question for all people feeding TB's!

goneshowjumping

goneshowjumping

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feeding question which i would be grateful if any one can give me some pointers!

i have always had TB's and had no problems keeping weight on, but my boy i got in April last year has started to drop off a bit, just wondering what all you TB owners feed your boys and girls to maintain weight and condition without your horse going mental! :-)
 
Haylage, Allen and Page Ride and Relax for mine, their Calm and Condition is meant to be really good. Spillers conditioning cubes, Blue Chip but that could send him loopy. Oil is also a good additive but again can make them loopy xx
 
Mine is currently on adlib haylage, baileys economy cubes, sugarbeet, hifi. I have just started pink powder as the new haylage bale made the droppings smell rank (if that makes sense?).
If she does drop a little, then I introduce baileys no 1.
 
Ive been feeding mine Baileys Top Line Conditioning cubes, speedy beet and Hi Fi Light this winter as I also found that he had dropped quite a bit of condition this time last year and this year he is looking fantastic I think he's even put a bit of weigh on. He also has ad lib hay when stabled and ad lib halage when out in the field and he's been very calm to ride even when he had seven weeks off due to the weather.
 
Mines on hi-fibre cubes, alfa-a oil, and sugar beet. Scoop of each, once a day. But I also feed him a supplement called Winter Glow, Summer Shine, and I swear by it - couldn't find it anywhere last year, and he dropped loads of weight. Countrywide started stocking it in Nov, and he's doing great this winter!
That and the 13acre field for just him and his friend..... (haven't had to feed much hay this winter at all!)
Oh, and he's out 24/7 :)
 
HI!
I got my boy just coming into the winter and was worried about him losing weight with the stress of changing home etc. I was lucky enough to be given some blue chip vouchers. I only intended to feed it to him over the winter but he has done so well on it I have kept him on it.

He has not only kept weight on but fabulous condition, and my farrier says it has transformed his hooves! I know it sounds expensive, but a bag lasts me 60 days as i supplement it with chaff and badminton cubes, so works out at £20 a month. I am sure he would easily get through a couple of bags of normal hard feed a month, so not much difference really. Plus it means he doesn't need any supplements. I just give him a good scoop of herbal chaff, a handful of badminton cubes and a bit of speedi beet, morning and eve, all of which are quite cheap. I started him on superflex, but to tell the truth he doesn't need it as well as blue chip so I stopped using it. This winter I have put him on blue chip pro as he is getting on a bit and it only costs £1 a bag more!

Since using blue chip, almost the whole of the rest of the yard has changed onto it as they were amazing what fab condition my tb is in on it!

(oh and he gets lots of hay overnight, out by day!)

Good luck! x

ps blue chip doesn't make him at all fizzy, in fact it has magnesium in it as a calmer
 
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This is my first winter with my TB, he's on conditioning cubes (1/2 scoop) and ultra grass (1 scoop). Then ad-lib hay day and night, he's well rugged, out in the day and in at night. I think i'm quite lucky though as he seems to be a pretty good doer!
 
My TBx is on TopSpec Balancer and Conditioning flakes, they suit him. He keeps a good weight, a shiny coat and just generally looks well on it. Before we started feed ing it (about 5yrs ago) he dropped weight like mad coming out of winter but this seems to really suit him.
 
My tbx is on scoop alfa a oils, scoop baileys number 17 topline conditioning mix, 1/2 fast fiber in both feeds :D and shes kept amazingly well compared to last winter where you could see nearly every bone :o
 
goneshowjumping said:
thanks all, i feed very similar to sisco, and find he is dropping a little too much for my liking!
im thinking probably a balancer would help him out.
anyone used the D & H build and glow?
Click to expand...

Use it and love on my 5yo ex- racer. non- heating but he has a lovely covering and a great shine to his coat
 
goneshowjumping said:
anyone have any experince in feeding the micronised linseed for weight?
Click to expand...

I started using it in November and it's made a huge difference to my poor doer TB. She has 150g a day and it has made her coat beautifully shinney and has helped her gain muscle (with appropriete work).

This is her 3 days ago (the TB, not the pony!)

DSC00337.jpg
 
I feed my tb Calm and Condition, speedibeet, and Alpha A or Original and a large glug of oil. She lives out 24/7 and maintains a good weight.

Here she is last month
P1120078.jpg


and a few days ago
P1120584.jpg
 
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24/7 grazing (cattle grazing 4 acres shared with another three).
High Fibre nuts
Sugar Beet
Mollichaff
Bailey's Outshine (brilliant stuff)
Bailey's Lo-Cal

Rugged unclipped.
 
12 yr TB Mare.

A nice fibre diet.

She's up to weight, if anything a little too well to be fair after that long spell of snow/ice/frost and frozen school, so she was not in work for 6 weeks, prior to that she was just right, fit and looking dam well.

Food wise, good quality hay on a night, no longer put it out on mornings (during turnout) unless there is a frost, had to put it out when the snow was with us.

Dengie Hi Fi Lite, Dengie Alfa A Oil, A&P C&C and BHF Speedi beat, no hard feed needed, plenty of engergy, coat is lovely and glossy.
 
