Should I change feed? A bit long - sorry!

[Tiffany]

Put your feet up and get comfy with a drink.......................My 12yo mare has been fed Happy Hoof and Spillers high fibre cubes for about 3 years now and I think she's bored with it.

Also, she's a good doer and she's put weight on during the last 6 weeks because she's not doing as much work and YO gives her more haylage than I'd like her to have because she doesn't like her stood with nothing to eat? She's out grazing all morning then gets a large net when she comes in about 1ish, then one about 4ish then 1 about 6 and another about 9pm.

If it's there all the time she will eat it but otherwise she's quite happy chilling at the back of her stable for a couple of hours. Other thing is she's come out in lumps and they have been there for a few weeks now? They aren't bothering her but her coat under her rugs is dull and her hair looks a bit wirey. Personally, I think it's the wet base in her bed that is causing the lumps because the yard used to muck out and now they only skip out and nothing else has changed?!

I thought if she just gets the haylage and a feed balancer it might help her lose weight and improve her coat. Good idea to change or not? Any other suggestions please?

 

[CrazyMare]

I feed a balancer over mixes - with a mix or cube you need to feed the reccomended amounts to recieve all vits and mins. With a balancer you need to feed much smaller quanitiies (lower digestible energy too!) to make sure their micronurient levels are met.

As you say her coat is dull, that to me, indicates she is lacking somewhere in her diet. I'd be tempted to put her onto TopSpec Lesuiretime Balancer or the new Lite Balancer if she were mine, with a chaff such as HiFi

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Happy Hoof is like sawdust and my horses found it very unappetising. I then bought Heathly Hooves (Dengie) by mistake and couldnt believe the difference, they were climbing over the stable doors to get at it. Still lo cal lami approved etc but moist and nutty and chaffy and garlicy and biotin - such lovely stuff.

Big chap even went off the food hes had for 8 years and started kicking the door till he could get Healthy H (which madam was on cos shes barefoot good doer).

really recommend trying it and it might not react with skin etc either.

It does sound an awful lot of haylage, tbh, could you swap to hay or maybe if not you could mix straw in with it?

 

[lauraanddolly]

I fed my mare healthy hooves this summer, she loved it and I have converted a couple of the other owners on the yard to it too. I have only taken her off it because she has also come out in bumps - had them quite a while now and they weren't bothering her until a few weeks ago she became very itchy I thought the lumps were due to the HH but she has been off it over 2 mths now and no change to the lumps other than there itchiness, I've got the vet coming out for Jabs beginning of Jan so I'm hoping to get an explanation for them then!
But if I can find the cause not to be the Healthy hooves she will have it again next summer its a great feed for the good doer!

 

[teb]

If your mare is a good doer, save your money and ditch the RB for a good vit and min supplement. This is from someone who thought RB's were the be all end all of feeding made simple. Because they give that speil of how you feed less and because it's low starch and low calorie, your horses won't gain weight. But they have all they need to stay healthy.

All good and well unless you have horses with an intolerance to soya. But, you won't know this because big feed companies tell you it's impossible. Well after killing nearly 3 of mine on 1pd per day, I went old school and ditched balancers.

Within weeks, my mare's thyroid went away, sore feet disapeared as well as no more fat lumps. Big Feed Company's advice was to keep them drylotted and lose the grass. Or get a grazing muzzle and keep the RB, of course. Considering my horses were able to graze normal after ditching the RB, they and I are much happier. Oh, and you'd be suprised about the change in attitude they had as well.

Terri

 

[Heidi1]

I too would consider TopSpec Lite Balancer, I have two of mine on it and they are looking great, nice shine to there coats and are full of NICE Energy... They get it with a little bit of Graze on...

 

[Tiffany]

Thanks everybody

Clipped her today and the lumps look much worse than I thought

They are different shapes and sizes all over her body

She seems fine in herself and doesn't seem itchy but I agree she must be lacking something for her coat to be so poor. I've started her on a course of antihistamines (sp) today to see if they help clear the lumps. Once they have disappeared then I'll propably change her feed.

 

[nikki_07766]

i could be wrong, but the rash sounds like a protein rash to me...