My TB has come out of winter very poor and the grazing is awful... feed ideas please.

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MrsC

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Hi all,

As per the title...

My 18 yr old tb has come out of winter in a dreadful state. She is 'usually' quite a good doer but in the time it takes to make an angel delight she's dropped lots of weight.

Over winter she has been stabled at night, well rugged with lots of good quality haylage and 2 feeds a day. She looked wonderful. She also had ad lib haylage in her field.
When the weather turned nice I turned her out 24/7 (on fairly good grazing) and seemed to be doing ok.
A week or so ago she had to move fields as YO wanted to cut the field she was in. This was fine at 1st until I realised said field was really quite sparse!
I'm aware the the grazing is quite bad everywhere due to the harsh winter we've had and I'm grateful for the fact that YO has given me a nice flat field for my mare as she also suspensory probs, BUT I'm at a loss as to what to feed her to help her out.
I've started to bring her in at night again with 3 large nets of haylage and she's going out rugged up in the daytime.
Normally I'd feed her Bailey's No 4, Speedi Beet and Alfa A but I was wondering what you all thought of feed balancers and what I could feed for weight gain and condition?

She's only in light work at the moment so I don't want to fry her brains. I gave Blue Chip a whirl last year and it sent her loopy :(

I'd be seriously grateful for any help x
 
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Leave her out, but go back to the ab lib haylage, out in the field. I would also recommend some topspec senior balancer and then 2-3KGs of spillers senior conditioning mix in 2 feeds. :)
 
for a horse that i bought as a rspca case, im using equi jewel, just grass and a min and vit supplemrnt. ( mine is an 18.2)

the main thing i find is if you talk to the feed companies, the actual reccomended daily amounts in things like build up cubes etc, on average a 20k bag would last you aweek so it costs alot! not to mention how much food you are pumping in.

one of the main things is being able to feed smaller amounts more often, if your horse is kind of hat rack style, then it needs 3-4 small feeds aday (as well as grass/hay/hayledge)

feeding the way i do meens ned can have a large amount of a non expensive chaff.. just grass/redi grass.. may be worth a try but could send horse a bit nuts, but the alfa a oil is also very good.

equi jewel is like blue chip but is a rice bran and fed by the mug full., its full of oil etc, it does however lack all the needed mins and vits (hence supplement but to be honest if you go by the brand you should feed along side re leve. )

if you use sugar beet change to water so you an add more of a calorie based food.
 
Ad lib hay/haylage - several meals a day - chaff to munch on overnight if in (my veteran arab loved the Veteran mollichaff, very tasty with yummy smells - I used blue chip with my TB - good luck :)
 
My youngster really dropped off when I had to cut out his hay and was ravenously hungry too so I started bringing him in during the day for some hay as I don't have the option of hay in the field... hay / haylage is the best thing for keeping them satisfied and the weight on and seeing as this is pretty much the only thing you've changed, I think that's you're answer.
 
I'd second the ad-lib haylage in the field. Then I'd give as many feeds as you can fit in of grassnuts. Our retired mare lost weight in the wet summer and we were very worried but she's looking good now. She's had hay (but she won't each much of that these days) and a mixture of Alfa-a oil and Graze-on as a hay replacer with 2 feeds of grassnuts and pink powder with a joint supplement and biotin. I certainly wouldn't give chaff, there's no point in using anything which isn't going to add condition in this case.
 
Never really rated no 4 even though people seem to swear by it. I used D and H build up mix with mine did a really good job and jept weight on all winter this year. I didnt need to feed huge amounts either and hes 17.2!

that with speedi beet and Hi Fi , garlic and a something like brewers yeast also use herbal mix etc for weight and other issues
 
My TB is on Spillers conditioning cubes (2 full scoops a day which is just under 3 kg) Aplha A oil and Speedibeet. He has ad lib haylage at night and is out during the day, grass is starting come through and hopefully with this rain it should come through more. I'm not allowed to feed hay in field so mine is in at night to make sure he has plenty to eat until we have sufficient grass. He's younger than yours, he's 8, but this diet has really suited him for the last 10 wks. He was extremely poor when I bought him. My friend has a 22 yr old TB who is now out 24/7 as hates being stabled. He is on Allen and Page Calm and Condition with Alpha A and Speedibeet. Good luck! Awful having a thin horse, such a worry
 
