what to feed my haflinger?

[Skye2308]

i have a 9 year old, 14.1 haflinger mare.
who is currently being kept in a stable, and out in a a sandpaddock during the day.
she is over weight, i just want to work out how much i should be feeding her.

i normally give her 2kg of hay in the morning.
3kg for lunch
and 3kg for dinner
and 2 kg of horse and pony mix.
she doesnt get out to grass eveyday as she blows up easily but goes out tp the paddock and gets rode 5/6 days a week, some days hacking, flat work and maybe 2 days jumping.

how much should i be feeding her.
she weighs 382 kg.
any advise would help xD

 

[lhotse]

No wonder she is overweight!!
She should be getting no more than 6kg of feed a day, to lose weight steadily. You are feeding 10kg. Forget the pony nuts, give her a small feed of HiFi light, dampened with a little Speedybeet and with an added vit suppliment. Split her hay up into small nets to give throughout the day, say 1.5/1.5/3.

 

[Dobby]

Not sure exactly what you should be feeding but as lhotse said above, make sure her hay is fed little and often.

 

[Skye2308]

i have only given her the feed 2 days, as im not sure if she was getting enough energy as she doesnt get much grass. yea i have been splitting her hay up, and want to gradaully decrease her amounts.
Thanks
any other diet ideas would help xD

 

[PucciNPoni]

I think the rations that lhotse has spelled out sounds about right. It's really really hard to do this at first...but it will work. Horse in good weight and in work generally need 2% of body weight of food total. If you are reducing weight, aim for 1.5% to 1.75%, with the greater portion being hay.

382 x 1.75% = 6.685 kg (roughly 7kg)
382 x 1.5% = 5.73 kg (roughly 6kg)

I'd go with 6 kg and split out the way that lhotse suggests.

For the energy/vit lacked in this diet, get a good balancer for good doers.

FWIW, I'm dieting a horse as well, I've been doing lots of research, and thru trial and error have managed to get 19kg off her in 3-4 weeks time - and that's on strict box rest, no exercise...just hay, chaff, supps and a bit of creativity.

 

[henryhorn]

I agree she shouldn't need actual feed as such just hay.
I would give her something like chopped carrots with a vit supplement but unless you actually need more energy she would feel happier being able to eat more hay than feed.
It might help if you find some old hay which has less nutritional value, then she can have more .
I'm currently dieting two small ponies and they get limited grass, they have to forage round the edges for more and although it takes tham a while, it's keeping their tummies full and they are slowly slimming down.

 

[Skye2308]

This has been really helpful Thanks.
my mare already has enough energy, so its more the fact i want her to get vitamins etc.
does Dengie Good Doer put on any weight?
or do u think as henryhorn said. she should be on carrots with vitamin supplements?
i have never used vit supplements etc so i dont know much.

 

[SouthWestWhippet]

My Hafflinger is 14hh,

he is out at night in a smallish paddock which is well grazed down and has two other fatties in it.

During the day he is in and gets fed soaked oat straw - about 3 wedges of the small bales per day. He also gets 1/2 cup of Nestle balancern every morning.

Can't exercise him as he is lame

but his weight is stabilising.

 

[Skye2308]

aww your hafflinger is so cute.
i started her new diet today.
she didnt get lunch but got out to grass for an hour.
need to get some vit supplements.
can anyone suggest any that are good for good doers and wont put on weight.

 

[SouthWestWhippet]

Baileys lo-cal balancer is supposed to be good for good-doers.

My yard swears by Nesler. We are an RDA yard so tend to specialise in the 'chunky' cob as they tend to be the weight carriers. Our cobs are all quiet as well so we are constantly weight watching.

All ours are fed this every day with no other hard feed at all. Your haffie would probably have the same as mine and have about 1/2 a mug p/day (standard coffee mug) so it would last you although it isn't particularly cheap.

 

[Skye2308]

Yea i was looking at baileys Lo-cal.
do you feed that on its own? and what price is it?
would you remomed that out of all them.
its a good brand so i guess it would be easy enough to get.
xD

 

[kellyeaton]

give her a section morning dinner tea and if you have to feed her give her hi fi lite!

 

[SouthWestWhippet]

In the past, I didnt' feed my Haffie any hard feed at all unless he was going hunting or something then he'd get half a scoop of nuts the night before.

If I had to recomend a balancer though, I would recomend Nesler as my no1 and Baileys local as my no2 choice.

Nesler I prefer becuase you feed less of it, it really is just the vitamins and minerals. It also smells absolutely delicious