What non heating mix/cubes?

golddustsara

golddustsara

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I'm bringing my TB home on Sunday eeeek (dances around the room). At the moment he is rather errr fat so is on a handful of token food economy nuts and chaff so that he can have his biotin. With his current owner he is only hacking once or twice a week.

I plan to ride more and slowly build up his fitness levels. However, I have been told by his current owner that I should stick to v non heating mixes/cubes and sugarbeet when needed. My connie is on Allen and Pages Calm and Condition but I feel that as my new horse is rather rotund that he doesn't need weight gain right now! Can anyone recommend a good non heating mix or cube? I have been told good things about Ride and Relax...

Lastly one more question! I did the Baileys feed calculator and it is advising 2.8kgs of hard feed per day. This is quite a step up from his handful of nuts and sounds an awful lot! Bearing in mind I will be lightly riding him 3 - 4 times a week, what would you all advise?

Thanks, this new horse malarky is proving so stressful, I just want to get it all right - perhaps I should have stuck to natives haha.
 
Well as he is on economy cubes already, you could stick with them. Alternatively, you could try fibre cubes of some description, most major manufacturers do a version. I would keep him on the handful he is getting at the moment until you feel his condition is just right, then weigh tape him once a week and if you see he is still losing then start to up the quantities slightly. The amounts suggested by the feed companies are often excessive for a lot of horses, particularly if they are good doers.
 
Remember that if you are working him more than his current owners he will need some feed for energy rather than weight. Also, one owners definition of a fizzy horse not needing feed is not necessarily someone elses!
For the moment you could go with some alfa a & lo-cal balancer until he needs something extra.
 
I've got an RID mare who is a good doer and used to be huge
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She's been on Happy Hoof and Spillers Hi Fibre cubes for quite a while now and I've managed to get her weight down and maintain it
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(Might try the same diet for me
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They are both low in calories and because I don't feed her the recommended amounts for her size and workload she also gets 5 equi bites each day. She's got plenty of energy, looks well, got a good coat and is ridden 5-6 days per week. Happy new horse
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I have a TB x Han & I tried Calm & Condition. Unfortunately it had the reverse effect on my lad, it blew his mind & was hyper. I now have him on Ride & Relax & he's fine. He schools well & jumps extremely well & under control. From various enquiries I made I believe that my horse needs a feed without any barley in it as it is this that fires him up. Calm & Condition has it, Ride & Relax does not.

Other people I know have had the same reaction with C&C & are now on R&R & their horses are now doing fine.
 
Calm and Condition IS barley (and Oat) free, hence the "Calm" in the title! It is primarily sugarbeet and maize, which actually has more starch than barley and therefore probably more heating!, which is probably why some horses react to it!

I would go with the Happy Hoof, which you can feed a decent amount without the weight going on, my TBx has actually lost weight whilst being on it, but I'm feeding her a "good meal"! Fibre Cubes are low calorie too though, if you want to feed more of a "hard" feed, rather than chaff based like Happy Hoof. I have never tried Ride & Relax, but as it's a mix it's probably still fairly high in starch compared to a fibre cube or fibre feed. I have heard good reports on it though, so might be worth a try, as it will probably give more energy for the extra work than Happy Hoof would. My horse is only 3 so is not in work and doesn't need the extra energy!
 
I'd say a fibre feed rather than a mix or cube if you want no fizz. Happy Hoof is good but winergy equilibrium low would probably be better if he is going to be in work over winter and it gives you other options withing the range if he needs more energy or condition over time.
 
As a general rule of thumb cubes are less heating than a mix, and fibre feeds even less heating still, depending on which one you choose. Always check the starch leve, the lower it is, the less heating will be. Calm and Condition has a starch level of 19% which is controlled but many horses can find it quite ehating, I know if I tried it on mine I think she would need scraping off the ceiling! Happy Hoof is a good suggestion, as it's low in starch (3 1/2%) and the Winergy Feeds which I use on my mare are very good as well. I had to do a lot of research on heating type feeds, as my girl is very sensitive! Hope that helps.
 
Noooo Happy Hoof is like sawdust, my horses wont touch it! They love Dengie Healthy Hooves, which is completely different, moist and minty and nuts and chaff and yummy. Its also lo cal and Lami Trust approved. My good doer Haffie had it but the big chap started being fussy over his feed and so he gets it too now!!!!!

Big chap also gets Spillers H&P nuts which hes been on for 9 years and which I think are underrated, they have always gone down very well and dont heat him up....
 
thanks haffiediesel i decided to get good old spillers cubes in the end as his owner informed me he can suddenly drop weight in the winter so didnt want to go for a major high fibre feed.
 
i have a thoroughbred that is a fairly good dooer (a little chubby if anything!) and i started to increase his fitness and to keep his condition but keep him calm he is on

1 scoop soaked alpha beat (keeps weight on them but non-heating)
1/2 scoop chop (just fibre tbh...no energy really)
1 scoop of baileys top line conditioning cubes (these keep their condition REALLY well but are deffos non-heating)

our thoroughbred goes really well on that feed twice a day, and he gets ridden 6 times per week, hacking/schooling/competing at the weekend...and he is really good on that feed.

try the baileys conditioning cubes =) xx
 
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