The pre summer diet!

[Lifeofapiebaldcob]

Hi guys I’m looking for some advice.

Got a 15.2 chunky cob who’s out during the day (hay in the field) and in on a night.
Gets 1 scoop of top spec lite balancer on a night as advised by a lady from top spec who came to our yard with a weighbridge.

how much hay should I be feeding him?
He’s approx 550kg (going off recent weight tape).

Cant take the hay out the field so I can’t change that ?
I’d say he’s probably in light work at the moment... 5 days a week either ridden or lunges depending on my shifts.

(Any weighloss tips welcome!)

 

[Leo Walker]

soak his hay, if he will eat it give a bg bucket of chopped straw and reduce the hay down, and up the work! Top spec is crap so I'd change that as well. Equimins advance comes in pellet form, another cheaper not too bad option is the spillers balancer

 

[Bernster]

Having piled on the pounds enjoying his new yard set up, mine has gone on a diet this week too! He gets soaked hay but I’ve now got him muzzled and reduced him to lo cal simple hard feed. I’ve got a hay lo feeder to slow his eating in the stable as well. And I’ll up the exercise. We have hacks with some hills now which is good.

I find it much harder to get him to lose the weight once it's on so I do try and react quickly or pre empt, but underestimated his weight gain at the new digs!

 

[Limit]

soak his hay, if he will eat it give a bg bucket of chopped straw and reduce the hay down, and up the work! Top spec is crap so I'd change that as well. Equimins advance comes in pellet form, another cheaper not too bad option is the spillers balancer

Hi , Leo Walker,
Just as a matter of interest, on what basis is Top spec " crap".

 

[be positive]

Hi , Leo Walker,
Just as a matter of interest, on what basis is Top spec " crap".

I think it is because you are paying for a load of cheap fillers rather than just the vits and mins in other supplements.

The typical ingredients of TopSpec Comprehensive Feed Balancer are soya bean meal (GM), wheatfeed, high fibre oat by-product, linseed expeller, grass, full fat soya (GM), vitamin and mineral premix, molasses, soya oil (GM), yeast, lysine, MOS, methionine.

Composition of Equimins
Dicalcium Phosphate, Micronised Linseed, Sodium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Linseed Oil, Magnesium Oxide, Chrome Yeast, Oligoflora, Magnesium Chelate.

 

[Flamenco]

Plus the actual levels in Top Spec are pretty rubbish. If you compare a daily serving to NRV (horse equivalent to RDA) per serving Top Spec lite has 30-50% less vit E, zinc and selenium. Plus v low magnesium. Most land is deficient in these. If you're paying for a balancer you may as well buy one with as close to 100% of the requirements as possible.

I was feeding Top Spec Lite until six months ago when I swapped to Progressive Earth. Other good options are Equimins and Thunderbrooks or the Spillers lite and lean which isn't quite 100% but not far off.