What to feed a 3yr old

ellie_e

ellie_e

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I've potentially just bought an unbacked 3yr old mare (KWPN), she will be heading off for backing for a few weeks so any suggestions on what to feed her? This will be my first 3yr old and feel its a mine field! Last horse was fed Saracen Releve, Alfa A, and linseed in the winter. (he was also a kwpn ) Is this a suitable diet for a youngster? She has only been in a field up to now will obviously need some conditioning and plan on jumping some age classes next year (providing shes ready)
She will be turned out during the day and then stabled at night with adlib haylage. Also when would you attempt to get the clippers on her?
 
Very exciting :) To be honest unless she is poor that I would give her the best adlib forage I could afford. I am a fan of Simple feeds, no cereal or molasses, and I usually just stick to one feed unless it needs supplementing.

There is no harm in introducing her to clippers straight away, as I would as many different things as possible, good luck :)
 
Once a horse hits two years old its dietary requirements are the same as an adult horse, as LJR says unless she is really poor I would keep it simple. If she were mine I would feed something like fast fibre, a broad spectrum supplement at the RDA of an adult horse... My supplement of choice would be equimins tip top.
 
Queenbee said:
Once a horse hits two years old its dietary requirements are the same as an adult horse, as LJR says unless she is really poor I would keep it simple. If she were mine I would feed something like fast fibre, a broad spectrum supplement at the RDA of an adult horse... My supplement of choice would be equimins tip top.
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Interesting, I didn't realise that. Mothers horse is fed a lite balancer so could use that and some chaff. Shes not awfully poor, but needs muscle,topline and shine.
 
I've been breaking mine in, she is 3 and a big girl, KWPN also. She gets as much haylage as she likes and a handful of chaff on a night just so she isn't the only one left out at tea time. She has a mineral lick in her stable. I see no point in filling her with hard feed when she barely does anything. Saying that if she dropped off and looked terrible over the winter i would start feeding something like calm and condition. The unlimited haylage should keep her looking nice though :)
 
Yeah that's true, once they're 2 they have same as an adult. Mine (including two 2yo colts) are all on Topspec All-In-One with sugarbeet and oats.

Introduce clippers straight away, I always run a cordless pair over all the youngsters and haven't had any problems yet.
 
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