What would you feed him?

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sandr

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I wont tell you what he currently has, if he were your horse - as a 'blank canvas' - what would you feed him?

15.3hh TBxNF, 17 yrs old, coming back into light work (schooling or hacking for 45 min's 4/5 times a week) & needs to put weight back on after having colic 6 weeks ago. Lost around 60kg, currently 520kg, should be around 580kg. Ribs are visible.

Has arthritis in his left hock and SI damage and *has* to have joint supplement, devils claw and apple cider vinegar, but otherwise healthy.

Can be spooky but otherwise a nice horse to be around. Lazy in the school. Lives out 24/7 in summer months on fairly good grass, so now until Sept ish.
 
I would feed something like Alfa Beet which is high in fibre but also high in calories. There are no cereals so will not upset the digestive system. Another option if you prefere to feed a chop and cube would be Spillers Conditioning Fibre/Dengie Alfa A Oil with either Dodson and Horrell ERS Pellets or Spillers Slow Response Cubes. Both cubes are cereal free and therefore low in starch but high in energy so will aid in weigh gain. I personally have used the Conditioning Fibre for my colic prone veteran and will again this winter. It is fantastic at aiding weight gain. It has a starch level of 7 and a sugar level of 4.5 - both very low and can be used as a complete feed if you wish.

If you feel you need further weight gain then you could add one of the chops as mentioned above to the Alfa beet or if using the chop and cubes, you could add Speedibeet or the Alfa beet. Speedibeet will provide more calories weight for weight than Alfa beet.

All the feeds above provide slow release energy so should not be heating. The are also high in fibre and so will help the gut. Speedibeet and Alfa beet are also soaked so will help the passage of fibre through the gut and therefore help to prevent impaction colic.

I would also ensure that I feed a good probiotic. I dont feed the recommended levels of feed so use Pink Powder which is brilliant stuff or if you have the money, Top Spec Senior is a balancer based on their original version with added glucosamine so will help with joint issues. Have used myself and seen a slight improvement and heard good things about it on here too. Unfortunatley my budget doesnt stretch that far anymore. If you are going to be feeding the bag levels then a straight pre/probiotic would be good. There are lots on the market.

I would recommended starting with either solely Alfa beet or the Conditioning Fibre before I added anything else, just to see if you get a result first. If you feel your horse needs more weight, either up the Alfa beet/chop to bag recommendations or add the cubes/Speedibeet.

Oh and oil is another good source of digestable energy providing 2x as much energy weight for weight in comparison to a cube/mix. Micronised Linseed is spoken highly of on here and linseed is an anti inflammatory so will help with joint relief. I believe Charnwood Milling is the cheapest :)

With a colic prone horse, stick to low starch, high fibre feeds for safety as they will not irritate the gut.
 
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Second the alfa beet, i found it a great feed last winter for my lad that was a little on the skinny side and generally flat after a busy summer. Fed it along side hi fi good doer and sunflower oil. He put a nice bit of weight back on, not too much as he is a normally a good doer, had just been in hard work. I fed him the recommeded amount then reduced slightly once I saw the weight coming back on.
 
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Id be feeding something like PureGrass or an alfalfa chaff and a good linseed pellet plus a vitamin and mineral supplement. If your grazing is reasonable and anytime spent stabled is supplemented with ad lib hay I would have thought that would be enough to gradually build him back up weight wise plus give him enough energy to cope with light hacking.

Given he is half native I would avoid cereals either in mix or pellet form and allow him and his sensitive tummy to recouperate as naturally as you can ie fibre with some added fats.

It may take longer to get him back to weight but the impact on his system will be more gentle than trying to stuff him full of wizzy calories quickly. I would like to think that by the end of summer he will be fully functioning again.

Im interested to know what you are giving him just now!
 
It depends on what type of colic it was as to what i would feed but generally I would feed fibre based feeds only- nothing with cereals or high sugar/starch content.
 
Thank you all very much :)

It was gas colic, not sure what caused it, possibly eaten something in the field, maybe a rotten apple chucked in by walkers, or something similar.

Whats pure grass? He did have 'readigrass' last year but that was like rocket fuel! Sent him loopy!!

He is currently having 1/2 dried scoop calm & condition, with Hi Fi lite. Reason for this post is he is getting a bit spooky over ridiculously stupid things, and i was wondering if its the feed?
 
calm and condition is 19% starch, which is reasonably high- you can get much lower starch feeds.

Readigrass is cut and dried ryegrass- so high energy and actually not a very suitable grass species for horses. Its better for cows, for promoting meat and milk production and horses shouldnt be grazed on pure ryegrass. Although dried it would lose some of its nutrient value.

As suggested, fibrebeet/alfa beet which is unmollassed sugar beet and alfalfa combined would be a good choice. A higher calorie chaff to feed with it for good gut function could be D&H fibergy- its high in oil, low starch.

Or you could feed unmollassed sugar beet with an alfalfa chaff. USB has a higher calorie content than fibrebeet/alfabeet, which is what you need for weight gain. It will provide approx the same calories as calm and condition but with much lower starch levels, although you have to bar in mind the water content. Alfalfa will provide good quality protein to help with building muscle alongside the exercise. A cup of micronised linseed would be a valuable addition too.

Dont be in a hurry to put on weight though, the grass at this time of year will do alot of the hard work for you.
 
sandr said:
Thank you all very much :)


Whats pure grass? He did have 'readigrass' last year but that was like rocket fuel! Sent him loopy!!
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Aldwick Pure Grass - its a mix grass chaff with no straw filler and I find is works well and doesnt fizz them up. They also make an Alfalfa chaff which is slightly higher in protein but also readily digested by horses which might suit yours.
 
I would provide him with good quality ad-lib forage, so if your grazing is really good at the moment, this should be fine for now. I would then feed him twice a day. The feed would include something like Build Up cubes, sugarbeet, Alfa-A Oil Chaff, 2 cups of Baileys Lo-Cal Balancer (I feed this to all my horses to ensure they are getting the correct amount of vitamins and minerals) and a joint supplement such as Cortaflex.
 
teddyt said:
It depends on what type of colic it was as to what i would feed but generally I would feed fibre based feeds only- nothing with cereals or high sugar/starch content.
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My thoughts exactly, hind gut digestion,fibre and if necessary oil for additional energy.
 
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