new horse - lacking weight/condition - advice please?

esselle

esselle

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Hi there, I wonder if anyone could help me please?

We have recently acquired a 5yo warmblood mare. She is extremely lean with virtually no top line/condition :-(

She has had her teeth done and been wormed and has put on a little weight, but wondered whether I could help things along a little more. She is currently only fed once a day, but splitting into two asap. Out by day, in by night and exercised/ridden 5-6 days per week (approx only 30 mins while building her up). Fed as follows:

1.5 scoops alpha-oil
1 full scoop d&h build up conditioning cubes
D&h ultimate balancer, recommended amount for her weight
Carrots
2 x 8kg hay nets at night

Will an additional feed in the morning help (minus additional balancer of course) or can I do anything else?

Thank you in anticipation.
 
I would swap the D and H balancer for Blue chip. Equivite body builder is absolutely amazing but not cheap. Also ad lib the hay. I would give her at least two days off a week atm to allow her time to rest and gain condition. My horse had a body condition score of 1 when I rescued him, I followed a similar plan to you but with these amendments and he was out winning young stock classes five months later!
 
Thank you RaynerK :-)

Lunchtime feed def not an option due to work commitments, but thank you for the other advice - is the d&h balancer not very good then?
 
No I think its really good quality and have used before but nothing seems to beat blue chip. I have worked in equine welfare for a while so I have tried every weight gaining product there is!
 
Yeah go for it, its good for weight gain and condition. Can give energy but I think the micronised is slow-release, check though.
 
I don't see why not, though you can check with the D&H feed people. The key is just to introduce new things gradually and not to make any sudden changes to the diet. The other concern is you don't want it to all go to her head but again if you start introducing any new feed/supplement with the potential to do this slowly you can eliminate anything that may cause a problem. :)
 
Ahh she sounds like a treasure, good luck with her. The nutrition people at baileys are awesome as well if you need additional advice.
 
RaynerK said:
Ahh she sounds like a treasure, good luck with her. The nutrition people at baileys are awesome as well if you need additional advice.
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Thank you, she is :-)

Just been looking and the equivite body builder, it reads really good so maybe I will give it a try :-)
 
Personally I would just add a mug of linseed to each feed, and up the conditioning cubes, she isn't getting the right amount I would guess- do you know what the actual weight is?
 
Will she eat more hay? I would feed as much as she will eat its the best thing for her if she is only doing 30 minutes a day and then increase hard feed when she is doing more, once she is working correctly and doing a bit more the topline will come, also agree about the linseed mine do really well on it.
 
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