nutrition for 9 month old filly

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tikino

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hi there guys just a quick question and opinion please. ellie is 9 months old and at the vets advice she was to be given nothing to eat in the way of hard feeding as she was a very foal and was a high risk of OCD. she gets adlib haylage and has a great appettiet

My plan would be to hopefully do some in had showing with her over the summer etc however i feel although she is lacking topline and also worry that she is not getting the correct minerals. have you got any suggestions on what i can give her if anything

here is is last week

ellie8monthsold031.jpg

ellie8monthsold038.jpg



thankyou for any advice
 
I can appreciate his concern, she looks a big girl but I would be worried she is not getting the nutrition she needs and would be inclined to put her on something like D & H Suregrow, it's excellent in situations like this and will supply all the vitamins and minerals she will need as a growing girl without overloading her system as you'll only need to feed just over a mugful. If you ring their helpline, they are very helpful as are Baileys too and they don't just push their own feeds. I think you might need to wait until later to show her as she's obviously going through a growth spurt and is very uneven just now let alone that she will want to be covered nicely even although you mustn't get her heavy like some show youngsters are. She looks as if she's a lovely type, what's her breeding?
 
thankyou for you reply it is much appreciated as i have do agree she is a bit of an ugly duckling who will grow into a lovely swan lol. it she is not in one of her growing spirts she will be staying at home as she will definately not be getting fed loads of food. i was a bit concerned she wasn't getting her nutritional needs.

this is her breeding
http://www.sporthorse-data.com/d?i=10552640
 
ditto a balancer and NO feed! she looks fine, albeit big!
haylage or grass is plenty, id much rather see babies looking as yours does and healthy, than heavy topped and full of OCD!
On the showing front, id be more inclined to do the sport horse classes rather than hunter classes etc. they tend to be more lean and fit friendly, rather than placing obese hippos!
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My filly last year was the same and also came out of the winter looking very similar to yours with no top line and a bit ribby (she was also huge but cutting the feed out did slow her growth down, thankfully). Once spring grass came through she soon picked up and by 11 months looked great actually.

They all go through these gawky stages where they look a bit like cut and shut cars, one end doesn't look like it belongs to the other!

She looks lovely though, good luck with her
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I feed alpha a, sugar beet and baileys stud balancer to my WB youngsters, plus they get very good haylage which keeps the weight on them.
They are not rugged and they live out 24/7.

If I were you I would feed a balancer just to provide the nutrients she needs.
 
My goodness I know the weanling to yearling ugly duckling stage very well and yes they get ribby and are gangly. They usually look well again as yearlings and this is quite an extensive growth stage and they can get set back a little after weaning. Without a doubt haylage alone is not enough and she needs to have a balanced ration. Once you are sure that she is receiving the correct amount of vitamins and minerals which are essentail you can then consider your feeding options, or as some posters have suggested a balancer.

All my young horses are shown and they are fed on a diet of Soya bean meal plus grass nuts or sugar beet, oats and a small cup of oil. They also have haylage. This works for my youngsters. I use a product called Rosette vitamin and mineral mix which I buy in 25kg sacks and find it brilliant. This diet is also successful to rehabilitate blood horses and poor doers. I hit on this after too many mishaps with balancers prepared mixes etc... As I said it seems to suit mine. Big foals take a lot more time to develop and mature. For serious showing as a yearling they need to be early foals and the top people will be walking them in hand for miles or put them on a horse walker to build show condition.

While they are growing so much, some can tend to be ribby and the food goes into growth rather than flesh we almost despaired of one young horse who we had a nutritionist design a diet for - 15llbs of racehorse cubes a day plus forage and grazing and still he grew taller and still his ribs showed , then suddenly when he was three he turned into a swan. Most of all enjoy your foal, keep it simple and have a few show outings for experience. Good luck
 
I use baileys stud balancer for mine, which again is about a cupful a day. I mix it with a product called Graze On which is short chop dried grass and they get a little instant soak fiber feed from allen and page, very watery just to mix the above. They are out 24/7 they are on add lib lovely quality haylage and rugged and are looking just about right.
 
Please see my reply in New Lounge...

And just to add to what others have said, often in tall youngsters any feed goes into growing upwards rather than outwards so I would feed balancers (which are VERY high in protein) and any rich fibre sources such as Alfa-A with caution to a big youngster - especially one that a vet has already voiced concern about!! If you're worried about vits and mins perhaps a lick or a powder supplement would be better - NAF do a youngstock supplement or there is D&H Surelimb... mine just gets a general purpose supplement - Equivite and is thriving on it!!
 
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