Very chilled Warmblood -Feed Help?

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northerngirl

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I have had my horse about 6 months.. The previous owner said that he needed a handful of Cool Mix a day, only needed haylage & Grass otherwise he would be too highly strung!! He is a Warmblood & a good dooer.....

He is doing at least an hours work every day, at the moment he is out all the time apart from a few hours in a afternoon and he gets a full scoop of cool mix.

He is that laid back it is ridiculous!! He just wants to sleep, struggle getting him to do any work, very very lazy!! It is like he just cant be arsed!! He is now at a good weight, wormed up to date, saddle, teeth, back all checked.... I have come to the conclusion I need to alter his feed, as the cool mix is making him far too cool, ha!!!!

Any advice would be great, am thinking something with more protein to give him a boost but dont want him to turn into a ravin looney!!
 
I feed my laidback warmblood Allen & Page's Power & Performance during the summer to give him a bit of extra oomph. Is yours out 24/7? I also find that keeping him overnight before a show/lesson helps as otherwise he's half asleep!

During the winter I only give him a handfull of chaff when the others are fed as he doesn't seem to need anything when he's on haylage. Hope that helps!
 
i have a v laid back ISH and ditto above re allen and page power and performance - great stuff - i also don't ride the day before a comp and that helps...
fitness also helps - as does lots of winding up work ;) (holding back on hacks and another horse acntering ahead/stand to canter to stand transitions in arena etc etc)
 
What type of work did he do in his previous home and what sort of work are you asking of him now?
My mare, for example, can be fairly idle (if I let her be), when hacking from home as same old routes and not much choice. I do have to wake her up with a lot of walk-trot transitions early on in the ride to set expectations. She also loathes schooling in an arena and acts as if she's on her last legs. Can also be very argumentative and negative in this situation so we don't do it. However, trailer her out for a hack, or take her on a pleasure ride or SJ and she's a different horse, a real push button ride. She can also successfully do an odd dressage test as long as I keep the warm up short and really wake her up before our turn.
Could you take him hunting this season? It's brilliant for getting them forward going and enthusiastic. My mare absolutely adores hunting.
Also, this summer heat just doesn't suit many horses who naturally revert to laid back, even sluggish behaviour yet rev up more from Autumn through Winter etc. Could this be it?
Don't despair, it sounds as if he's just a sensible nonchalant chap, better any day than a lunatic that just can't settle!
 
Charisma is a very laid back tb, she can be spooky but can be a donkey a lot of the time! :-0

If I am looking to be doing more work with her change from a simple cooling mix to working mix, and someone also gave me samples of power and performance which worked well. If I'm just hacking about for a few weeks I lay off that though otherwise she'll be a rocket!

I also agree with whoever say 'winding them up' - introduce short bursts of gallop out hacking alternated with a steadier canter, hunting (in season obvs) and school around jumps. Charisma can be so lazy when schooling but as soon as she spots a jump she's off! Also polework keeps them interested and active, and keeping her off the grass for a good few hours before competing (or overnight) helps. I'm jumping tonight but she's been out all day...:)

I love how laid back Charisma is because it's easy, but I do wonder about her when I'm about to ask her to jump a course....I need some oomph!
 
Before you go adding protein I would check that the diet is balanced and sufficient, so add a balancer or broad spectrum multivit first and if that has no effect then look at adding extra to the feed.
 
northerngirl said:
I started giving him Equivite supplement every day but found he became spooky, so I stopped giving it to him.....
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that suggest to you that his current laid back/lazy/lacking energy state reflects a deficiency and that his previous owner was correct?

Try half as much Equivite or another multivit to start with and less hard feed
 
another to suggest trying a different supplement from Equivite. A good friend of mine has the same problem with her large warmblood and he is very flat. However, her feeding difficulties are compounded by the fact that actually had the beginnings of laminitis so had to have his feed swapped promptly plus which any supplements seem to send him skyhigh!
 
the watcher said:
Wouldn't that suggest to you that his current laid back/lazy/lacking energy state reflects a deficiency and that his previous owner was correct?

Try half as much Equivite or another multivit to start with and less hard feed
Click to expand...

Yes, fair point... It was more a case of that he had to be ridden every day otherwise he would become fizzy. He has never been fizzy since I have had him, even when he was on Equivite, just spooky when hacking out.
 
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