Suggest a feed for my horse? Losing condition...

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Stormy123456

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My 16/17 year old event mare is losing condition fairly quickly...

So I'd like some feed suggestions please.
She's very hyper, and has evented to Novice level on zero hard feed, 99% of feeds have sent her doo lally - so absolutely nothing heating, she is loopy enough already!
She's losing her topline, and is beginning to look poor. She comes in at night, out in the day, as has ad lib top quality haylage. She's on chaff and a supplement of cortaflex once a day. She isn't thin, and is perky and fine in herself, enjoys being ridden, and is happy, but she's in need of something more.

Currently, she's ridden 3/4 times a week, but when I get home from Uni, I plan to start getting her fully fit for the second half of the teamchasing season, and crack on with some Opens. In the mean time what would you suggest we feed her? Preferably nothing too expensive as I'm a poor student!

Any suggestions much appreciated.
 
Hi

I had the same problem with my horse a couple of years ago. I phoned the Baileys feed helpline and they were really helpful, now feed my boy Bailey's No6 Endurance mix and he does really well on it. Baileys Outshine is also very good if they need a bit extra.
Sugar beet is quite good for keeping weight on, just make sure it's unmolassed as that can send them a bit loopy

Hope you find something that works for her
 
I like speedi-beet - it's great for adding bulk without the fizz!

Also get some sunflower oil from asda - it's about £6 for a big bottle of it. Feed a good glug (like a mugfull) twice a day and you'll soon find she picks some condition up.

Also she probably needs a broad spectrum supplement (like equivite) to ensure she is getting all the vits and mins she needs.

If she really is sensitive I think you'll find most conditioning feeds fizz her up.

What sort of work are you doing with her? Perhaps some slow, long and low work will help her use the correct muscles.
 
is she on any vits and mins? if not then i'd most certainly add a balancer and you may find that's all she needs - i dont feed one - just a vit and min suppliment - but then i have a good do'er - i have used them on poor do'ers etc and find they really help.

you could also try adding oil to her feed?

what chaff is she on? could you swap it to a higher calorie one such as alfa-oil?

in terms of other feeds - i rate calm and condition by allan and page for condition
or bailies top line conditioning cubes
 
Try linseed meal from Charnwood Milling. I prefer it to feeding an oil - high oil content but IME it's easier to get them to eat the meal. Mine won't eat much oil but he'll eat a good 1.5 mugs of linseed meal. Good for joints and coat, too :)
 
Quite often it isn't what you feed but how much you feed. Don't forget that older horses may not absorb their nutrients quite so efficiently, so need more calories. Also, as she is getting a bit older, could she be developing arthritis? Low grade pain can be a real fat-stripper. Since my oldie went onto daily antiinflammatories she has put on quite a bit of chunk.
 
Mollichaff Condition has worked wonders on my ISH. Nothing worked with him, tried everything under the sun. He is also very hyper, and this feed has done him the world of good. The muscle tone and topline on him is amazing.

It's a nice cheap feed to at £8 a bag and i've been feeding him 3.5kg a day. He looks absolutely amazing on it and I would thoroughly recommend it.
 
I would add oil and kwick beet to the chaff first if she goes hyper on most feeds and see how that goes, that's cheap as well.
How much chaff are you giving her? What type?
You could try a heaped stubs scoop of Alfa a, a scoop of soaked kwick beet and 1/2 a mug sunflower oil twice a day.
You can feed up to a mug of straight oil a day before it needs supplementing :).
I would get her a mineral lick for her stable or field as well to make sure she's not missing out on anything, they are cheap as well :)
 
I would add that if she isn't on an alfa a based chaff at the moment I would be VERY careful about introducing one. Alfa-a is well known for sending some doolally!

Also some balancers can leave them feeling too well.

I think a broad spec supp, low sugar beet and oil are the way forward for you.
 
I like Coolstance Copra, it's coconut meal, no sugar, high oil, protein and generally doesn't make them hyper, it's not that cheap but a little goes a long way.

Plus a mug of Charnwood linseed.
 
My horse cannot tolerate the majority of feeds- send him
varying degrees of bonkers!
He tolerates & keeps weight on with ad lib haylage, speedibeet, linseed,top spec cool condition cubes, spillers conditioning fibre. I've just started him on ERS pellets & the mollichaff conditioning chaff & is tolerating them so far. He can also cope with spillers slow release cubes but they're not so calorific as the TS cubes & ERS. Cannot cope with pure alfalfa chaffs at all.
 
I'd go for an oil with a high calorific value preferably soya or corn, lots don't like the taste of soya so corn is more palletable.

My skinny stressy ERS suffering WB currently looks great on spillers hifi cubes, Topspec & corn oil.
 
If she does well over the summer months then I would be looking at things like grass nuts, readigrass etc, which are (as their names suggest!) grass based.
 
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