Should I feed any suppliments for my 2?

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Blondie1

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Hi

I was wondering whether i should be feeding any suppliments to my 2 horses and am after any advice you guys might have.

My youngster is a 2 and a half year old Welsh cross (15hh), holding weight very well. Currently fed twice a day on 3/4 scoop of hifi lite and a handful of mix. She is turned out during the day, stabled at night with haynet. In the summer she suffers from sweetitch and her hooves were cracking a little in between regular trims.

The other is middleweight 15.3hh gelding (unknown breeding) looks to have a little welsh and irish draught in him. He's 12years old in light to medium work - Likes his food! He's currently fed twice a day on 1 scoop of hifi lite and half scoop of mix. He is also turned out during the day and stable at night with a large haynet. The previous owners did not feed him any suppliments. He has no health problems, very good feet, when working him he is slightly stiff on the right rein which we are working on atm.

I think i've covered everything about them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated please, thanks x
 
If your horses have access to fair/good grazing and decent hay, there really should be no need to feed additional supplements. Step back and have a good look at your two - do they look in good shape, with shiny coats? If so, I very much doubt they are lacking in anything!! Too many people feel they should be feeding supplements as 'it's the right thing to do' when their horses just don't need it - that's MHO anyway.
 
What about feeding them a balancer with all of the nutrients your horses may need in one feeding stuff, and just add chaff? I don't know which is what, but there's balancers that have supplements in them for their feet, good doer's, underweight horses, etc... and can work out very cheap in the long run rather then buying a mix and a supplement and possibly doubling up on some parts of the nutrients required?
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Mine are on equilibra this year as they are living out and not in work. I didn't want to fry their brains with too much hard feed. Using a small cup of this in a small feed once a day, my horses are looking amazing. It may be something you could use on your 12 year old? xx
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http://www.gwfnutrition.com/prod_equilibra500/index.htm

Maybe this for your welsh because of weight and feet:

http://www.bluechipfeed.com/lami_light.html
 
Thanks guys,

They both look in good condition. The 12 year old has good grazing, my youngster's verges on poor to fair so i do put hay out in her field every morning when i turn out.

I didn't think that they needed any suppliments but everyone at the yard feed lots of suppliments to theirs and i just thought maybe i was doing something wrong.

I will look into the balancers tho as it would be interesting if it may save me some money in the long run as i am goin through the mix like there's no tomorrow!

One thing that springs to mind is should i be giving my 12 year old any joint suppliments?

Thanks x
 
As one has Sweetitch, I would add Brewer's Yeast and linseed to the feed. Brewer's Yeast is an excellent source of B vitamins, some of which are important for the immune/ nervous systems and also skin. Some say it makes the blood taste iffy to mozzies or the smell repels them, but a recent study showed that flies use sight to identify their targets, not smell (and the biochemist in me is cynical of the smell theory anyway). So, I think it's more to do with immune system regulation and calming properties, together with skin health. My mare has been on it only for a couple of weeks (I bought in bulk from Charnwood Milling), but the linseed is certainly proven - she was on that last summer from late August onwards. It's high in Omega 3s (beneficial to skin) and it's actually used as a boiled poultice by some for treating eczema (which physiologically is akin to many sweet itch cases - certainly in the case of my little mare, who remains scurfy all year round).
 
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