I would recommend you feed Bailey's N.O.1, with good quality chaff. We had a new youngster in Oct who was really poor and fed this all winter with good haylage and he is well conditioned now so has come off it and is now on D & H pasture mix.
I would beware any feed that promotes topline conditioning as this only works with lots of exercise, and you said your horse isn't in lots of work.
Also Calm and Condition requires masses of water added to it as it keeps on swelling, so really you are feeding just water.
I would also feed plenty of hay or haylage in the field too, though if turned out with others make sure he's getting his fair share.
 
PLEASE TRY THIS FEED!!

Spillers Conditioning fibre

I have my arab on it and my friend has the TB on it - you can add in a mix if you want but we feed it simply with high fibre cubes.

Its fantastic because it had not cereals so it will not make him fizzy (which could then make him worry the weight back off) My arab is an unusally poor doer for an arab anf this is the only feed I have found that works - i really cant sing its praises enough!!
 
I agree with puppy, top spec is brill. i use the senior feed balancer and the cool condition cubes (about 1kg daily) and also speedi beet. My tb looks great. she will never be a fatty but is well covered. I have a lot of friends with ex racers and they all swear by top spec.
the above are all low starch too so won't send her loopy.
 
Have you tried readi mash its very appetising and conditioning...also readi grass in a trug bucket to add more fibre...my friend who has a 35 year old with hardly any teeth uses this and it works.
 
My elderly arab now loses condition very easily but he looks amazing on:

Coolstance copra (for conditioning)
Speedibeet (for taste and fibre)
Magic Powder:
(Micronised linseed (digestion and conditioning) Brewers yeast (digestion) Magnesium Oxide (assisting absorption and for feet) Seaweed (vits) Yea sacc (digestion)

I have just started to use Fast Fibre as a hay replacer due to dental issues.

It isn't as pricey as it appears!

If you didn't want to use everything I would at least try copra, micronised linseed and brewers yeast. I don't buy mixes as I refuse to pay for added **** I don't want.

Another trick I have used is "Thirds" or wheatbran meal. It is a bran product that is dirt cheap and really puts weight on.
 
"Over winter she has been stabled at night, well rugged with lots of good quality haylage and 2 feeds a day. She looked wonderful. She also had ad lib haylage in her field."

put her back on this regome then?
feed wise alfa a oil and baileys outshine are very good!

also check her teeth and worm counts
 
Hi I am in the same boat and have just introduced a new feeding programme.

I use Midlings which is a bran mash - looks like ready brek - you just add water. I use it together with Bailey's Snr mix. I have heard about Middlings being a wonder feed. You can buy it from Marriages horse feeds. £5 per bag. Lasts aaaaaaages. I scoop of Middlings, and half scoop of Snr mix. Every day, twice a day.

http://www.marriagefeeds.co.uk/horse_pony_feeds.htm

Under "additional quality horse feeds"
 
I have been feeding my TB bad doer on Baileys outshine, and it has worked wonders, he put on condition very rapidly and has a fantastic shiny coat! It hasn't sent him loopy at all, and he has just come off box rest after kissing spine surgery and is just lungeing at the moment so the only hard feed he has is spillers lay off cubes and he is on molichaff calmer.
 
My TB was really underweight when I bought her. I fed her ad lib. grass pellets, purabeet (from simplesystems horse feeds) and a few balencer/ top up feeds, as well as ad lib hay and haylage. She has put on loads of weight and muscle and the feed didn't blow her mind at all (she was in no work then light work).

I highly recommend simple systems as they have done wonders for my horse :)

The first pic is of her when we first got her and the second pic is after a month.

DSC00648.jpg


DSC00706.jpg
 
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I'm not sure why you're bringing her in at night again? But I'd leave her out 24/7 (as others have said), grass does wonders. I'd give as much hay (or haylage) as she wants as well. Its hard to recommend a feed as some things work for some and not others! I swear by Baileys Top Line Cubes - it doesnt send mine crazy and seems to work well for him.
 
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