when to start feeding a cob

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narkymare

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I bought my cob last summer and started introducing hard feed a the end of september - he is a very good doer who doesnt need hard feed in spring and summer and is prone to laminitus.

He is now an ideal weight - but, the weather here up north is not great and
Im thinking of starting his hard feed now.

What would you do?

Those with cobs, when do you start to offer hard feed?
 
Honestly - I'd wait until he is dropping weight and practically thin, we still have the Autumn flush of grass to come and it is tempting to want to mollycoddle them, but my native good doer laminitic would manage quite well on just hay, it is my guilty conscience that then adds vits and mins and chaff!

Unless he is working hard (and very few horses do) then I would try without hard feed, especially as he is laminitic. If you find his weight drops off then just chaff/sugar beet/ fibre cubes or fast fibre are some of the things he would probably do well enough on.
 
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I probably wouldn't tbh, unless he started to drop weight. If he is laminitis prone, it is better for him to be a little bit thin than a little bit fat.

Better to try and stick to forage for as long as possible and stick a rug on if needed IMVHO.
 
Never, my cob, who was also quite eldery did quite a decent work load and never got fed, he used to be one of the hroses at my college so would work maybe three times a day and even then he only got a handfull fo chop and some carrots when the other horses were getting fed
 
Not at all? We have very bad land and we have a cob who in 18 years of ownership has never needed hard feed, bar when in foal and a bit of silage in the winter. And she looks like a 10 yo and acts like a 3 yr old!
Cobs are very hardy and I would be cautious about any extra feeding bar a little balancer for vitamins and a mineral lick if he's well on grass cos the can really balloooooooon!!!!
 
he isnt overworked at all - one hack out per week of 2 - 3 hours, and half hour in the school every other day
he will never be a competition horse - just for general occassional hacking - he is 7 x
 
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narkymare said:
omg thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was expecting a barrage of insults because i dont feed him through summer !!!
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I think there might have been a barrage of insults if you DID feed him through the summer;):p:D

Don't forget, cobs were originally bred to do well and work hard on very little, they were the horses pulling Gypsy caravans and tradesman's carts for people who couldn't pamper them. So they are ofen fine with little or no hard feed - they are very good at extracting all possible nutrition from their grass and hay:)
 
We only started feeding our 28 yr old cob a few years ago, (can't remember exactly) when she stopped being a good doer, now she gets grassnuts and dried grass throughout the year.
 
Agree with others, if he is a good doer and prone to laminitis I would probably not be feeding unless he dropped any weight. He sounds like he isn't doing too much hard work and probably doesn't need to be fed. My cobby good doer all last winter only got a handful of balancer and a handful of chaff, and I was hacking him out 6 days a week for about 2 hours with lots of fast work and cantering uphill etc.

Ha don't worry, I never feed in the summer unless the horse actually needs it, most of them just get a mineral lick and a carrot whilst any other horse is having a feed so they don't feel left out!
 
Yup i second Spudlet-mine and another cobxconnie get fat on the thought of grass-said pony was my sisters first pony and was born on the farm 15 yrs ago...and she has never, no matter how little grass, how much excercise, been thin/normal sized. Ever. In 15 years. She is completely diet repellant. We have tried everything. It's incredible. And she has never in all that time needed a vet or been lame. Both of them actually.
And they live on Nothing!!!!
As Spudlet says, they have been bred to live well on very little doing loads.
 
My 14.2 cob,who we have to watch weight or we have to roll him in.Never has a hard feed.when others have a bucket so he doesnt think that I am a mean mummy,he has a handful of chop and some carrots,or when really cold,like freezing has half scoop of happy hoof,its a bit like hunt the nut!!!!!
He just has hay or hayledge,when snow ect.
This year has been ace cause the grass has been poor,just the right weight and hay fed.
 
My boy has a Dengie Lite lick in his field, to get all his vits and mins from. other than that, as he's in thefatty paddock, he justs gets a handful of hay twice a day...mainly to stop him jumping out.

In the winter, he gets half a scoop of Healthy Hooves with his supplements. That's really the only reason I give him hard feed at all.

Had the weigh tape round him again today, and he's 451 kg, so we still have a way to go *sigh*. sm x
 
My cobs on No4. top line cubes and lo-cal balancer and hifi all year round. ( I do work her so she doesnt go to lard tho :D )

My other horse is a haffi and he cannot be ridden so just has chop and lo-cal balancer all year round. Depending how he goes over winter i may add some high fibre cubes, not sure on it yet.
 
Ours gets nothing until we think shes getting skinny. She was skinny when we bought her, and fed her up on nothing but a little bit of chaff with a vit/min supp in it and even off that she started to get a bit porky so we stopped. She runs off fresh air and has too many beans off that!
x
 
I feed mine a tiny feed at the end of a hack as a thank you. He's not prone to laminitis but if he was I wouldn't be feeding him at all. He has a tiny bit of Mollichaf and non-heating mix.

