What do you feed your natives

Tiarella

Tiarella

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I currently feed mine a handful of hi fi lite and a small scoop of pony mix.

I'm currently trying to build up his muscles due to having 5 months off and was wondering if there were any feeds suitable that were not fattening and would suit lamintics.

What do you feed yours, and what quantities, thanks
 
I would not be feeding a laminitic native on any type of mix, mine is currently being prepared for a ode, his first outing for 2 years, he is on Fast Fibre, a supplement for extra vits/ mins and soaked hay.
He is building up very slowly and safely as I am not prepared to risk him getting laminitis again, he is still very light in weight and will be kept this way, he is muscling up without gaining any real weight.
 
Fast fibre and a vit/min supplement as he's currently getting below recommended amount. He's on reasonable grass but he now doesn't need to loose anymore weight. We keep a close eye on him and he is visited by a nutriotionist who weighs him also every two to three months.

In winter he'll prob have fast fibre and hifi mollases free with hay xx
 
soaked hay and oat straw (small haynet for the 3 or 4 hours a day they are in), vits and mins and mag ox in 1 kilo of Hifi lite and a bare (and I mean bare) paddock for 20 hours turnout a day

This is for a 14.2 9yo Haflinger who has had one mild acute lami attack.

After strict diet post attack she has gradually lost 80kg (!) and is looking much better but still has a bit to lose. Currently ridden 3 or 4 times a week (gradually increasing). She is barefoot and trimmed by a UKNHCP trimmer.
 
Bailey's Lo-Cal is expensive but good stuff. I fed my Baby Highland this when he got underweight last year due to poor grazing. At the moment neither of them get any hard feed! The grass is like rocket fuel where we are and its growing faster then they can eat it!
 
Be positive - sorry should of explained a bit better, pony hasn't had laminitis as I keep his weight to the minimum and the mix is suitable for horses at rest/light work so shouldn't do any harm.

Thanks guys, does the hi fi lite contain any vits
 
Chopped oat straw with a powder supplement. Minimal grazing. Lots of exercise.

I wouldn't be feeding any hard feed regardless of what they claim on the packet. The small amount you're feeding is pointless calories. It won't be nearly enough give him all the vits and minerals he needs and it it's extra calories no native needs. It could be replaces with much larger quantities of a low calorie chaff so he thinks he's getting more (if it's a token feed) and fills him up more. It also won't have the protien level to increase muscle.

You'd be far better feeding something like unmollased Alfala (Dengie now do one) as it's high in protien of muscle building but no starch. But if you're not giving him a lot of muscle building excersice it will all go to fat.
 
I feed Simple Systems - and am yet to find anything else I'd rather feed :)

My approximately 14hh New Forest gets...

Handful of Timothy Chop A.M and P.M - in his PM feed, he gets Total Eclipse balancer. In the winter, he gets Simple Systems Purabeet added to his feed. Technically, he doesn't need two feeds a day - but all the other horses get fed breakfast at the same time and he lives for his feed. We have a 'first on yard feeds' policy and if someone else has fed, I can't guarantee they will scrape out the supplement's which are at the bottom of his feed into his feed bucket, hence the two feeds a day.

At night, when stabled he gets a few Simple Systems Lucie Fibre Cubes in a snack ball and in the winter he gets Lucie Brix over night.

His hay is soaked for 8-12 hours and double netted. He wears a grazing muzzle when he is turned out.

He is in light work, consisting of:

Two-three hacks a week of between 45-90 minutes - we live in a hilly area, so lots of hill work. Walk/trot and cantering when able to.
Two-three schooling sessions - mainly trot, with some canter and pole work. Introducing lateral work and 'baby' jumping. One of these sessions, will be a 45-60 minute lesson.
Then a mixture of long-lining, in-hand and liberty work on the other days, with usually one rest day a week.

Correct work has been the only thing that has helped muscle wise :)
 
14hh New Forest X, 3 years old, gets Fast fibre and brewers yeast and is on the big field by night and starve patch by day, or sometimes in at night with hay if getting too fat on the grass.
 
My lad gets a couple of handfuls of hi fi lite to put an all round vit/min supplement into twice a day. He is on a bare paddock during the day to nibble at very short grass and in each night on soaked hay.
You wont find feed that will build muscle, despite what they might claim. The only way to build muscle is regular work, preferably with hills included. Muscle builds through work that is repeated time and again. You need a sustained program of work and the rest is down to good quality forage and low sugars.
 
14hh Connemara eats Dengie Healthy Hoof x2 daily, a small scoop! Other than that a small net of hay on a night that is soaked for the day whilst the pony is out on a moderate amount if grass. She looks great and is of the correct weight and muscle. If they get the correct balance of food and exercise then there is no problem! :-). Mine has usually 3 hours schooling a week and 4-5 hours hacking a week in a hilly area with pleanty of cantering. When i have done a competition she has larger haynets and feed for that day then back to normal!
 
Two NF ponies out at grass 24/7 get approx half measure (small cup) of Topspec balancer per day plus a Rockies salt lick. Hay in winter only if required ie snow on the ground or field very muddy.
 
Meant to say that he's only fed because the oldie has to be fed twice daily. I like fast fibre because it swells up alot, even a small amount and therefore takes them awhile to eat it. He often will have his treat ball also with some high fibre cubes and carrots in xx
 
Baileys Lo Cal

I can't tell you how impressed I am with this feed! I have a client who has a 16 yr old pony that only her child rides, therefore is not worked "properly" and had 0 topline, long in the back and always looked VERY weak. At PC camp at the beginning of the month someone recommended Lo Cal balancer as it would not put on weight and they had found it great to help ponies to build topline. I then didn't see the pony for 2 weeks or so and when I next saw her I was gobsmaked!! Massive difference!!! Couldn't believe it, especially so quickly. It isn't cheap for a bag (just under £30) but she is only fed 1 mug a day so will last a while.
 
My Clevelands, welsh A, DHP type (and my Dutch Wb) get grass.. Hay in winter..

DHP used to get very footy on the grass where we used to live so she's in a compound 20 hours a day with hay and no grass and turnout is being gradually increased.. She gets a handful of hay/straw chop with foot friendly minerals etc and an appropriate balancer once a day.. She is thriving..
 
50g (dry weight) of unmolassed beet flakes, half a handful (about 30g) of Halley's Greengold (alfalfa) and two rounded dessert spoonfuls of a home made mix of micronised linseed, brewers' yeast and magnesium oxide. He's doing really well on it.
 
Thanks for the replies :) my pony is quite lazy and chilled and can be quite dead to the leg (stubborn nf!) is there any feed I could give that would give him a bit of oomph?
 
rachaelstar said:
Thanks for the replies :) my pony is quite lazy and chilled and can be quite dead to the leg (stubborn nf!) is there any feed I could give that would give him a bit of oomph?
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Get him fitter, take him hunting, carry and whip and poss a set of spurs. If he's naturally very back then feeding will only make him fatter and more sluggish.
 
Absolutely nothing at the moment. They are out 24/7 and in light work.

When they in more over the winter they will have token feed (to make it easier to bring them in) of chaff and pony nuts but that's it.

I have had them on Bailey's Lo-Cal, and D&H Safe and Sound which is lush but quite expensive. They will probably just be on original chaff and C.C. Moore pony nuts.
 
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