what do you feed

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bugbee717

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this may seem a silly question, but what do feed your ponies?, how much work do they do ?
we have had our pony out 24/7 but we have moved him and he has to be stabled at night, should i be feeding him something else, he does round about a hours work four times a week.
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My ponies live out 24/7 and have no stable or rugs, only a double field shelter. They get hay twice a day (in nets in their shelter) and a feed in the evening. My 10.2hh 26 year old Welsh gets Speedi-Beet and Senior Maintenance Mix, whilst my 14.1hh New Forest (who is a good doer and a bit of a pig!) gets Speedi beet and Happy Hoof. They also get lots of carrots and mints etc. The veteran does lungeing at weekends whilst the other gets ridden whenever its not too cold or slippy (I can only ride in field given live on main road). In the summer they get very little, I fence off the paddock and they get a small feed and veggie peelings and bread. How old and big is your pony?
 
My horse gets ridden for 2 hours 5 times a week, she is fed saracen re-leve (2 1/2 scoops per day) Saracen Equi-Jewel (2 cups per day), Saracen minty chaff (2 scoops per day), ad lib (and i do mean ad lib) hay, 7 hours of turnout.

She is also fed farriers formular, bailiers predigest plus, equine america applelytes and carrots.

oh and a cherry likit most days XD

She gets a mixture of dressage training, long hacks 1hr+, and lunging.
 
I tend to feed by eye, rather than comparing with what other people feed their horses/ponies - they are all individuals! With a new horse in good condition, I would start with lots of good quality hay and a token handful of cubes or chaff when the others are fed. (Perhaps adding a vit/min supplement if I thought it was necessary). I would then only increase the bucket feed if I felt the horse needed more energy or condition.

My two ponies (14hh & 14.3hh) are stabled at night at the moment and are just on a handful of High Fibre Cubes twice daily, but have lots of hay in the field during the day, and in the stable at night. One is ridden about 3 times a week, just hacking, the other 3-6 times a week, including competing and hunting.

My retired veteran 7/8TB, by contrast, still gets loads of hay, but also gets micronised barley, veg oil and sugar beet, as she needs a bit more feed to keep condition on now she is older.
 
no i dont work at lillico atlee unfortunatly...wouldnt mind lol but i still get money off...gotta love the staff discount during credit crunch XD
 
Mine is fed about 800g Of ReadyFibre Mash twice a day with a multivit/weight loss supplement. She gets a stupid amount of Haylage which I reduce when she hasn't eaten it all (she's on full livery)
She's on the tubby side of perfect and is in work to get her fit, when she's a bit fitter and in more work/clipped out fully she'll have more mash and Allen and Page Slim and Healthy which is an absolute godsend for good do-ers!
 
i used to feed bailies conditioning cubes, alfa a oil, and outshine, but i resented paying almost £14 for alfalfa, the cubes blew her brain due to the startch element (my horse is startch intollerant so only ers pellets and this saracen re-leve is all she can have) and the minty chaff is a better version of mollichaff
 
1 kg of fast fibre
2 kg mollichaff
11 kg of high fibre horsehage

Cortaflex
seaweed
devil's claw

I have a highland x who is a good doer and is 700 kg. He has a kidney problem and is allergic to alfalfa, garlic, high sugar and protein.
 
3/4 times 1-2 hours work per week ridden work (nothing to strenuous).

Winter:

1/3 bucket (soaked) of calm and condition/ sugarbeet
cup of equilibra balancer
cup of tiger oats for some energies!
alfa a chaff

Summer:
Fibregest, tiger oats, equilibra and chaff
 
17.3hh Warmblood, weighs about 800kg. Good doer in summer, poor doer in winter. 7 years old. One hard schooling session, 1 hard lunge session, a couple of not so hard schooling sessions, a couple of longish hacks per week. Out during the day on very poor grazing in winter and out as much as possible, allowing for protection against horrendous sweet itch, on OK-good grazing.

Winter (if in ideal condition - and it doesn't take long to get his condition back up thankfully) - Per day amounts:
2 stubbs scoops Alfa A
2 stubbs scoops soaked Alfabeet
1 scoop Spillers Conditioning Cubes (so half the recommended amount)
Up to 500ml vegetable oil
Formula 4 Feet or similar (changing to feedmark benevit)
Ad lib hay

Summer (again, assuming ideal condition and depending on availability of grass) - Per day amounts:
2 stubbs scoops Alfa A
2 stubbs scoops speedibeet
Feedmark Benevit
Ad lib hay

I then have George, a 15hh welsh section d who is an extremely good doer in summer and a good doer in winter. He is about 540kg on the weight tape, compared to 640kg in the summer! IDEAL... I like to let nature do its job where possible with a horse like him. Obviously you have to be a bit more careful where horses like my WB are concerned. He is out the same as the WB and on the same grazing, but will wear a muzzle spring-early autumn. He does two or three medium-long hacks and the odd bit of schooling each week. He is 18. He is currently in perfect condition and TOUCH WOOD has no ailments.

In winter he gets 2-3 stubbs scoops Hifi Lite, F4F or Feedmark Benevit and a touch of garlic until it runs out and ad lib hay (works out at about 1/2-3/4 bale a night, depending on weather).

In summer he gets a handful Hifi Lite, Feedmark Benevit and ad lib hay (usually amounts to about 2 slices while he is in during the day, although he might be a liver outer this summer and will not get any hay).

So, two very different horses in so many different ways and fed two very different diets, but both based on fibre which I see as being not only beneficial but essential. I feed alfabeet to the WB as he needs that extra boost in winter.

I have fiddled a lot with the WB's food as I have only had him 13 weeks, but have known him 4 years so have carefully moved away from the feed regime my friends had him on.

I started feeding George a respiratory supplement but it didn't make enough difference to justify hundreds of pounds a year, and I would rather manage his environment. I also fed BOSS and saw a great, mirror-like shine on their coats, but I needed to cut back on feed costs and they just were not a necessity. For the same reason, I have not bought a new batch of garlic - not necessary.

They get naked oats if we are doing anything particularly strenuous.
 
Welsh sec c broodmare.......bailey's stud balancer, grazon, fastfibre and alfabeet plus add lib hay

little fat cob in light work, hifi lite and vits/mins - limited hay some nuts in a ball

welsh sec d in light work ......badminton high fibre nuggets and fast fibre (won't eat chaff!!) - add lib hay
 
My TBx gets much the same as the Section A
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AS the haylage was so good this year they get adlib haylage and some hifi to mix their supplements into. Ponio has half a scoop a day and horse had 1 - 1/2 a day. They are both in light - medium work depending on how efficiant I am
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