Organising feed for a fattie for winter

[myhorsefred]

I have a Welsh Sec D cob, who needs to lose a bit of weight. I have been careful with him over the summer, with his grazing and exercise etc. However, he is a very good doer and gets fat on thin air!

I am thinking about his winter management and feed. He is hacked out for about 1 hour three times a week.

Would Spillers Happy Hoof with NAF Slimline be ok do you think? Never used NAF Slimline before. I don't want to give him anything too calorific. thanks

 

[kate081]

Happy hoof is great. My friend works for Spillers & has been telling me all about Cool concentrate which apparently has all the vits, minerals & stuff for joints/hooves & you don't feed very much. I might try it as mine get fat on nothing but I end up feeding a general supplement to ensure they get everything!

 

[thedunthing]

never used NAF slimline so i cant comment on that but if your thinking of using happy hoof i would go for safe & sound instead as i found when i used it with my fatties they much prefered it to happy hoof and it smells ad looks buch nicer lol! my fatties justr got fed safe & sound and spillers cool mix with a little bit of speedi beet!

 

[bex1984]

My ponio has happy hoof - he loves it.

From what I can tell, NAF slimline is basically just all the vits and mins they need. I use Dodson & Horrell Equi-bites for all my pony's vits etc and they are brilliant - relatively cheap, won't put any weight on him and you can feed them as treats if you want to.

My pony's feed was designed for him by a nutritionist and he has 100g of happy hoof, 2 tbsps of cod liver oil, carrots and 8 equi-bites a day. The cod liver oil helps speed up his metabolism.

Soaking hay for 24 hrs is fantastic for dieting horse over the winter. You can feed as much of it as you like because the calories have been taken out so the horse doesn't actually feel like it is on a diet and there's plenty of fibre to keep their guts working nicely.

 

[MerryMaker]

Cool Concentrate was great for my little boy, but because he was so tiny we didn't use it quick enough! (He had about 1/3rd of what a pony dose is!) Which is good in a way cos it means you don't have to feed lots of supplements or kinds of feed. He did look fantastic on it, coat shiny, didnt put on any weight etc. I'd recommend it! That or Happy Hoof I think.

 

[pottamus]

I have a Sec D and he has a few handfuls of Dengie Hi Fi per night to put an all round vit and min supplement into. He has always done well on this and looks healthy and has a shiny coat. Other than that he gets ad lib hay and grass.

 

[laura_nash]

My fattie HW cob has exactly that, a couple of handfuls of happy hoof to hold his NAF slimline (and a carrot).

He's still losing the weight he had when I got him so it's difficult to judge for sure, but the diet seems to be fine. He also has a handful of high-fibre pony nuts (local brand) in a treat ball to keep him busy when he's in at nights (plus his soaked hay of course). Can't comment on how appetising happy hoof is compared with safe and sound, but he loves it and I think it looks and smells great.

Slimline is mostly just a vit & min supplement, but it also has a few extra bits to try to speed up the metabolism and counter-act any insulin resistance (similar to some human weight loss supplements). Difficult to judge how much good it does on that front yet, but it's not much more expensive than a general vit & min supplement so I thought it was worth a go.

I looked into it on some forums and people were quite positive, though because it's new most people are like me and can't really say for sure yet. I did hear that people have had trouble with horses turning up their nose at it, because it's got quite a strong smell (and presumably taste), but my boy's not fussed what's in his food TBH so it wasn't a problem for me.

 

[ISHmad]

Ad lib soaked hay or haylage and something like Top Spec Anti Lam or Bailey's Lo Cal Balancer...

 

[spider]

Ah that's interesting. I was going to ask if anyone just fed hay and grass and a supplement in the winter.