Veteran Mix or Conditioning/Topline Mix

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Phillamena

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I have a 23 year old mare who has dropped condition recently as she won't stay in her field where there is lots of grass. (keeps jumping out and bringing herself in to the starvation paddock !)
Currently she is fed on Hifi, barley rings, leisure mix and speedi beet with equivite supplement and ad lib hay. She is in light to medium work ridden 4-5 times a week, (hacking and light schooling/jumping)
She has always lived out during the summer and have had trouble keeping the weight off but this year she has lost condition. Teeth etc are fine.
Would you recommend a specific veteran mix like D and H 16+ or a conditioning mix/cube?
Thanks
 
Check the energy levels of what you are feeding and the quantities. To gain weight you need to feed more energy. But yes, in theory a conditioning mix will have more energy than leisure mix and veteran mix so you could swap to that.
 
I feed my 18 yr old warmblood Top spec senior and Top spec cool and condtion cubes he is working 6 days a week and competing looks the best he has for a lon time lovely shine.
It last for ages as well i changed from D@H 16 + and finds this suits him much better
 
Great thanks, will try her on a conditioning mix and see how we get on. If only she would stay in her field where there is lovely lush grass then she would only need a balancer!
 
I feed ( well did shes now on soaked Bailey Rings as cannot manage Mix due to teeth ) my 40yr old pony Baileys Top Line Condition Mix and its worked great on her!
 
Most conditioning feeds contain more calories than veteran feeds - check the feed labels or the manufacturer's website for details - horsey 'calories' are expressed in terms of mega joules of digestible energy per kg (MJDE/kg). The higher the MJDE/kg, the higher the number of calories. Most veteran feeds tend to be around the 11 - 12 MJDE/kg mark, whereas most conditioning cubes are 12 MJDE/kg or more.

I'd also swap the Hi Fi (horsey diet food) for a higher calorie chaff - something like Alfa A Oil or Spillers Conditioning Fibre.
 
Hi,
My old boy sounds quite similar to yours... I have changed his diet completely, he's now on Spillers senior conditioning mix, spillers conditioning fibre (its shorter chop so nice and easy for him to eat!) Alfabeet and 1ml/kg of bodyweight of corn oil per day.

I also give him some biotal equine gold stuff in his last feed of teh day which seems to have made a difference to him again
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Lovely am off to annoy feed merchant now with lots of questions about feeds he probably doesnt stock! Can def get alfa a oil though.
Thanks for all your help.
smile.gif
 
Another vote for Spillers Senior Conditioning mix. They do a Senior Maintenance mix too, and both of them have glucosamine in.

I tried the Conditioning mix having seen it recommended on this forum and was amazed at how my 21 year old maintained his condition during last winter. Smells nice too!
 
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