The exciteable hunter! What to feed?

[jayvee]

Have 17.1hh big shire x. loses weight rapidly when hunting, and at the same time blows his brains! What hard feed do you reccomend that will lessen the exciteability yet help maintain condition?
Would Alfa A oil chop and speedy beet be a good combination? (alfa a oil for some energy/condition and sb for main fibre bulk feed?) concentrates even 'the' non-heating types are not helping.
All sugesstions welcome. Thanks.

 

[Molineux]

Hello

I had the same problem with my horse, however he was to nuts to take hunting !!
I had a TB who kept weight on through the summer, as soon as he was clipped and the winter started that was it the weight would fall off.
I then went through so many feeds and nothing worked! however I then got RediGrass (which has more fat in and less surgar than Hifi etc).
Also Sugar Beet which was white (No sugar), D&H make it, and I used to feed Splliers Cond Cubes (Non heating) and a feed for the older horse (He was not old).
If you feed something for older horses, it has all the added oils etc for horses getting old and loosing weight.

The other thing you could try is cut his meals down in the morning and at night and give him 4 small meals a day.

 

[AmyMay]

Have you tried Blue Chip. The 18hh heavyweight hunter at my yard is on this as part of his ration.

 

[lucecaldicott]

i have a 17.2 hh shire cross and have the same problem i use linseed as well which helps to keep codition on. and as Molineux said a feed for older horses can help d&h i think it is make a 16+ mix which is good. i also found countrywides own brand stud and conditioning mix a good feed. i also keep mine turned out as often as possible with plenty of hay which stops her being so mental. (sort of!)
hope ive helped

 

[Jemayni]

Allen and Page weight gain is brill! I only ever feed it after hunting because he looses all interest in eating and runs up really badly, so I amnot sure if it is particularly heating or not (also my horse was hardly hot to start with, (apart from out hunting.))

 

[jayvee]

I currently use fibregest, similar thing to blue chip and the equilibra (but much cheaper) to his feeds. I thought helping the hind gut to be more efficient and calmer would help, but no! I really think any concentrate would have to be cut out. Reading up speedi beet seems to give what I am looking for(?) Anyway, have ordered a bag and will try. Be a few months before a result, either way, will show. thanks for all your responses. Though anymore welcome x

 

[sorona]

Both my boys run up when out hunting, doesnt help that one of them does a lot fo fast work anyway. I am going to start them on fibrebeet, a new feed from speedibeet. It works along the same principals but is a condtioning feed. You soak it the same as speedibeet but for longer. Here is the web address for you to look at!
www.speedi-beet.com/about-fibre-beet.aspx
Luckily my bous dont seem to fizz up on conditioning feeds but neither of them would entertain eating calm and condition after the first bag but happily eat spillers conditioning cubes. They are also on high oil show chaff, soya oil, speedibeet and blue chip. Neither have huge appetites and take ages to eat and arent bothered about eating after a day out hunting so have lots of adlib hay. They also live out 24/7.
Good luck, hope something works.

 

[sorona]

Just bought and soaked some fibre beet up. It is a sludgy greenc olour but smells quite nice, very grassy smelling. Once soaked it looks like chewed up grass, like the horses get stuck in their teeth if they chance to eat some grass with their bit in!! Think my boys will really like it as it smells like it might be quite appetising. Havent tried it myself though! it is 45 min cold soaking and 15 min hot soaking.

 

[CJ1]

i have a very excitable (when out) chunky boy and have him on Spillers slow release cubes and fibre-beet. Hes managed to keep things contained so far!