right Mr V gone downhill - need advice re feed!

M

MrVelvet

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 May 2011
Messages
1,601
Location
North West, Lancashire
Visit site
Well as you know he's recovering from grass sickness. He has been doing really well and looking like he's nearly ready to crack on with some work. Last few days he is very agitated, spooky, bargey and generally stressy and naughty! If I leave him in his box while I do anything he runs round and works himself up into a sweat (doesnt do this outside) and he looks thinner and just stressy - as if he's stressed weight/condition off! Now my obvious first reaction is the grass sickness is back but he's not showing any other signs so my thoughts are that his feed is sending him crazy and anxious and is therefore stressing weight off - is this possible?? There have been a few stressful situations recently with midgies and pigs and the weather (he is fluffy already and its warm!) So could these have contributed and tipped him over the edge as it were? He is on conditioning mix, conditioning chaff and sugarbeet - cutting his feed is not an option with his weight. Do you think its worth changing onto calm and condition or similar? But my main question is 'has anyone had a horse on a high sugar/calorie diet and its sent it so crazy that its lost weight?!' Sorry if this seems like a long ramble but I'm on the verge of panic. Any suggestions gratefully received! :/
 
I've no experience of grass sickness so I may be way off beam - but high sugar diets often send horses a bit loopy. I know you can't use oil for weight gain with grass sickness (or at least I think you can't!) but might barley or linseed be possibles?

We have a very feed sensitive horse and have found the whole allen & paige range excellent so I would happily reccommend that for you. But I guess my main reason for responding is to push your post up the list a bit!
 
Thanks guys :) iv just emailed allen and paige, baileys and D and H so hopefully a good response from them. The thing is he's only lost weight since he's been stressy which makes me think the things are related!? Bloody horses eh!

Thanks shadeyoak I'd not seen that page x
 
Linseed meal. Either charnwood milling or equimins are the two I have used and its a great weight gain product thats easy on the digestion as well.

You can introduce it gradually building up to somthing like up to 6 scoops per feed (scoops are provided with the equimins one) I was feeding 4 scoops per feed to my stressy mare when she was on box rest last year to maintain her weight and she was on threee feeds a day. Also gave good skin and coat and is supposed to be good for joints as well.

Good Luck x
 
I have no experience of grass sickness (thank God) so no idea what or how you should be feeding for recovery but just wanted to say that if I feed my TB anything with sugar or starch in it he goes completely loopy, stresses for England and drops weight like you wouldnt believe. The stress and weightloss are connected with him, he fence walks, box walks, just cant relax and these combined cause him to look really tucked up and drop condition. On a high fibre diet he looks fab all the time, never drops weight and is so much more settled and easy to manage.
 
No help from grass sickness point of view. But my tb only keeps weight on with calm and conditioner tried lots of other stuff anything with sugar in causes mental issues and he looses loads of weight almost over night.
So yes definitely try other feed don't stress yet!
 
Ah :) reading this is literally making my evening! Right so ... Do I not feed any of the sugarry stuff (so literally just sugarbeet) until I can get the other stuff (think I'm gonna do cool mix or maybe high fibre nuts and the linseed) or do I carry on as normal til I get it and then swap?
 
Can't help with the grass sickness side of things, but have you tried the Pure Feeds Company? I have my TB mare on Pure Easy from their range and to be honest, she's a little on the "bulky" side!!! Doesn't fizz her up either as it's a reasonably low sugar/starch combination. Good luck - sounds like you're having a bit of a nightmare!
 
If you want weight gain I can not recommend cool stance copra enough it's coconut meal but it's amazing my mare put on 40kg in 6 weeks it can be tricky to get hold of but it's worth it!!! And u only need to feed a mug full twice a day!
 
