Urgent feed advice needed - suggestions please!

ImmyS

ImmyS

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I will try and keep this short and make sure that it makes sense.

Tomorrow I'm going to the feed shop and I feel a bit of a diet overhaul is needed as I'm not really happy with what my mare is on. (Obviously any feed changes will be made gradually)

She is a 6 year old ex racer, recently been in light work due to shoes being taken off a couple of weeks ago however she is now back in medium work and the work load is gradually being upped. At the moment I am happy with her weight and she looks healthy with a good shiny coat however I do not feel her current feed is doing enough or will be enough for her now her work load is being upped quite significantly.

She is currently on speedibeet, high fibre cubes, sunflower oil, a linseed based general supplement and a hoof supplement. I only added high fibre cubes so that she would actually eat her speedibeet but I'm finding I'm having to add more than I would like to make her eat it. I don't feel that she really needs the speedibeet now as one she doesn't particularly like it and two I don't think she needs the bulk now grass is coming through and she still has access to ad lib hay, so I'm looking for a feed that is more concentrated and doesn't have so much bulk.

So basically I'm looking for a diet that covers all areas, it needs to be barefoot friendly, not too bulky, enough calories to sustain a poorish doer tb who's work load is being upped. She isn't a particular fizzy horse so that isn't something to worry about when suggesting feeds.

Also I wish I could but I can't feed anymore linseed as with non horsey parents they just can't understand the need to order in a £30 sack of food! :( also my feed store is quite limited so a range of suggestions would be helpful! Thank you :)

Chocolate biscuits on offer to those who got this far!
 
Calm and condition from allen and page is great. I mix that with dengie hi fi unmolassed chop and thats all my hard working boy gets (tb x trak). Just reduce the calm and condition in summer. Its not really calming btw it just doesn't contain anything heating and he loves it-licks the manger clean!
 
Futureformerlawyer said:
Calm and condition from allen and page is great. I mix that with dengie hi fi unmolassed chop and thats all my hard working boy gets (tb x trak). Just reduce the calm and condition in summer. Its not really calming btw it just doesn't contain anything heating and he loves it-licks the manger clean!
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Hello thank you for the reply, unfortunately we did have her on calm and condition for a while but it really didn't suit her, also the starch levels are too high for her now as she's barefoot, but thanks again for suggesting something! :)
 
Our tb gets Alfa a molasses free, alpha beet and and dodson and Horrell ERS pellets. He had/has ulcers and these give the calories and energy with out fiz and her low starch sugar.

He was on the ap calm and condition but with his ulcers didn't do well on it I when researched I found it has alot of starch in.

You could do just alpha beet for summer with the Alfa a molasses free and then her supplements in? The afla beet you have to soak, 15 minutes got water two hours cold.


http://www.dengie.com/pages/products/additional-products/alfa-beet.php

http://www.dengie.com/pages/products/alfa-a-and-hi-fi-ranges/alfa-a-molasses-free.php


Hope this helps:)
 
slightlyconfused said:
Our tb gets Alfa a molasses free, alpha beet and and dodson and Horrell ERS pellets. He had/has ulcers and these give the calories and energy with out fiz and her low starch sugar.

He was on the ap calm and condition but with his ulcers didn't do well on it I when researched I found it has alot of starch in.

You could do just alpha beet for summer with the Alfa a molasses free and then her supplements in? The afla beet you have to soak, 15 minutes got water two hours cold.


http://www.dengie.com/pages/products/additional-products/alfa-beet.php

http://www.dengie.com/pages/products/alfa-a-and-hi-fi-ranges/alfa-a-molasses-free.php


Hope this helps:)
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Thank you, she was on alfabeet in the winter and did do ok on it so may look into feeding that again. Have also looked at the ers pellets before so may look further into those :)
 
Was also considering feeding a straight such as oats too to give her a boost? Any opinions on straights, oats in particular? :)
 
Depending on the horse Oats can be good or bad, and can have some side affects towards some horses (Over excited like rearing, bucking, bolting) So access you horse and see if she needs a portion of oats ;)
 
you could put in a fibre.... something with alfalfa will give more energy.
oats can be good or bad..... depends on your horse!
a balancer may help! if you dont feed the recomended amount of food.

have you considered something like 'sustain' from allen and page! it sounds like it would suit your horse, great all round.
oil is also good for tb's... its a slow release energy, so doesnt fizz them up, but helps with staminer.... baileys outshine is amazing!!!!
 
Thank you will look into these different options. I don't think oats would affect her, she's doesn't seem to be affected by any feed.

I just want a really basic diet that covers all areas. I like the idea of feeding straights. I'm just finding it really difficult to get the barefoot, poor doer in hard work balance just right!
 
ImmyS said:
Thank you will look into these different options. I don't think oats would affect her, she's doesn't seem to be affected by any feed.

I just want a really basic diet that covers all areas. I like the idea of feeding straights. I'm just finding it really difficult to get the barefoot, poor doer in hard work balance just right!
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when you say hard work...what do you exactly mean?
feed companies 'hard work' is often very different from the riders 'hard work'... its important to get this definition right!
 
TandD said:
when you say hard work...what do you exactly mean?
feed companies 'hard work' is often very different from the riders 'hard work'... its important to get this definition right!
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In this instance I don't mean hardwork as in eventing/competing etc.. Like feed companies define it but I mean hardwork for her as an individual. She has literally only been walked on short hacks this last few week. Her work will gradually be built up to hacking 3-4 times a week for at least two hours at a time including fast work and hill work, the other days will be spent schooling for around an hour, with also weekly intense flat work/ jump lessons.
 
I like the baileys high fibre nuggets, horses love them and I use dengie hi fi too. Suits my bare foot horse fine, I add a general fits and mins which keeps him shiny and fit to do around 10 - 12 hours work a weeks.
 
ok so in the end you would be doing a 'light' medium work schedule.

have a look at the mollichaff range - mollichaff alfalfa oil would be a good one - low in sugar and starch (help those hooves) but you still get the benefit of digestiable fibre and slow release energy!

have a look at the balancers - topspec or spillers.... keep the vits and mins at the correct amount! think about us when we dont get enough of these - we feel pretty bad, same for the horse!

have a look at
allen & page: ride and relax or sustain - both medium work feeds and if using the oil fibre less will be needed as so,e energy is already being provided
d&h: pasture mix or one from the staypower range...... bit more energy from the staypower range, but more starch.

have a look at coursera courses online - there was a horse nutrition one! it shows that in alot of cases fibre provides alot of the energy the horse needs! it was very interesting and i am changing my feeding plan to fit with this!
also i have loads of feed brochures(20+) if you want any other feeds!
 
I have 3 horses all now eventing upto novice level and their summer diet consists of hi-fi, fast fibre and top spec cool balancer, just moved off the top spec comprehensive balancer as it sent the TB a bit wierd and 2 of them get micronsided linseed, 3rd can't tolerate it. All 3 very happy shiny sensible horses who have enough energy to cope with eventing to this level. Oh and a supplement, supaflex and magnitude as well.

Will get shot down for this but I can't be doing with loads of different sacks of feeds and this works well for all of them. 1 TB, 1WB and 1 TBxWB.
 
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