What do you all feed a good doer?

I will try cutting his haylage down from tomorrow - thanks!

This is all new to me, I've only had Sam since August and before that I had a 16.2 very bad doer!!!

I dont have scales down there but I will take some and work it all out... thank you :o)
 
do you rug him, if so take it off, check between the back of legs to see if he is cold, this way he will use the feed to keep warm

its an easy equation.............feed to much for the amount of exercise and the metabolism of the horse and the weight goes on, feed for the work and metabolism and then the weight stays the same.

just feed the nuts in the snack ball and nothing else

by the way you have better winter grazing than i have in the summer for my good doer
happy diet:)

had another thought...............mix your haylage with straw that should slow him down
 
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Sambo said:
He's 14.2 and averaged 421 on weight tape - but does vary....

Ok... so shall I just reduce it all rather than cut any out do we think? I will keep his fibre plus as they are cause i like the treat ball idea and slow him down...

Maybe just do half scoops of HH twice daily rather than once to start with?
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If you want to keep the treat ball then don't give the Happy Hoof as well. Check out the calorie count of the fibre nuggets you use and try and find the lowest calorie ones - you should find the calorie content on the manufacturer's website or on the bag - it is expressed in terms of MJDE/kg. The lower the MJDE/kg the better for a porky horse!

From what you said in your other post, you can only just about feel his ribs and he has a bit of an apple bum, so a little bit too well-covered already, PLUS you said he has just transfered onto fresh grazing, so he is only going to get bigger unless you cut back his feed right back now. If you don't you are really going to struggle to keep his weight under control in the Spring and you might be putting him a real risk of laminitis.
 
Mine is on very poor grazing - for a reason, and has a handful of chaff with a vit/min supplement, with a few badminton nuggets - I feed her to keep her catchable!! She also has 1 section of oat straw in the morning and a section of hay at night, for a NF type, she has gradually lost weight over the winter which is great as she can carry on living out over the summer without being muzzled, I just use my blood horse to munch the grass down before she gets to it!!
 
Fany has a vit/min lick and haylage mixed with straw. Grazing in a fairly sparse field, no rugs even when she is out in the snow, and she lives up a fell and she still puts weight on if not watched carefully!

FDC
 
hollyandivy123 said:
had another thought...............mix your haylage with straw that should slow him down
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Yes, definitely this! I've started feeding straw in to my good doers net and it's sloweds him riiiiggghttt down! A net of equal amount by volume would last him an hour. So then I felt compelled to give him more in his net cos I didn't want him standing in with nothing to eat...so then the ball would get filled, more chaff in the bucket, and then.....?

So the straw is harder to get out of the net and it's made a huge difference.
 
Thanks everyone - I will definately try straw in with his haylage!! Didn't think of that before.

I'll start giving him a tiny brekfast of just a handful of happy hoof and then in the evening his treat ball with 1/2 scoop of huts in and his haylage mixed with straw :)

Really interesting reading this and seeing what you all feed, thanks all for replying x
 
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