MrVelvet said:
Well as you know he's recovering from grass sickness. He has been doing really well and looking like he's nearly ready to crack on with some work. Last few days he is very agitated, spooky, bargey and generally stressy and naughty! If I leave him in his box while I do anything he runs round and works himself up into a sweat (doesnt do this outside) and he looks thinner and just stressy - as if he's stressed weight/condition off! Now my obvious first reaction is the grass sickness is back but he's not showing any other signs so my thoughts are that his feed is sending him crazy and anxious and is therefore stressing weight off - is this possible?? There have been a few stressful situations recently with midgies and pigs and the weather (he is fluffy already and its warm!) So could these have contributed and tipped him over the edge as it were? He is on conditioning mix, conditioning chaff and sugarbeet - cutting his feed is not an option with his weight. Do you think its worth changing onto calm and condition or similar? But my main question is 'has anyone had a horse on a high sugar/calorie diet and its sent it so crazy that its lost weight?!' Sorry if this seems like a long ramble but I'm on the verge of panic. Any suggestions gratefully received! :/
Click to expand...

Nope not calm and condition, it does not calm them whilst keeping condition... the name is misleading, if anything many horses tend to hot up on it unless in the required level of work. I would keep the feed but add a mag based calmer... Magic 5 star is good.
 
My TB loses weight on most normal conditioning feeds as they stress him into idiotic behaviour that just makes weight drop off him. In the past I've fed speedibeet,linseed,top spec or spillers slow response cubes with success. He doesn't tolerate Alfafa, won't eat simple systems,copra sent him nuts & pure feed did nothing for him! And he's also had gastric ulcers twice in the space of 1 year! Last year I fed spillers chaff, grass nuts, TS cubes,linseed,speedibeet & brewers yeast with reasonable success. I'll be feeding similar this winter but with a few tweaks.
 
Magnesium calmers only work if the horse is deficient in magnesium. As you dont know they might be worth a try.

I spent years trying to put weight on our stressy warmblood, she box walked, was jumpy etc etc.

Now it doesn't matter what I feed her, she is calmer and has piled on so much weight she is on a diet.

The miracle cure, Yeasac, no idea why it works, our saddle fitter recommended it, but it does.

She is a different horse.
 
Oh gosh! Such a lot of information to take in! I think I will try the high fibre nuts then opposed to the mix, finish the SB and move onto speedibeet. Add Micronised Linseed ... The yeasac I have heard good things about too! Tbh... I think I need a good sleep, a good think and perhaps a chat to a nutritionist!

Tomorrow I will have a proper research of these feedstuffs and hopefully find some answers!
Thankyou to you all, your experiences are highly valued x
 
rockysmum said:
Magnesium calmers only work if the horse is deficient in magnesium. As you dont know they might be worth a try.

I spent years trying to put weight on our stressy warmblood, she box walked, was jumpy etc etc.

Now it doesn't matter what I feed her, she is calmer and has piled on so much weight she is on a diet.

The miracle cure, Yeasac, no idea why it works, our saddle fitter recommended it, but it does.

She is a different horse.
Click to expand...

Fair point, Valerian then... Lincoln do a valarian cordial
 
Personally I would try either Topspec balancer with their conditioning cubes, or pure feeds.

Or failing that cheapo pony nuts at £6 a bag! These did as much for one of my horses as expensive feed.

Personasly I would steer clear of c&c.
 
I'm a great believer of keeping things simple. So .. Fibre nuts, speedibeet and linseed wouldn't actually be a bad starting point!? Then I can add/adjust if needs be...

What an actual nightmare - perhaps by christmas I might have a normal, uncomplicated riding horse :(
 
Definitely worth doing some research and it will be a bit trial and error, Ill bet no 2 people on here feed exactly the same combination. For my TB, I have found that HI fi lite and the most basic Horse and pony nut together with A & P Fast Fibre through the winter work best. He has ad lib good hay when needed, never haylege (too much sugar). He also has Pink Powder (we had pigs at the yard for a month or so 2 years back and he nearly flipped his lid completely, I tried PP to settle his tum and he looked so well on it Ive just never stopped), a special mix of magnesium calmer (David at Equimins was most helpful) our grass is low in mag so I feed this at a low level all year and up it a bit in spring in autumn. He looks incredibly well all the time and for a good 95% of the time is more like an old labrador than a TB, just occasionally something sets him off and he has "a moment". Good luck with getting him sorted, it is a it of a nightmare, so much choice these days!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top