What do you feed your BIG youngsters?

5horses2dogsandacat

5horses2dogsandacat

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I have a gorgeous 9 month hungarian WB who already stands at around 14.1hh. Im thinking he will be massive :rolleyes:

He's come to me rather on the skinnier side.. At the moment he is on a scoop of mare and youngstock, 1/2 barley rings, 3/4 alfa a oil and spillers body builder and as much haylage as he can eat.

The lady I bought him off said her vet warned her not to feed him anything that will make him grow too much as he will already be a big horse.

I would like him to put some more weight on but I also want to take into account his joints and bones and dont want him knackering himself due to me pouring food down his neck and his body being unable to keep up.. so theoretically end up with a rubbish physiological make up...

If any of this makes sense do let me know, ive rambled a bit!! :)

Many Thanks
 
I would be careful giving too much hard feed. We are only a month or so away from spring grass and he would be better not growing too fast.

My young sport horses live on hay/haylage and nothing else except grass in spring/summer. They always have a rock salt available and fresh water obviously
 
That sounds like a lot of hard feed?

Vinnie was fed Alpha Oil (1 scoop/day) and Topspec (2 mugs/day) with good adlib forage all year round.

In the winter or when he looked particularly light, he was fed Topspec Conditioning Flakes (good protein with low starch)- approx. 1 scoop a day at most.

I think with youngsters who are going to be big horses you have to accept they are going to look lighter than their smaller counterparts, particularly if they are rangy/scopey types as well.

We could always see Vinnie's ribs and he was never near show condition but he always had a lovely shine to his coat and enough spark and energy.

It is only this year really he has started to really fill out- he is 18hh now as a 6yro and really starting to bloom :)
 
My yearling is almost 15.2hh and he's on D&H suregrow, Graze On and ad lib haylage. He's doing quite nicely off this.
I would avoid feeding so much to one so young and so big. It'll only cause problems later!
 
My 9mth old is also about 14.1hh and not the fattest!
He gets Double handful Dengie Hi fi, small 1/2 basic d&h mix & 1/4 suregrow - AM & PM. He also gets ad lib haylage (not a rich haylage, more like hay)
He eats very well & is also bright and jolly (!!) but is still quite lean. I'm not too worried as know when the spring grass comes through he will go outwards. At the moment, we are going upwards & only his mane, ears, back end and feathers are growing!! He's 1/4 shire so the feathers & mane are living up to breeding!
I'm glad hes still light as dont want him to have weight on his still foal like limbs. He never finishes his haylage at night, so I know he's getting enough to eat.
Like everyone else says, forage & suregrow, I give mine a little extra but not too much high level!!
 
I'd leave out the Barley rings and Spillers body builder and just feed the Mare and Youngstock with the Alpha A oil and the haylage.

Don't worry about him being lean now...it's a good thing :)

The Spring grass is just around the corner and is the best for him.

Let Mother nature put the weight on him :)
 
I agree with the others, that sounds like far too much hard feed for such a young horse. Cut out the barley rings and body builder, he'll put on weight soon enough when the spring grass comes through.
 
Hay Hay and more hay!

and a small bucket of high fibre cubes and graze on (half a scoop of each max!) with a general purpose / youngstock supplement added.

This is my boy when I got him aged 16 months, standing at 15hh

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This is him 4 months later

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and this is him now, aged 4.5 and 17.1hh!

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I was very concerned about his rate of growth having previously owned his half sister who suffered a multitude of growth related problems including pysitis and OCD so he had as much hay as he could possibly eat which built his weight up slowly and maintained him at a healthy weight while he was still growing... it is only now that his growth has slowed somewhat that I would describe him as 'well covered but not fat' I don't regret a thing about he way I managed him, despite getting slated for it at the start.
 
CBFan - Piper looks a lot like that first pic at 16.3 and 22 months...you give me hope!! He has ad lib hay and a handful of pony nuts (literally) in the morning so I don't have to go looking for him when I'm in a hurry.
 
In response to your question... as much hay as he can eat and a hanful of chaff to mix his supplements. Babies are supposed to be ribby, especially at this time of year. It is a mistake to overfeed and will do them harm in the end.
 
My 9 month old warmblood filly is standing about 13.2hh and is being fed spillers gro'n'win balancer and alfa a along with a big pile of hay at night with grazing during the day. She was being fed a larger feed than i would have liked through winter but she really struggled with out cold winters in scotland having come from essex. However shes now looking well and i am startibg to reduce her hard feed for the hope the spring grass will see her through summer.
 
I'm feeding my three year old whose currently 17.1 ish baileys stud balancer - similar to d&h suregrow. He has the correct amOunt for his height and as much haylage as hell eat plus turnout. He's tall and ribby. I think on the lighter side for babies is best :)
 
our 16.1 rising 2 year old gets alpha a oil and D & H mare and YS. small amounts of both, plus ad lib hay (currently eating 1/2 bale a night) and luckily we have good grass and lots of it.
 
Hi my 9 month old is on about 3/4 scoop pure feed stud mix for tea and some readigrass in the morning as everyone else has breakfast. She eats her favourite bits of hers then goes and steals some of everyone elses tea and breakfast before returning to her own food. She is still withher mum however she got bored of feeding her about a month ago so self weaned. Currently stands at 14.1hh and looks about right.
 
my 9 mo gets a handful of suregrow, all the hay she can eat and.... thats it apart from sunday veg trimmings... she's 13.2 but told by vet she is fatter than she should be so had to cut down to half about a month ago. Thinking of giving just carrots and chaff now that spring has sprung. going out to new grazing soon so will phase out the feed.
 
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