Removing all concentrates from TB's diet for winter, will he be ok?

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So I've known for a while that fibre fibre and more fibre is best for weight gain/maintaining, and also for keeping TB brains unblown :rolleyes: and as my 8yo TB is getting a bit too much in terms of energy levels I'm wondering if I could change his feed so it was entirely fibre based, without resulting in weight/condition/*necessary* energy (ie what he needs for stamina and performance when ridden) loss?
He is currently fed:
Alfa A Oil
Saracen Re-Leve (recommended by Saracen feed advisor)
Speedibeet
D&H 'Placid' Calmer,
and haylage (2 large nets a night, and will start feeding it in field during day soon too).

So was thinking of dropping the Re-Leve and upping the Alfa A and speedibeet.
Would this be ok? I do appreciate though that what works for some doesn't work for other horses, so obviously I'd be careful to monitor that his weight, condition etc aren't suffering. :)

Or any other suggestions welcome. :)

Thanks
 
Have you looked at Simple Systems? This is all forage based but with the added bonus of Total Eclipse which gives a help to get the necessary vitamins into him.
 
My TB is on a fibre diet and has gained weight since we changed. She is 15.1hh, 8yrs old and was in lean condtition when we changed her diet. She's now a normal weight and is still gaining steadily.

This is what she is fed 2 times a day:

1 scoop alfa a oil
3/4 scoop topspec cool condition cubes
1 scoop soaked warm speedibeet
5 handfuls topspec balancer
3 handfuls of micronized linseed
large dollop of oil
mint
nettles
2 large nets of haylage at night, and was on good grazing during the day untill the frost and snow came last night.

She has plently of energy for schooling, hacking, jumping and competing and looks in great shape.
 
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It's perfectly possible to feed a high forage/fibre diet without hard feed.

Rather than haylage though I'd feed hay if he's silly. (Ad Lib)
then Alpha A oil, speedibeet, /linseed - TS balancer or a general all round multivit.

You will probably need to feed 2 scoops Alpha A per feed and speedibeet can be given in large quantities (use a big trug)
 
You simply need to work out your feed ration in calorie terms. Speedibeet, dry weight for dry weight, is equivalent in energy to a conditioning feed (I think I remember it's 12MJ/KG), so if you'd feed a scoop of nuts, you could take a scoop of speedibeet, then soak it - but that makes loads. I feed D&H ERS nuts to my TB who can't have much starch at all (think v v v v lami prone), and they're nearly all oil in some form, with added vits and mins.
 
My little (16.1hh) Lady is on

1 Scoop of Mollichaff
1 Scoop of Speedibeet
Seaweed
1 Cup of Balieys Lo-Cal Balancer.

She looks amazing, she is resting this winter and on 24/7 good grazing, but i'd only up the amount if riding.

If he is a little fizzy feed hay not haylage and ablib, some horses react to haylage.
 
Yep as long as you make sure its balanced. You will need to add some kind of vitamin supplement probably.
My TB is currently on
1 scoop Alfa A Oil
1/2 scoop Top Spec Cool Condition Cubes (cereal free - fab stuff!)
Scoop Pink Powder

He has this twice daily. He has dropped some weight over last week of two due to being quite ill with a virus and will start having some unmolassed beet in as well now.

The Cool Condition cubes are fab for condition without the fizz.
 
Mine is currently on

Alfalfa Pellets
Coolstance Copra
Micronised linseed
Brewers Yeast
Minerals balanced to his forage.

The key thing is he gets ad lib hay and haylage

At the moment he is a little overweight, they moved into a new field so he doesn't need anything elses but if he needed more I would consider adding unmolassed sugarbeet.
 
I haven't fed grains for a few years now and haven't had any issues.

The poorest doer is on Winergy Condition and Alfa Beet and ad lib haylage. (he had previously been on Alfa Oil and Build Up and the weight and muscle piled on when we changed him over)

Other horses that need a bit of help just have Alfa Oil, Alfa Beet and ad lib hayledge.

I then just give them access to a vit and min lick.
 
doris2008 said:
Yep as long as you make sure its balanced. You will need to add some kind of vitamin supplement probably.
My TB is currently on
1 scoop Alfa A Oil
1/2 scoop Top Spec Cool Condition Cubes (cereal free - fab stuff!)
Scoop Pink Powder

He has this twice daily. He has dropped some weight over last week of two due to being quite ill with a virus and will start having some unmolassed beet in as well now.

The Cool Condition cubes are fab for condition without the fizz.
Click to expand...

Ditto these re Top Spec Cool Conditon cubes, my 4yo is on these at boarding school and has started to put on some nice condition without blowing his mind
 
Maybe check out the Dengie website, has lots of info about fibre only diets/balancers etc

It is perfectly possible to not feed concentrates, you just might need to add a general vitamin/mineral supplement of some description to make up vits/mins that they are not getting from the concentrates.

