What should she be eating?

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jack9

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15.2,4 year old warmblood x mare. Currently in verry light work and as of tomorow out 11-6/7

one huge haynet in the morning and the same (ok 2 huge ones) at night. (mixture of hay and haylege)...

ive bought her and i know she was fed chaff and nuts, so shes currently on a handful of chaff and thats it - (plus hay etc)...

as im bothered about changing feeds/colic and too much to quick (and im rubbish with feeds)... help me out?? ive had her 2 days lol!

she so laid back and lovely....she needs to put muscle on but shes not ribby by any means.

im thinking of getting her a snack a ball and putting some nuts in there if needed???

any help appreciated :)
 
What about chaff and conditioning cubes? I like to keep diets simple so thats what my wee tb gets with some soya oil. Hes a pretty cool cucumber so if i need more energy id probably add some oats.
 
ok cool thanks - thats sounds good - i can stick them in her feedball


how much should she be getting?? - and am i doing it right introducing a handful at a time???

shes not rugged either and wont be until the rest of the yard do.
 
hmmm not sure on that one lol all depends on the horse!! Mines a 15.3/16hh tb who can loose weight easily so he gets 2 scoops (about 1kg) Alfa A oil and 3kg Cond cubes split into two feeds. You could email some feed companies to see how much they would give her although they said to feed mine 4kg of cond cubes a day but he doesnt need that much lol yea id usually introduce new feed in handfuls over a period of about 7 days :)
 
If she is in light work only, and four years old, I would go easy on the hard feed to start with. If you think she doesn't need any more weight on then I would just feed a low calorie balancer or a vit/min supplement in a handful of chaff.

If she needs building up a little I would start with a low cereal cube of some sort - high fibre cubes, perhaps, or if you feel she needs more than that then something like Spillers Response Slow Release Cubes which are a half way house (in terms of calorie levels) between high fibre cubes and conditioning cubes. I would start with a small amount, weigh tape her once a week, and increase the amount slowly until she is the correct weight.

The last thing you want with a new youngster in a new home is to blow their brains with a lot of cereal-rich feed!
 
I agree with above and would also recommend keeping her diet Alfa A based with a balancer if she isnt requiring condition i would steer clear of the conditioning cubes/mixes. I would keep her diet the same until you know her character and she is settled into her new routine before the introduction of a new feed so you can monitor if the feed is changing her behaviour as at the moment you might not know what is normal for her yet. She sounds lovely, lots of luck with her!
 
Unless she actually drops weight I would rely on grass, hay and a basic chaff and balancer or vit and min supplement. You really dont need anything cereal based like nuts or coarse mix. Keep it all as natural as possible...fibre is the best diet she can get. Good luck with your new horse.
 
ok thanks all :)

today shes got 2 hugs haynets for tonight and been out since 1pm (in at half6-7ish)...

then tea - which is about a quarter of ascoop (guessing as i dont own a scoop yet lol!)

same againtomorow... :)

(with a haynet in the morning too )....

im starting her ridden work properly tomorow...so will increase the chaff slowly and perhaps add cubes in a snacka ball (with hay too!)

thanks again :)
 
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