I've been hacking him 45 mins each day and so far he's lost a 'girth hole size' lol..wooo!

Your horse will be fine without! It's really nice to see that your asking for advice due to the laminitis. I've heard so many horror stories :(
 
narkymare said:
lol im gobsmacked on how they manage with nothing!!!
Im not being sarcastic, Im a new owner and it really surprises me!
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As a cob owner, mine gets nowt in the summer but is given forage mix or readigrass and adlib hay in the winter. I made the mistake of not feeding him the first winter and was thoroughly told off by the saddler who told me he was too thin come the Spring and had lost too much weight.

I quite agree that most cobs don't need hard feed but keep a close eye on his weight and offer something very light in calories if you think he's dropping too much weight.
 
Herc gets fed all year round....However he's not on 24/7 turnout, only 8 to 6 (or whenever he decides hes comin in - usually between 4 and 7), and he only gets 1 - while decent sized only 'half' filled, not stuffed - Net

He gets 2/3 handfulls of Hi-Fi light, 1 scoop (not sure on scoop size...it's a plasic pudding bowl, bout the size of an average xmas pud, lol) of Pasture Mix and bout 1/2 scoop of Lo-Cal balencer. And supliments & bit of veg.

However he's never *touch wood* had laminitus, and at the moment is in work least 5 days a week.

However if your boy is fine and managing without then don't feed, If he does need it go for something like Hi-Fi light, it's none heating and designed for Laminatics.
 
I also have a cob who is worked a similar amount, so really only light exercise. It will be his first winter with me and I would expect to get through the winter with minimal, if any, hard feed. I would certainly not be feeding hard food yet, but just keep an eye on him and give him plenty of hay when the grass loses its strength and perhaps towards November you may need to add a small feed if you are able to maintain the current exercise regime.

Over feeding will always do harm, but you are the best judge of how he is doing. Cobs really are designed to be extremely self-reliant!
 
I'm worried a bit now as I'm feeding my cob twice a day, though not that much (quarter scoop of pasture mix, half scoop of alfa a, small scoop of speedibeat and linseed), but he's only just 3 and still very much growing, and he does seem to be putting it all into growing. Keeping a close eye on it and think I'll be cutting down in the spring as he starts to be broken and brought into work, but I'll do this sooner if required.

Glad you said yours is 7, I was having a serious panick! Will be interesting when and if things turn around and he lives on air lol, I reckon he'll be a true to type cob in that respect
 
I was always under the impresion that a horse should go into winter slightly plump and come out slender, just nature working it's course if you feed and keep all the weight on during the winter then you will need to restrict during spring, the natural time for horses to gain weight as aposed to winter being the natural time to lose. Obv if horse is too thin feed it.

Unless keeping at peak fitness then cobs esp should be able to manage their own weight without to much human interfearance
 
My Welsh D has two handfuls of low sugar chaff twice a day to put his vit/min supplement into all year...but that is because he is always on restricted grass so I want to make sure he gets everything he needs. He had this diet even when he was hacked 30 miles in the week and then did 20 mile pleasure rides at the weekend...and maintained his weight on that.
My lad has had laminitis so I monitor his weight weekly and aim to see a faint outline of ribs all year round and no fatty bits anywhere else. He has been on the same paddock all year from winter onwards and nibbles at what grows during the day and then comes in at night all year and has two haynets of old hay.
 
narkymare said:
lol im gobsmacked on how they manage with nothing!!!
Im not being sarcastic, Im a new owner and it really surprises me!
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But they are not managing on nothing - they are getting plenty of hay/haylage/grass which should be the mainstay of the diet anyway. Bucket feed only really needs to be added if the horse cannot maintain its weight or energy levels on forage alone, or if supplementation of vit/mins is necessary.

If your cob is an ideal weight now, I would weigh tape him once a week so you can spot when he starts to loose weight, so you know if and when you need to start feeding him. However, even then, I would start by giving him hay rather than hard feed. If he really does need bucket feed then feed low sugar, low starch fibre feeds and steer clear of high cereal feeds such as mixes if he is a laminitic.
 
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My older cob (17) is being fed twice a day, and has been for the past 6 weeks, but he is a poor doer and at the moment I am a little worried there might be an underlying problem and am planning to talk to the vet (again) and maybe get a blood test. There isn't much out in the field though, and I don't want to bring him in until I really have to because he gets a cough. (I now have ventapulmin for this).

I also have a cob x trotter who is 4. When I first got her she was having 2 small feeds a day because she wasn't in v good condition. She is now in v good condition is a very good doer, and only has a treat when she does some work, and this is probs all she gets in the winter unless her condition changes and I feel she needs a feed. Last year she coped fine without a feed.

It really depends on your Cob as to when, how much and how often you feed, as well as the land they are on, the work load they are doing, age, health and the list goes on. :)
 
thank you everyone for your replies - very interesting - i will definiteley buy a weight tape, when you see them every day its difficult to visually notice change.
thanks x
 
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