What to feed a good dooer

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picolenicole

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I have been reading the Feed expert post on here and rather than high jack it thought I would ask on a different post.

I have as some know, a 7 year old cob that is in what I would say light/medium work. We hack 6 days a week, anything from 40 mins to a few hours. The 40 mins are very rare and only if I'm very short on time. All our hacking is hill work, where he lives is in a valley so brill for hills :) The other day is a schooling day (which is today so will also ask my RI as she knows us quite well :) )

He is also unshod so I have to think of that aswell.

As the title what should I feed him?

He is/was fed nothing just out 24/7 on a field that is really low on grass (think short as in really short) He looks good to me, but I do worry that feeding him will make him fat :( He also has a vit and min lick in his field that does not have any mollasses in

On advise from feed supply and RI I have now a week ago started feeding him is Happy hoof at half a cup (as in a drinking cup) a 1/4 cup of rolled oats, Propell plus and his vits and mins.

I have been thinking of feeding him, fast fibre, happy hoof, energy thing from NAF, his vits and mins and the oats when he goes a bit flat. I don't want a stupidly uncontrollable pony but something between dead and flat out speed would be good.

The only problem I can see with fast fibre is in winter it would freeze, I could up his happy hoof in winter as well and cut the oats out as he normally has more energy in winter.

So if you got through all that well done you need a medal :) And any ideas or advise would be brill :) :)
 
Fast fibre will be fed a few minutes after you add water, then feed it.
A very simple diet is FF in summer to carry vitamins and minerals, it is non fattening. As long as he is getting plenty of work he should take half a mug of linseed meal.
In winter add a coffee mug of micronised linseed meal, and a coffee cup of non molassed sugar beet [takes five minutes to soak.
A few cups of oats will provide a bit of oomph if necessary depending on workload.
 
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picolenicole said:
He is/was fed nothing just out 24/7 on a field that is really low on grass (think short as in really short) He looks good to me, but I do worry that feeding him will make him fat :( He also has a vit and min lick in his field that does not have any mollasses in
Click to expand...


If he looks good on nothing extra and copes well with the work you expect of him, give him nothing extra.

IMO feed companies are the last people to ask for advice as they will always tell you to buy something to feed - that is the way they stay in business.
Get a weight-tape and monitor his weight weekly. Unless he loses weight, he doesn't need anything else to eat.
 
Fast fibre will be fed a few minutes after you add water, then feed it.
A very simple diet is FF in summer to carry vitamins and minerals, it is non fattening.
In winter add a coffee mug of micronised linseed meal, and a coffee cup of non molassed sugar beet [takes five minutes to soak], and provides a high fibre energy source.
A few cups of oats will provide a bit of oomph if necessary depending on workload.
I am assuming the field is traditional grazing, but the grass is kept short by the ponies.
 
Grass is short by him eatting it, we do top it when it looks like it's growing and to keep docks etc down.

Pearlsasinger - He looks good but it's bloody hard work getting him to do anything, he is just flat and has no go. If I don't ride everyday and don't feed him he can become a git. I have posted before about him buggering off with me, now he works every day he is so well behaved but very, very lazy.

Just need something for a bit of energy.
 
You just have to juggle with the basics, to me he is getting a lot of work and little feed, so should be losing weight and / or lack energy.
You must ensure he has all the basics covered for maintenance plus 30-40 mins exercise, after that you can add more oomph by increasing linseed meal and non molassed sugar beet or oats.
A quarter mug of oats is equivalent to a small bowl of muesli, and will not be enough to make any difference to a horse of 450kg.
 
I'd feed him nothing (unless its a token gesture for any supplements to go in) & just get him fitter if he needs more energy. If my good doer had what a feed company would recommend she would either be the worlds fattest horse or a raving lunatic. When hunting fit & in heavy work mine had pony nuts & hifi (stubbs scoop of each twice a day) & half a stubbs scoop of comp mix. For anything overly strenuous she had a handful of oats in breakfast too. But she was mega fit at that time, hacking 5 miles or so to a meet, staying as close to the front as etiquette allows even on a two horse day & hacking home again. At your level of work she gets a token handful of hifi lite.
 
Thanks for that Miss L Toe, must admit I was beeing a rather large whimp!!! I thought I would start with a small amount of oats and see how it goes then if needed up it, would rather not give him enough than have him on too much and have to go the other way :D

Will see what RI thinks tonight as we have our lesson later :)
 
I wouldn't feed happy hoof as it contains molasses so stay well away. He has his vit/min block which I take it he uses so if he was mine and I really wanted to give him a little feed I would go for fast fibre and add some oats if you want. I wouldn't go over board if he's barefoot and coping. Just bare this in mind if you do feed him and he gets a bit footy and put 2 and 2 together.
 
Littlelegs, he was on nothing and is quite fit but it was my RI that suggested something for energy. As he is at the min really hard to "get after", the feed supply girl was telling more what she feeds her cob. I did get told to try power and performance but they didn't have that so went with the oats (Also suggested by RI)

At the min, it's only been on feed for a week, and there is not much difference. He goes out on a hack with a bit more about him, but starts to slow down and become hard work about half way round. Some of our hacks can be upto 8 miles long.
 
I too have a good doer and feed him a cheap pony nut but has no molasses in it, soaked with half a mug if linseed, a 15ml scoop of mag and a handful of ready/just grass.

I try to stay clear of molasses as he is shod on the fronts only and being a youngster I don't think he needs it, I think happy hoof isn't as happy for hoofs as they make out, you could opt for dengie hifi molasses free but personally I'm not keen on the soya oil hence why I stick to just/ready grass.

