sorry to go on about feeding...

[alicep]

Just spoken to my vet Re: feeding veg oil to help with weight gain ( can never be too careful) and basically he said i shouldn't be feeding oil i should be feeding my scatty, hot, already crazy thoroughbred.... BARLEY!!! now as you can prob tell i thought this was just stupid therefore just laughed at him.

Now someone please confirm this is a bloody stupid idea or am i being a bit hasty?

 

[Maggie2]

Bloody stupid idea!

 

[Hettie]

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Bloody stupid idea!

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I agree!

Lots of people use oil for weight gain and improved condition. You could try a non-heating condition mix/cube or a feed balancer, maybe that would help?

 

[Maesfen]

Believe it or not, it's not many years ago that barley would have been the feed of choice to give weight gain, especially boiled barley or micronised flake barley. I have fed it many times and it is very good and not had any problems at all and I would have no hesitation in feeding it still if I needed to before I would start feeding a compound conditioning mix. However, I do realise that some horses have a so called barley intolerance so you might need to find something else if that is the case but I wouldn't dismiss your vet's suggestion out of hand, he wasn't wrong for a normal horse!
I personally am not a fan of feeding oil, horses weren't meant to have oil in vast quantities, they are meant to have fibre more than that. To that end, I would be feeding ad lib hay/haylage with as much decent turnout as possible. I would also consider soaked oats with sugarbeet/Speedibeet; contrary to reports, soaked oats aren't heating and many on here have had great results with them, especially PapaFrita and Druid to name just two and they both have fizzy horses! These need to be fed either with a balancer or a supplement, but decent grazing will go a long way to supply the minerals your horse needs plus it will give the brain a chance to chill out too. A lot of it comes down to matching workload to feed, not the other way around even if you feel it would be better with more weight, fibre is by far the better way to get it.
I'm sure you'll get a lot more suggestions.

 

[AmyMay]

All the horses on my yard have a dollop of oil added to their feed as routine - but this is for coat condition rather than weight issues or gain.

We have fed the hottest horses on the yard boiled barley through the winter - and it has made no difference to their overall behaviour at all. However, as MFH says - some are intollerent. And unfortunately many conditioning feeds are heating as well.

Does your little horse get a good supply of ad lib haylage?

 

[alicep]

at the mo the turnout is quite poor although she is out all day. she gets a big full haynet in the field in the morning, a slice of horsehage when she comes in and then another big haynet (i think its around 5kg) with her tea.

Theres just soooo much condraticting advice around.

Im now thinking to skip the oil idea. as far as i know shes not ever had it before. but feed alpha a with spiller high fiber cubes and carry on with the low cal mix as she likes the taste n need to use it. In winter im gonna look into maybe a competition mix or just stick with conditioning cubes.

Oooooooooooooooooo its so confusing. cant even ask the previous owner about it caz shes a b***h

 

[AmyMay]

Does she have hay left in the morning???

 

[alicep]

its funny as sometimes she does and others shes munched the lot. at night she always leaves a little but i like that as i think its a sign that shes got enough.

 

[Doublethyme]

Personally I wouldn't ask a vet about feeding anyway - they never seem to be up to date on any current ideas!

Your best bet is to ring some of the feed companies helplines - yes you will get advice based around their own products, but if you ring enough of them, you will get a general idea of what is best for your horse.

On the oil front, you can't go far wrong with Linseed.

 

[Chex]

I guess it depends on the horse, but I've seen many being fed boiled or bruised barley without it sending them crazy, although I'm sure there are some that would have an intolerance and go crazy! If I needed weight gain (if only

) I would probably turn to barley first, but then Chex isn't usually affected by what he eats.

 

[AmyMay]

How many feeds a day is she getting, and why feed a low calorie mix if you are looking for weight gain??

Is she also warm enough??

 

[alicep]

well the low cal mix was more for taste. but when i started feeding it she was a really good weight and condition and i was concentrating more on sorting her head out. so i just carried it on. its only over winter she has dropped a bit. but shes not welfare case skinny just looking a bit gaunt!. but i know as soon as the summer /grass comes up she will be fine again. its just a case of filling the gap.

on another note... im on holiday tomoz!!! yippee