totally confused about feeding

mirandaharry

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Just after some advice for feeding my boy. He's an irish x tb type (don't know breeding, sorry) who's about 7. My problem is that he's a nightmare to feed
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!

Basically he's really hard to keep weight on, but whatever I feed him seems to make him as daft as a brush. I'd really like to find something that will keep the weight on him and give him useable energy!

Trouble is nowadays there is such a stupidly huge range of feeds and feed companies I feel totally confused (in the good old days it you just had sugar beet, pony nuts and hunter mix
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!).

Anyway over last winter I tried Allen and Page Ride and Relax which wasn't exactly relaxing - we rodeoed our way through whole lesson
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! Also tried a topspec cool cube, which didn't heat him up but he didn't gain weight at all.

Over the middle of the summer I didn't feed at all (except ad lib haylage) as I wasn't riding, but as we are approaching winter he's lost a load of weight. I've had teeth etc checked and all fine - it is just that he's a poor do-er!

At the moment I'm trying ad lib haylage, alfa oil and topspec balancer - and I know I sound completely useless
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, but from the info on the packs I don't know whether that's giving him what he needs nutritionally.

Any ideas on what I can try feeding gratefully recieved! Any experiences of speedibeet? Also I would like to try and find something that takes him a bit longer to eat.

Many thanks x
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Marilyn

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Poor you, my fat cobs gain weight!
I have speedibeet for my youngster and he really seems to enjoy munching through that...it's also so easy which is nice.

As for your boy, I would suggest phoning a feed helpline as they really do know their stuff. I would also suggest looking at oil a bit more and this is good for weight gain.
 

seaview

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HI

PM papafrita as she has a fab oat feeding regime it doesnt fizz at all!!

I have my tb mare on it at the moment and she is more relaxed than she has ever been in her life

Good luck

Nat
x
 

miamibear

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Very difficult thing to do here.

I think you are on the right lines though. The balancer will be providing him with all the vitamins and minerals he needs, you can feed this just alongside hay so whatever you add to it is a bonus.

I would make sure you feed good quality hay, i would say personally that haylage (although it may add weight) would make him a bit wappy but others do disagree, i would stick to good quality hay. It has to be good quality thought to make it nutritionally good value to him.

The alpha a oil is a good source of energy because oil is a slow release energy sourse unlike grains. I would steer clear of grains because they are quick release energy that can cause outbursts!! Some find that alpha a oil can have an effect on temperament too so if it seems to be making him a bit wappy you could try happy hoof - i use this and it seems good.

I also feed speedibeet, its unmolassed so shouldnt cause excess energy but should build weight.

I am feeding happy hoof, speedibeet and balancer and it worked a treat and put weight on.

Some people have used topspec conditioning cubes but i cant comment on those.

Good luck.

I would say the forage is the most important, unless they have good quality hay then whatever you feed them twice a day isnt going to make much of a difference. I would also say split the feeds in to as many as you can during the day, little and often puts weight on.

Also make sure he is well rugged as he may be spending energy on keeping warm

Hope this helps
 

Maesfen

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I go along with MiamiBear although I personally would rather use Blue Chip than Topspec; for some reason with mine it doesn't do what it says on the bag but Blue Chip does!
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You can't beat good hay, adequate grazing and turnout which hopefully will keep his mind right and top up with the Bailey's Topline cube or a balancer like BC or TS which will give him all the vits and mins he should need; you could add an unmollassed chaff and Speedibeet. Cubes are better than mixes if it's a gassy horse which yours sounds as if it is as there are no or little sugar in them; the same goes for Speedibeet. They have just launched another type with added vitamins and something else I can't quite remember. If you search back to beginning of August and look for the posts about Dublin Horse Show you might find out about it; I know it was launched there.
There are also Barley Rings, think they're made by Burgesses which are excellent for weight gain and shine but you'd have to check whether they would heat your boy up or not.

As suggested, give all the feed fims a ring, they are always helpful even though they will probably promote their own brands first but it is good to have their input; they know far more about the right balance than most of us!
 

ernikins

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I have found Top Spec balancer brilliant - my TB lived out all winter the year before last on Top Spec and Hi Fi and looked great.
We changed one of the really fussy, Tb mares on the yard on to Topspec balancer after trying everything - she is very fizzy but worries the weight off and her owner has never found that perfect feeed - since going on to Top Spec she looks absolutely brilliant - she has even chilled out in temperament. Speak to Top Spec as they have a really good helpline and are always willing to help. They also do a conditioning cube which is non heating - it is designed to be fed alongside the balancer so maybe this would do the trick??
 

MillionDollar

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The best thing to put weight on a horse is buying barley and then boiling it and then mixing it with sugarbeet!!! It is the best thing.

As for horses being silly on different feeds- this is a myth!!
Don't believe me if you don't want to, lol, but.....

Higher energy feed does NOT = fizziness
Higher energy feed = more weight gain NOT more energy

Therefore some feed companies con all us horse owners. Such as Allen and Page new feed Relax and Ride- it is rubbish, they are just conning you. Dodson and Horrell however, do not do this, and if you ring them they will telll you this.

Also it is the same when feed companies charge more for a mix than the cubes. There is no difference in the feeds the mix just looks nicer!!!!!!!!! So save your pennies and go back to the basics- Horse nuts, barley, oats, sugarbeet, etc. Most of these actuaaly have the same energy as hard feed.

I have studied horse feeds all last year and we had the top Dodson and Horrell expert to come and talk to us about this. It is a huge problem in the horse world as advertising says a different story.
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JessPickle

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[ QUOTE ]


So save your pennies and go back to the basics- Horse nuts, barley, oats, sugarbeet, etc. Most of these actuaaly have the same energy as hard feed.


[/ QUOTE ]

you just described pickles feed! we dont have many diffrent feeds at our yard the only horses that eat diffrent things are the laminetics
 

horsegirl

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Surely fizziness is just an excess of energy? So feeds with a quick energy release (high sugar) will cause the horse to have a lot of sudden excess energy and therefore fizziness.
 

MillionDollar

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Thats exactly what we all said when we told this. But it isn't true.
When you have a chocolate bar do you suddenly go completely mental? The answer is no ( well in my case its not, lol).
If you keep eating the chocolate bars it doesn't make you have loads and loads of energy (or athletes would eat nothing else) you just put weight on!!! Its the same for horses if your horse is suddenly fizzy don't blame the feed it could many other things, such as having a happy day, hormones, the weather, etc. Its something else not the feed, so don't fall for feed companies advertising.
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so03

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[ QUOTE ]
HI

PM papafrita as she has a fab oat feeding regime it doesnt fizz at all!!


x

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure papafrita will advise you anyway, but just in case please remember to feed limestone flour or similar high calcium product when feeding oats.
 

lynspop

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allen and page -calm and condition : ive had great success with that- two of my liveries were having huge problems with keeping weight and condition on their horses (both TB X who had evented and did dressage previously) both are fairly hyper and tend to heat up- but the calm and condition did just what it said on the bag - added top line and general condition without fizzing them up! Both also have speedibeet, molassed chaff and ad lib hay.
 
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