What do you feed?

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AstralDiamonds

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I've just been looking into what I feed my horses and was wondering what everyone else feeds theirs and what you would recommend? It's for my 15.3 Novice BE event mare, she's an Irish sports horse and holds her weight well and is fairly laid back despite the occasional tantrum. We are currently feeding her Alfa A, Baileys No9 Competition mix and performance balancer. But she seems to be bloated alot of the time, which we think is down to diet. What would you recommend?
 
My 7/8 gelding who is about to embark on some eventing gets a cup of Allen and Page Power and Performance and that's it.
 
my mare is 15.3, WB X ISH, and won't probably hold her weight as well as yours but she only gets handful of alfa A and a cup of baileys low cal balancer spread between 2 meals a day. Is your grazing good? and is she on hay or haylage? as this is more likely to cause bloating I would have thought. hope this helps.
 
Yeahh, she was a little skinny over the winter and then started to look really good coming into the season but at the moment just seems very bloated. I'm not sure how much I can cut her feed down to as she is doing 5x a week 1hr sessions + competing at a weekend (roughly). She's just on grass, but it's growing very quickly at the moment even though her and my youngster are on strip grazing to stop them over eating too much.
 
It's probably the grass. My TB who competes twice a month is on mollichaff and lo cal balancer at the moment and he is looking bloated too. He has far too much energy as is on very rich grass.

I'm not sure the comp mix will be helping as starch is hard for them to process especially if she's eating fresh grass as it comes up too. The balancer should have prebiotics in it to help her stomach though..
Maybe try spillers slow release cubes or mix instead or the baileys endurance mix? Fibre and
oil so easier to digest. If she's a bit porky maybe knock the concentrate ration on the head and just feed Alfa and the balancer but introduce some oats a couple of days before an event to give her some oomph?
 
i feed my 15.3hh 7 year old irish gelding who is in light work:

morning

1/2 scoop bran
1/2 scoop hi-fibre nut
handful h+P mix
scoop garlic

night

1/2 scoop bran
1/2 scoop hi-fi light
1/2 scoop h+p mix
handfull hi-fibre nuts
1 scoop garlic
sprinkle of salt and tumeric
glug of oil
 
Starchy feeds (such as the competition mix) will contribute to the bloating.

Look at feeding a high fibre, high oil diet, and you will find you have more consistent energy levels, and less bloating! I feed my 15.3hh 6yr old mare who SJ's Winergy medium and Allen and page power and performance for a bit more "Umph" without resortying to the higher starch feeds (she is naturally quite sharp anyway!)
 
My ISH who is 16.2hh gets 4 cups (coffee mug size, the one Baileys give you) Baileys lo-cal and a scoop of Alfa A oil split into 2 feeds. He lives out all year and gets hay as well. Never had any issues on this regime. I don't compete much but he gets a lot of fast decent length very hilly hacks!
Give Baileys a call. They are great with advice.
 
Dengie Alfa-A Oil
Bailey's No.14 Lo-cal Balancer
Bailey's No.4 Top Line Conditioner
Garlic Supplements
Sugarbeet (winter only)

I have a 14hh 12yr old section D and a 15.1hh 6yr old appaloosa x, they are ridden 6 sometimes 7 days a week and they both compete throughout the year, mainly in endurance and riding club level shows.
They live out in the summer but have poor alternate turnout in the winter, when stabled they have adlib haylage.
At the moment they're on fresh spring grass so aren't recieving any feed besides carrots and polos but when the quality of grass starts detoriating again they'll go on to small feeds once a day which will build up to two in the winter and back down again for the start of turnout!!

(Mare is a good-doer, keeps weight nicely on grass but needs that extra oomph now she's working harder and when she's on haylage only in winter. Gelding is the worst cob I have ever known for keeping weight and once the initial spring grass has gone will need to be fed, fed and fed again!)
 
Charisma is only on a handful of Aplha A and comp mix - she is looking well at the moment so doesn't need anything else just yet! Once the grass has gone later in the year I'll up the Alpha and in Winter she'll get Baileys # 4 instead of comp mix and sugarbeet, oil etc....
 
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