What should I feed my horse?

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BellaMozarella

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Hello everyone! :)

I have Just recently taken on an 18 year old TB mare, she hasn't been rode properly in over a year and has only been on 'calm and condition' to put her on through every winter (her old owners have told me) she is turned out on grass through the day and is stabled at night and given 2 medium sized nets full of haylege. Her body condition score, I would say is in between a 3 and a 5, she has a big barrel and is quite weighty on her underbelly (due to eating and stood about with no work all day) but is very narrow on top with very little muscle on her top-line, her vertebrae are slightly visible on her croup (I can only explain it as where her croup is, down the centre where her spine is, there is a bump, which makes it look like her back end is narrow, rather than peachy) and her ribs are slightly visible (don't know if this is 'normal' for a thoroughbred as I have always been an owner of heavy horses). Apparently she is a good doer and balloons on spring grass (with the size of her barrel she already looks like a baloon!) In my opinion, it seems as if her weight is in all the wrong places, and it may seem as if she doesn't need the excess calories, but I am bringing her slowly into moderate work, getting her fitter, so I presume she will lose some weight with the work, and I want to build her top-line. she Is 15.1 and when she was weighed 2 years ago she was 620kg so was deemed as overweight, I've been out and bought some Spillers conditioning Fibre, but don't know what to feed alongside it? I don't even know if that's the feed I should be feeding her at all? Can someone advise me on what I should do? She has the weight, it's all just dropped, she looks pregnant (but she definitely isn't!) but so narrow on top and on her hind, and with her age and breed and the amount of work i'm bringing her into, I feel like she needs feed?!!! :(

here is a link to the feed I went out and bought .... should I be feeding her this? if so is it okay to feed on it's own or would you add something to it? thanks !

http://www.spillers-feeds.com/products/complementary-fibre-feeds/conditioning-fibre/
 
I used to know an old pony (24 I think) who had a similar body shape. He had a big fat belly but you could see his ribs, spine etc.
As for the ridge on the bum, my ex racer had this, I think it's a tb thing! And their rib cage is a lot wider than most breeds to allow for greater lung capacity, plus you're meant to be able to slightly see any horse's ribs aren't you?
It sounds more like she may just need more muscling up. I'm sure after working her more she'll look better.
I'm a big calm and condition fan, I feed it to my arab who was a bit skinny when I got him. He's put on loads of muscle now in comparison and looks amazing. It also helped my tb gain weight(he was such a poor doer).
As for the spillers thing, it says you should feed it alongside conditioning feed? I'm no expert so I don't really know!
 
I just don't know what to do, I've already bought the Spillers Conditioning Fibre and emptied it into a feed bin. A feed specialist from SPILLERS recommended I feed her the SPILLERS Conditioning Fibre alongside the SPILLERS Slow release energy cubes, but I don't want to be putting her weight on if that isn't what she needs, with her looking like a baloon on the bottom half but just bone around her withers/down her spine I don't know what I should be doing? I'm terrible with feed! :(
 
BellaMozarella said:
Hello everyone! :)

I have Just recently taken on an 18 year old TB mare, she hasn't been rode properly in over a year and has only been on 'calm and condition' to put her on through every winter (her old owners have told me) she is turned out on grass through the day and is stabled at night and given 2 medium sized nets full of haylege. Her body condition score, I would say is in between a 3 and a 5, she has a big barrel and is quite weighty on her underbelly (due to eating and stood about with no work all day) but is very narrow on top with very little muscle on her top-line, her vertebrae are slightly visible on her croup (I can only explain it as where her croup is, down the centre where her spine is, there is a bump, which makes it look like her back end is narrow, rather than peachy) and her ribs are slightly visible (don't know if this is 'normal' for a thoroughbred as I have always been an owner of heavy horses). Apparently she is a good doer and balloons on spring grass (with the size of her barrel she already looks like a baloon!) In my opinion, it seems as if her weight is in all the wrong places, and it may seem as if she doesn't need the excess calories, but I am bringing her slowly into moderate work, getting her fitter, so I presume she will lose some weight with the work, and I want to build her top-line. she Is 15.1 and when she was weighed 2 years ago she was 620kg so was deemed as overweight, I've been out and bought some Spillers conditioning Fibre, but don't know what to feed alongside it? I don't even know if that's the feed I should be feeding her at all? Can someone advise me on what I should do? She has the weight, it's all just dropped, she looks pregnant (but she definitely isn't!) but so narrow on top and on her hind, and with her age and breed and the amount of work i'm bringing her into, I feel like she needs feed?!!! :(

here is a link to the feed I went out and bought .... should I be feeding her this? if so is it okay to feed on it's own or would you add something to it? thanks !

http://www.spillers-feeds.com/products/complementary-fibre-feeds/conditioning-fibre/
Click to expand...

Why don't you speak to Dodson and Horrell nutrition experts who are their helpline it is what they are there for as you will gets mixed advice here.
 
I would call one of the better hores feed helplines like A&P, Saracen and TopSpec they are 3 that always get nominated and Win the nutrition advice awards each year.
 
You're going to need to start work slowly, and the grass is just starting, so I'd crack on with the fittening and just give a token thank you of what you have. I'd monitor her over the next few weeks - if she gets fatter, up the exercise; if she gets thinner, up the feed.

Not aimed at you, OP, but if we all put the hours we spend worrying about what to feed into working our horses, they'd all be in better shape! Feed can make an enormous difference but from the sound of this mare, work and grass might be all she needs.
 
There are lots of things to do over the next six weeks, main thing is to build work up regularly and steadily from 20 mins walking, [twice a day better than once a day] to an hour to include some trotting and introduce cantering when she looks better. Try to vary the exercises, introduce trotting poles, and make sure she has a warm up on a loose rein and a cool down after.
Walking on the road will harden limbs and help with her body shape.
Use a weightape every week to monitor weight [average over two weeks], and adjust diet and exercise accordingly. It sounds as though you want to reduce weight by about 2kg per week over the six weeks, if for eg she is now 575, you want to aim for 550 over 12 weeks, you can ask vet if he agrees with this.

Vet: a check and advice ......... teeth will need rasped, cushings test, and worming tests [Westgate Labs will send you a kit] and advise, best to do a saliva test for tapeworm and a poop test for roundworms.

The recommended feeding would be about 2kgs when she is getting an hour of light work, this is quite a lot if she is getting ad lib grass and is a good doer, but if you feed less bagged feed you may need to add some minerals to make up the difference.
Start with 1kg of the chaff, per day, make sure it is fed damp to prevent choke.
Add 25 gm salt to her feed every day.
The next feed to buy could be something for oldies, which have extra vitamins, or ask for advice from a feed company. Stick to hi fibre feeds, avoids pasture mixes, and don't worry too much about feeding.

If she is getting too much grass and is getting too at, you may want to stable her for part of a day. Provide soaked hay or haylage if stood in for more than two hours, this will keep the gut moving without adding sugars.
 
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