What horse feed for TB??

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Lolabug

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Hello All,

I just wanted to know what you feed your TB and could you recommend any feeds?

I am looking for TB's which are in light work (schooling and hack 4/5 days a week)

I have just taken on a TB and there is so much choice out there I have been recommend hi fi lite and Baileys No.4

Many Thanks :confused:
 
Depends solely on the horse! I know some that will live solely off hay/haylage, some which are only advised bulk fibre feeds [ulcers/excitability/etc], and some which thrive on hard feed or straight mixes!

My lad, I have out 24/7 with access to hay and when in work, he's on oats, chaff, sugar beet and barley [plus micronised linseed if I can get it].

eta - forgot sugar beet/linseed and mineral lick!
 
Agree it does depend on each horse

Mine is on cool mix/cherry chaf/ multi vits / sugabeet and she does very well on that

she is on haylage this year but has always done well on hay. I give her redigrass some days as an extra and her licks :D she is pampered
 
Adlib haylage with minimal hard feed for mine. If you need to put weight on, then Rowan and Barbary Readymash Extra is amazing stuff - mine went from hatrack thin to obese on it and I had to take her off it! I like Fast Fibre, but mine is a bit fussy about eating it and Pure Easy by Pure Feeds is fabulous as well.

I think in your position I would be going for the Pure Easy option - it's my favourite one and mine eats it all up which is a bonus, although I only feed about half of the recommended amount.
 
Totally agree each horse is different, I have been looking for feeds which are non heating, I was looking at Allen and Page cool and collected as low starch. Thank you all for your comments so far x
 
My lad lives out and has as much hay as he wants (which is suprisingly little actually). He gets a handful of fast fibre in summer and in winter he has one small scoop fast fibre, one small scoop of soaked sugar beet and a cup of micronised linseed with pro balance + for vits and minerals. He also has a morning feed in winter of just fast fibre and sugar beet. He looks great on this - shiny coat, good hooves and always well covered.
 
Also depends what your budget is. Personally i wouldnt buy the more expensive feeds if theyre not in heavy duty work. If they do well on them then great, if not then switch :)
 
My mums tb is on hifi healthy tummy and linseed. When we got her a few years ago and she was poor and we fed her cool stance coprafeed, which is basically ground up coconut husk I think. Really high in oil so puts on condition but didn't hot her up. She cribs so this is also low in starch which is good for horses with ulcers. Something a bit different but good stuff and not too pricey. Apparently they feed it a lot in NZ. Smells really yummy too!
 
All TB's I've found go mad on high sugar/molasses and I prefer no cereals.

My current 19yo TB is on molasses free Alfa a, veteran vitality, micronised linseed, rice bran, adlib hay, and 12hr turnout
 
Mine is fed chestnut horse feeds alpha easy - low starch and non fizzing. Swear by miconised linseed (direct from charnwood milling - 1 sack lasts me about 3 months).

If she drops any more weight I'll add calm & condition back to her feed.
 
H there,

I was just in your position 3 weeks a go! I got a 16yr old scrawny tb in Septemeber....I continued to feed him his previous feed

Molassed chaff
Fast fibre
Pasture mix haulage

He was not putting on any weight, really strange mood swings (sugar highs and lows) and was generally going bonkers! I did a forum on here and spoke to 2-3 nutrionalists and later decided that it was the sugar and starch.....he was on over drive!!!! He's now on alfalfa a oil and a solutions mash by rowen a Barbary (it's fantastic for controlled weight. Gain, health and condition), he also had a large scoop of fast fibre every night to get him back on track!!! He is seriously a different horse. Calm, gain weight and looking the best he's looked in a long time! Good luck

Xxx
 
Agree with avoid sugars, mine is complete donkey but give him a sniff of molasses and he turns into the amazing exploding tb. So I tend to steer clear of the majority of chaffs.

He gets as much fibre as he will eat (hay or haylage depending on availability.)

Then unmolassed sugarbeet as a base, high in fibre and reasonable amount of calories, micronised linseed, copra, brewers yeast and minerals.
I have also fed alfalfa pellets and oats with no problem at various times.
 
I use the top spec cubes & they really suit my TB,he's a very poor doer & also very feed sensitive,& had ulcers several times! They are good at keeping weight on & don't hot him up. Tried pure feed but didn't suit him at all. I feed the TS cubes with linseed,graze on,yeasacc,vit & min supp & speedibeet. He also has ad lib hay.
 
I have always gone for the KISS principle (Keep it simple, stupid.......)
I had a TB who ran up a bit light (well V light) following a prolonged hoof abcess episode. I wormed it - bought local feed suplier own conditioning mix, along with Alfa A and jolly good hay (and made sure the horse was as warm as possible both in the stable and out) Within 3 weeks he had perked up wonderfully, he is hunter clipped, and is now on cooling mix, with Alfa A aded, and still the quality hay. Looking very good. It is not rocket science - and do not let people / feed companies con you into thinking that it is!
 
My lady is on Baileys topline conditioning nuts, barley rings, alfa a oil and sugarbeet as she needs some weight adding, she can have either really good quality hay or haylage and she much prefers the hay, so she has a net stuffed of an evening.

She was a little underweight when I bought her with a dull thick coat, she is now living in at night and out during day and so far doing really well.
 
Mine has soaked hay ad lib, very limited grass, speedibeet with micronised linseed, minerals/vitamins. She now holds her weight well. In the past on 24/7 grazing and or un soaked hay she would lose too much weight in winter.
 
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my tb has, and has been for the past 4 years, been fed in adlib hay and a scoop of Dengie morning and night with vitimin supplement. When he's lost condition or been working hard I add basic pony cubes or soya oil to his feed.

Its really hard as he heats up on basically anything! We've just switched from dengie lite to full fat dengie and even with that I will be watching his behaviour over the following weeks.

At the moment he's in very light work as I can only school at the weekends. But in previous winters he's been doing the same as your horse.

Lots of feed companies offered me lots of expensive feeds and told me they were 'non heating'. This led me to spend a lot of money of feeds where I only ended up using a quarter of the bag!!!
 
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