Mine are both sharp and are on Alfa A Oil and ( slightly less than the recommended amount) of Spillers Slow Release Cubes, and one has conditioning cubes mixed in as well in the winter and Pink Powder for Vits/Mins.

But my advice is if your horse feels good and looks good on what they are on- don't go changing!
 
First winter we had our TB mare we had her on Alpha A Oil, speedibeet and Baileys No 4 because she was kind of thin when we got her, she got very fat and also very ummm lively I think you'd say!

Second winter, we'd gone along to a ROR clinic and got some proper advice and decided Fibre was the way to go, and it really is, but I think we went a bit too far for our particular horse because she did start to look a bit poor toward January time.

She was on Every day Fibre Cubes, Dengie Hi-Fi Liteand Fibre-Beet. Also, I had a batch of hay not up to it's usual standard (not terrible, but not as good as I would normally have liked) and the place she was at had very poor grazing all year round (excellent for the right sort of horse!)

This winter she lives at a place where they have very nice haylage on tap and good grazing. We started her off with Bailey's No 2 and Dengie Hi-Fi and were going to add the Fibre Beet when the weather got colder but we changed to Calm & Condition at the vet's recommendation as she was already beginning to drop weight. She is quite fizzy at the moment, don't know if it's the C&C or the haylage (which she wasn't having yet when the vet recommended the change to C&C) but I am thinking of going back to my original plan.

Sorry for the novel
 
Ive cut everything out of my tb's diet - he just has hi-fi, sugarbeat and a scoop of glucosine - he is on haylage so doesnt need anything else!

hes totally hyper at the mo and becoming a handful so may get him a calmer
 
My tb is on the following:-
-Ad-lib hay over night as much as he can eat and then some
-Graze-On (fast dried grass, high fibre and I use as a chaff but obs. No molasses)
-High Fibre Nuts
-Addition sunflower oil if needed.

I’ve had to stop speedibeet as it fizzes him up, same with alfalfa, fizzes him up a treat. He gets a tiny tiny bit of hard feed, probably the smallest on the yard and he has plenty of energy for what we want to do and has gone from a near rescue case to a horse that my trimmer didn’t realise was a full tb (He was nicknamed The Quarter Horse over the summer!)

He’s gained a lot more weight since I stopped feeding him things like build up mix.
 
I've wintered my TB's in the past on adlib Haylage - the bale was left in the paddock with the top of the wrapping removed and they helped themselves. The all wintered like little porkies - un covered too. True our winters aren't as harsh - no snow in my area but we get heavy frosts, torrential rain and winds off the Antarctic. I also leave a multi mineral block in the paddock so they can also help themselves when they need it.
 
Obviously every horse is different and the diet is so important as it affects the whole persona of the horse.

Personaly I do not feed any sugar at all as a sniff of any sugar blows her brains and makes her totally unmanagable.

Also, I do not feed any grains as to a lesser extent this also upsets her. Also grains, and sugar are not natural foods for horses so I tend to steer well clear of most of the normal mixes or pelleted feeds.

Mine is fed on haylage, ad lib and Simple Systems Total Eclipse. I use this as it's convenient really, but there are similar feeds that may be a bit cheaper.

My horse is not a TB she is an AQH, she has a massive musclature to keep, and quickly shows if her diet is not right.

Also she is very fast and has lightening reactions, which is why I have to feed her brain right as well as her body.

She is rugged when the weathers bad, and stays out 24/7 though she has access to her stable 24/7 if she wants it.

She's also barefoot and maintains her feet in excellent shape, which quickly shows if the diet is wrong.

She is exercised every day either a good long hack out or school work. The margin for error with this particular horse is small, but demonstrates, I feel, that feeding grains and sugar are not necessary and may indeed be detrimental.

Through experience and study I have very little faith in the major feed manufactures and believe that these mainstream brands are not healthy for the majority of horses.
 
my tb is on a complete fibre diet this winter and is doing well. he has gone barefoot so has had a diet change. he is currently fed on
hoof kind or an unmollased chaff. (dengie have just released a mollases free chaff)
equine america top form pellets (i highly recomend these!!)
A&P fast fibre
seaweeed
he has adlib haylage and is looking great on this.
my mare has the same but i have to be abit more carefull on the amount as she is abit round. she is tb X ish.
 
mine is a 7/8th TB
she lives out 247
has a field shelter with ad lib hay

feed is
Easy rider chaff (no mollasses, no alfalfa, no barley)
Full fat soya flakes
Micronised linseed
Kwikbeet

not a snifter of suger, alfalfa or cereals and she does well on it
 
my tb is on 1 scoop of alfa oil and quarter of a scoop of baileys no4 top line conditioning nuts twice a day, hes not really doing anything at the mo and looks pretty good, he gets steamed ad lib hay in his haybar at night and one to two sections in the field as we now have frosty grass! he also has a scoop of garlic/seaweed probiotic supplement in his tea with carrots, he also has a mineral lick in his stable, if he starts to drop weight i will add speedibeet
 
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