's having and never got too lively on it. But i appreciate all views. Does linseed not need to be boiled though?
 
Well, you want to keep your eye out for the digestible energy of what you feed (DE) honeychop has the same DE as hifi original at 8mj/kg but does have higher protein (8% and honeychop 4.2%) so would probably be an improvement but you probably want something with more protein really although it sounds like she has a sweet tooth!

Alfa A original is 10 and the oil one is 12.5 so it all depends what she'll eat really.

The micronisation of the linseed means it is cooked and ready to go, it comes in the form of meal so like dry bran consistency. It's got loads of good things that the grass lacks at this time of year like omega oils - very good for skin and hooves too. It doesn't taste or smell of anything really so she probably won't notice it.. http://www.efeed.co.uk/products/horse-feed/straights/linseed-meal It can be hard to find in shops annoyingly. It has a DE of 20 though :-)

I would probably pick corn oil as a second choice.

You will probably find that just adding oil will do the job :-) there is a limit to how much they can digest in a day though.
 
P.s. make sure you add oil gradually, as it can make their poo a bit loose if you add too much too soon.

As your mare is a bit fussy she might not like anything too oily, mine isn't very keen but fine with the linseed (thankfully mine is a good doer so I only use it occasionally).
 
ellie11987 said:
Micronised linseed, 2 mugs a day. Also fenugreek, appetite stimulant so should encourage him to eat more hay. Make sure his hay is ad lib - don't give him what he eats, give him ad lib so he can eat when he wants. i'd also swap to speedibeet instead of sugarbeet and use 1 scoop dry weight per day. Good luck :)
Click to expand...

Ditch the h&p mix, feed a vit and mineral supplement
Ditch the chop... It's full of molasses - feed hi if lite or honey chops unmolassed stuff
Swap to speedie beet - molasses is the devil
Add a cup of micronised linseed and increase if necessary

So - hi fi light. Or unmolassed chaff
- micronised linseed
- speedie beet
- vit and mineral supplement (or a decent balancer eg baileys outshine)

2 feeds minimum and don't overdo the fibre, it's just to bulk it out... Small feeds are best, and feeding 3 or even four times a day is best
 
ellie11987 said:
Speedibeet has a DE of 12, so it's pretty high calorie, whilst being high in fibre and low in sugar and no starch at all. It's probably a safer base for a horse that tends to fizz up as it is unmolassed. I'd just use speedibeet as a base with a chaff such as alfa a molasses free or spillers conditioning fibre and linseed. Focus on fibre and oil instead of starchy/sugary feeds :)
Click to expand...

This. My own boy has dropped weight suddenly and we've put it down to there being simply no grass at the moment. Also, I had tapered off his Speedibeet as I always do at this time of year. Have added the Speedibeet back in and just slightly increased the rest of his usual rations:

Alfa A Molasses Free
Blue Chip Original

He gets ad lib hay at night (and there is always some left in the morning) and I have also added Readigrass. Like your mare, my boy is prone to fizzing up so high fibre/low sugar and starch is the way to go.

Good luck.

P

P.S. He is also getting a light lunch (chaff and readigrass) and hay in the field . . . just to keep his belly full during the day and stop him being an idiot b/c he's hungry/bored . . . and I've upped his rugs when out (he is fully clipped) so he doesn't expend valuable calories trying to keep warm
 
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Readigrass . . . three stubbs scoops spread out between three feeds a day . . . and I make sure it's wet otherwise it's a little prickly. Also, I have to hide it underneath his Speedibeet otherwise he turfs it out to get to the Speedibeet first (which he lurves).

P
 
My TB is on

1 x Scoop of Alfa Oil, Top line condition mix and half scoop of speedibeet twice a day and ad lib hay, turnout 24/7 and looks fab on it.

Ring one of the feed suppliers D&H, Baileys etc. they are really helpful and you might be surprised what they say, I was.
 
my horse is the same he just picks at his haynets so i give him a big bucket of soaked fibrebeet as a hay replacer overnight.
in his feed bucket he has half a scoop each of chaff pasture mix and beet twice a day .the firebeet or alfa beet whichever you fancy are brilliant and have put quite a bit of weight on him..i give it to him warm and he stuffs his nose right into it,he
LOVES it!!
you need to increase his fibre.x
 
Thank you for all your replies, i am this morning off to pick the brains of the lady at my local feed merchant. Worming and teeth are fine, i am certain it's just because the grass isn't quite as good as she's used to. I'll give one of the companies a call too.
 
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