Not sure what to feed in winter this year

[kellybee]

Since owning horses (25yrs) I've always had native good doers, and fed them on chaff, cool mix and beet, admittedly because they seemed to do well on it and that's what all my PC friends fed their ponies. Senior mix replaced cool mix for my old boy, and they always had plenty of forage with no issues.

Last winter I acquired a grossly overweight 15.2hh standardbred, fine built. He had encysted small redworms which helped him lose weight dramatically in Feb this year, so we pramoxed him. I've been feeding him a small scoop (dry weight) of grass nuts with 1.5 mugs micronised linseed all summer as per my vets advice. He's in light work and on half decent grazing. This has helped his weight improve slowly but surely all summer.

So, he'll be stabled at night, fed haylage twice daily and I'm planning to add speedibeet to his diet as of this week ahead of the weather turning, but having never owned a leaner, finer type I don't know if I should be adding anything else?

I realise this is a grossly naive post, and after 25yrs I should know better but feed seems to be a minefield and I really have no idea whether he needs chaff mixed with the pulpy grass nuts and beet, or if I'm just worrying over nothing?

 

[Pasha]

I'd stick with what you are feeding and add Speedi Beet IF you think he starts dropping weight or needs more. Grass nuts, speedi beet and Linseed is a very good diet IMO! As he has had a problem with worms, personally I would have him on yeast (something like Alltech Yea Sacc) and a multi vit or a balancer with yeast and multi vits. If he loses weight, up the haylage/hay first.