He has a vit/min lick in the field, a salt lick in the field and a field which is sectioned so he can have more grass as and when needed.
 
I have a good doer cob and he is worked light to medium. 1 jumping lesson, 1 flat lesson, 2 x4 hr hacks with lots of hills, 3 hacks of 2+ hours or cross country a week. Competing at weekends just RC, Trec, endurance stuff.

He is fed Pure Easy which is Grass Chaff, Oat Straw Chaff, Grass Pellets, Oat Feed Pellets, Pure Balance, Soya Oil. He gets 800 grams a day, although they recommend 2 kgs. He just doesn't need that much.

He is out at night and in during the day with a smallish amount of haylage.

He is very fit and he has loads of energy - I think being fit helps.
 
Maybe I should try to up his work aswell, see if I can get him any fitter. Deff going to stop the Happy Hoof, and start Fast Fibre see if that makes a difference.

Thaks everyone, lots to think about. Or in works of OH worry about :)
 
My Heinz variety good doing mare is now on Pure Fibre Balancer which is as it sounds, a balancer with a good quality chaff. She used to be on Safe & Sound but lacked 'oomph'!! ;) She now has lots of controllable energy & a much more enjoyable ride! I think it works a bit like us eating a bowl of porridge for breakfast rather than a slice of toast & jam!! :)
 
my boy is a good doer, he is out for 12hrs a day with a muzzle on, then in at night with about 6 sections of soaked hay. He has 2 feeds a day and each one is 1 scoop of hi fi lite and 1 1/2 mugs of Baileys lo-cal. He does really well on this and is a strapping 16.3 shire tb x
 
Hutchlou - I like the look and idea of the Pure Fibre Balancer after reading loads and a lot of thought. I think his feed will be fast fibre (remembering to take water to yard in winter when pieps freeze) vit and mins and the Pure Fibre Balancer, will see if this has a difference may add oats as needed.

Unless anyone can see a reason not to feed this? All in small amounts.

Then in winter I think I will try what Miss L Toe suggests.

Unless my RI comes up with a better idea :D
 
My good doer gets a mugful of balancer in a boredom ball, a scoop of Hifi in the morning and evening, and other than that just hay and grass. Hard feed sends him looning and causes him to gain weight. With this he has plenty of energy for his work and is at a good weight. He never used to have the Hifi but after having an increase of work, it's just helped to have a bit extra :)
 
I feed my good doer who is barefoot,
Fast fibre, half a mug, before soaking
Micronised linseed, half a mug
Tablesppon salt
Tablespoon Brewers Yeast
Tablespoon Mag Ox
Handful of Non molassed Hi Fi.

In winter, if he needs it I will add rolled oats.

I only feed at all this time of year to get his minerals down him to support his feet.
 
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In summer, mine gets 24 hour turnout, and half a scoof of basic chaff for his vits, mins and magnesium once a day - and no rugging.

In my experience, when people restrict grazing by keeping their horses in and also then feed them, they then gorge on grass when they go out, and suddenly you're in a Catch 22 situation.

Perhap I'm lucky, but mine never gorges on his grass as it's never a novelty - he self regulates, but only if I don't overcomplicate things.
 
Happy hoof has molasses in it am i being thick but i thought that was sugar and this is an approved laminitic feed? tell me if i am stupid!!!!!!!
 
There has been quite a few debates about adding moglo or other molasses to a feed
Spillers Happy Hoof (4% starch, 3% sugar)

"A unique blend of oat straw, alfalfa, grass, mint, garlic and soya oil with added vitamins and minerals."
Typical analysis:
DE 8.8 MJ/kg
Oil 4%
Protein 8%
Fibre 25%
Starch 4%
Vit A 10 000 IU/kg
Vit D3 1500 IU/kg
Vit E 200 IU/kg
Copper 15 mg/kg
Selenium 0.1 mg/kg

Re Happy Hoof, the sugar level by analysis is 3%. The molasses we use to coat the feed is called Molglo, which is a very low sugar version suitable for laminitics, which is how we keep the sugar level to a minimum."


Dengie Hi-Fi Good-doer (1.5% starch, 8% sugar)

Ingredients:
Cereal Straw, Alfalfa, Molasses, Mould Inhibitor, Antioxidant, Mint Flavour, Lysine, Zinc sulphate, Manganese sulphate, Vitamin E, Copper sulphate, Sodium selenite. Contains permitted EC preservatives and antioxidants: Propionic acid and its salt, Sorbic and Phosphoric acid and Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA).


Typical analysis (%) ‘as fed’
Protein 8.5
Oil 1.7
Fibre 40
Ash (mineral) 8
Copper, as copper sulphate 10mg/kg
Selenium, as sodium selenite 0.2mg/kg
Vitamin E, as alpha tocopherol* 81 iu/kg
Digestible Energy 7MJ/kg

Emailed again to ask about sugar/molasses in feed (also for HiFi lite):
"Hi-Fi Good Do-er is coated with an ordinary molasses coating and sugar level is 8%, whereas Hi-Fi Lite is coated with a molasses extract coating, also termed low sugar coating, and provides around 5% sugar. To put this in perspective hay would typically provide 10% sugar and pasture anything up to 50% sugar. The starch level in both products is 1.5% or less and both products are completely cereal free. "
To be honest I think that there are three aims by any manufacturer
1] palatability
2]profitabliity
3]marketability
 
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OP you don't need a balancer and vitamin & mineral supplement, the balancer fed at recommended levels will contain everything you need.

Miss L Toe thanks for posting that info, very interesting.
 
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