TBs in the winter - esp who live out, can i see pics please

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millyspaniel

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I will be taking some pics this afternoon of my TB, she was very poor when i got her in july but has since filled out, still a little way to go - she has lost a bit of condition since winetr, shes currently on 2 feeds a day - 6 handfuls alfa a, 1.5 large scoops (round) build up mix and 1 large scoop sugar beet. She eats around 1/2 - 3/4 bale hay per day and gets exercised 4/5 times per week which consists of hill work, road work, bit of jumping and maybe 45 mins schooling.
Does anyone else have a TB who looses condition in the winter, can i see pics of winter TBs please. Thanks
 
Here is a pic of our 24 year old retired TB. This is him in June, looking suitably grass bellied. He does drop weight in the winter. Has a MW rug, gets fed (of round scoops) half of sugarbeet, half of basic mix, and half of alfafa. The feed is upped a little towards the middle/end of winter. He also eats about 1/4 -1/2 of a bale of hay a day with 24/7 turnout.

He does drop weight, but never horrendously and being a bit older, I'd prefer him a little slender to very chubby so losing a bit over the winter does him no harm when the spring grass comes round. Being seasonally fatter and thinner is part of the cycle for horses (esp if they're out of work).
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Note the totally b*ggered front legs......

Although he is still hacked out occasionally, his jogging is just too annoying to take him out too often
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I don't have any pics but I have helped with several TBs through winter...

you sound like you're asking for advice / reasurance so i thought I'd just offer a little.

It sounds like you've made a big improvement already and you're feeding plenty of fibre, which is great! and something many people don't get right... but...

and I'm not sure if the amounts you've listed are per feed or split between the two, something you might want to re- think is the size of the bucket feed ...one of my handfulls of alfa = 3/4 of a stubbs scoop so x6 = roughly 4.5 scoops added to that the 1.5 large scoops of mix and 1 large scoop of beet and you have a LOT of feed - even split between two feeds, for the horse to be able to digest effectively. I'd reduce the amount of alfa, and add some oil (soya oil is good) and perhaps look at feeding a balancer instead of the mix...

Sorry if this isn't what you posted for...
 
Monty - 30ish years old. Lives out 24/7. Still lightly ridden.

Fed on speedibeet, alfa-a oil, badminton triple-crown balancer, barley rings and fibre nuggets:

Summer -

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End of last WInter, Feb/March -

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Zoom - 13yo, in medium work

Fed speedibeet, alfa-a, badminton triple crown balancer, fibre nuggets

Summer -

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End of last Winter -

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