Feeding a tricky one myself and just got it spot on after 3 years. Not a bad doer, but small appetite and other issues, so been my biggest feeding challenge in 35+ years and 60+ equines!
Now on TS Comprehensive Balancer and micronised linseed, a large blob of s/b, and almost adlib haylage (don't ask!); and looking so good I'm hoping to reduce the TS and add in some forage extender mix (one of the few pure fibre foods she'll eat) soon. It costs a lot less than compounds did, and I can think "bad weather, up the fibre" "hard work, up the linseed" on a daily basis to exactly match her needs. No sillyness even when I have to abandon riding for days at a time, boundless energy when I don't. And practically shining in the dark!
 
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The trick with mine is to keep it cereal free.
He is fed alfa a oil and top spec cool conditioning cubes along with pink powder and garlic. He also gets ad lib haylage. He's in lovely condition and after having dropped all his summer weight in november with a virus had put it all back on again despite the crappy weather and grass. Coat has a lovely shine to it, and lovely and soft - despite not seeing a body brush in some time!
 
goneshowjumping said:
feeding question which i would be grateful if any one can give me some pointers!

i have always had TB's and had no problems keeping weight on, but my boy i got in April last year has started to drop off a bit, just wondering what all you TB owners feed your boys and girls to maintain weight and condition without your horse going mental! :-)
Click to expand...

Just one scoop of alpha A and one scoop of hi fibre nuts a day and as much haylage as they want. Never had one drop weight on that regime. I don't think hard feed does any good maintaining weight in my experience. Digesting haylage keeps them warmer than digesting cereals and oils, and so they are less likely to drop weight. I am careful to buy a dry type of haylage though if the horse is prone to be fizzy.
 
Micronised linseed. Started out last summer using the "Winter Glow Summer Shine" which has linseed and other goodies, and was chuffed with the result but not the cost! So switched to Charnwood Mills linseed this autumn (think 3kg for £12 vs 25kg for £23) and even upping the amount fed it's loads cheaper and doing a grand job.
 
This winter ours has been on Calm & Condition and Hi Fi Chaff and ad lib haylage, well rugged and grazing during the day (haylage in fields if snowy/frosty) Right now she is on 2 supplements NAF Haylage Balancer (which is kind of like an antacid) and Magnitude

We've just transitioning her from the Calm & Condition on to Bailey's No 2 so she's on about 1/4 scoop of C&C right now and a scoop of the No 2. She gets fed a small breakfast too but tbh she hardly ever finishes it because she wants to get out in to the field.

The reason we're transitioning her is because she's at a good weight now, the haylage is very good quality in itself and she goes mad every spring so we're preparing for this by giving her a feed with less DE, starch and oils in it. If we get another cold snap we'll keep the smaller portion of C&C going a bit longer.

Here's a photo taken at weekend, it's hard to tell but she is really really shiny

22Jan2011-2.jpg


Here's one where you can see how nice her coat is from a couple of weeks ago
BellaJan2011-4.jpg
 
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Grass pellets
Non-molassed alfalfa
Micronised linseed

I use simple systems but I think you can get other brands.
13 year old tb mare. Been on this for 18 months now and is in fab condition, no longer dropping weight and a lot more manageable.
 
1 scoop alfa a, half a scoop of pasture mix, a scoop of speedibeet big glug of oil and lots of haylage
She works on the pessoa twice a week, hacks out twice a week and schools twice a week
Kept her weight really well !
 
vhf said:
Micronised linseed. Started out last summer using the "Winter Glow Summer Shine" which has linseed and other goodies, and was chuffed with the result but not the cost!
Click to expand...

How much were you paying? I pay £10 for a 3kg bag which lasts me months! I swear by it.
Quick question though, how much of it did you a feed a day?
 
My 5 year old is on Allen and Page calm and condition, hi fi orgional, Alfa beet carrots and garlic. I also add a little bit extra of corn oil, even though the calm and condition already has it in.

This is suiting my mare really well and is putting on weight but doing it gradually.

She's looking fab ATM so pleased with her weight lol

plus they all have hayledge twice a day. Three times if it's extra cold. They live out 24/7
 
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It was - I think - £11.95 for the "Summer Shine Winter Glow" and then £12.95 for the "Winter Glow Summer Shine" (something like that, fooled me to start with!) which has added Brewers Yeast, which fuss-pot was less keen on.
Was feeding with the little measuring spoons that come with supplements and it did last well, but with the linseed am now feeding more like a 1/4 mug twice a day, and still costs less, but the impact is much greater.
I figured she didn't need the seaweed from the "Summer Glow" as she has the TP Comprehensive, and the garlic and mint might be tasty, but they don't really help with condition, so the only thing she misses out on by changing on is the fengreek, which I could buy separately if I needed to.
I don't think you would consider feeding the Summer Glow in the kind of quanities people feed linseed in, and come winter I would have needed something more, and I'd pretty much run out of places to go with this horse, hence trying the pure linseed approach, which has been a godsend. Come summer I'll be down to spoons again I hope, and my feed bill will be virtually nil!
Sorry, long answer to short question!
 
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