Which'all in one'feed do you give your chunky monkeys?!Too many to choose from-help!

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sugarlump121

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Safe and Sound
Happyhoof
Hoofkind
Good doer
And about 50 more!!!

Which do you think is best and why?

Currently feeding my fatty lo cal but want to change to an all in one as he's put too much condition on with this.
 
Why do you need to feed 'hard feed' if he has too much condition?
We feed haylage and barley straw to our good doers. Any who need a bit more get grassnuts and Graze-on (dried grass). They all get pink powder as a balancer.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Why do you need to feed 'hard feed' if he has too much condition?
We feed haylage and barley straw to our good doers. Any who need a bit more get grassnuts and Graze-on (dried grass). They all get pink powder as a balancer.
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Because I want to make sure he's having some vits and mins. If I fed pink powder I'd need something to mix it in and enough to hide the powder as he wont eat it otherwise.
My other boy is on pink powder and I did consider this before but was concerned that he'd 'utalise' his food (hay/grass) even more lol!

Cant use a block as he's young and breaks them within days :/

I read about a 'grass' feed too, not sure which but it sounded like it'd be too much.
 
Soaked hay. I've 3 horses living out all winter on hay and what little gass they can find - they're in good order and don't seem to be lacking in anything. You can be too kind!
 
My section A mare is a very good doer, she lives out 24/7 unrugged and all she gets is 1 slice of hay and 1 handful of hi-fi lite for me to put her cal mag and vitamins/minerals in. She is looking well and doesn't seem to be lacking anything.
 
sugarlump121 said:
Because I want to make sure he's having some vits and mins. If I fed pink powder I'd need something to mix it in and enough to hide the powder as he wont eat it otherwise.
My other boy is on pink powder and I did consider this before but was concerned that he'd 'utalise' his food (hay/grass) even more lol!

Cant use a block as he's young and breaks them within days :/

I read about a 'grass' feed too, not sure which but it sounded like it'd be too much.
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We do use soaked grassnuts to condition our elderly cob but the other 3 all get varying amounts of grassnuts/dried grass to carry supplements. A small handful should be enough to take the pink powder. I doubt if PP would increase the take up of calories. It is really a probiotic and vit & min balancer to keep the gut healthy. It works in the same way as other balancers.
I certainly wouldn't feed a block as they are all molassed. If there's one thing a horse which is carrying too much condition doesn't need, it's molasses.
 
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A non-molassed chaff dampened and a broad spectrum feed balancer sound to be the best answer to your problem. If he is still doing too well on the hay/haylage, then mix good quality straw with it. If they are fat when going into the spring then disaster is likely to strike, with devastating consequences for the horse.
 
Feed company's are so desperate for us to buy buy buy, they lead us to believe we need to feed feed feed.

Most horses/ponies who are either out on fair grazing and/or fed hay/haylege don't need anything apart from whats lacking in their forage, which usually in this country magnesium.

I don't feed my 18 year old or my 20 year old, both out 24/7 on good grazing, no hay and no rugs! and both the right condition. I rode them yesterday and the only thing lacking is the slow down button!
 
I used Spillers Happy Hoof for years. I used it as a palatable chaff for my fussy TB's. Is the only thing they would consistently eat with relish and never tire of. Which, believe me, is blinking amazing. It must be very palatable whilst being a complete fibre feed for good-doers. It would be idea for adding your supplements to.
 
Bear in mind that you have to feed the recommended amount of these type of feeds if you want your horse to get its full RDA of vit/mins, but this means you are feeding more calories than you need to. What about feeding something like Dodson & Horrell Equibites for vit/mins if he doesn't like powdered supplements? What is your grazing like? If it is good, then I wouldn't be too worried about vit/mins anyway.
 
Mine is on a couple of handfuls of Dengie Hi Fi Good Doer - it has around the same calories as hay - just lets me put her supplements in it, and the cob in the next stable is on it too, they both seem to love it and he normally turns his nose up at 'low calorie' stuff!
 
I honestly feel that many horse owners are in danger of if not killing their horse with kindness are doing significant harm, using premium feeds. You should bare in mind that all feed companies primary goal is to make profits. To this end any advice or guidance they provide is as tainted as their feeds.

Unmolassed sugar beet is excellent for mixing vits and mins.
 
In the worst of winter, I was feeding Bailey's lo-cal balancer. It is pelleted, but if you add some hot water it becomes a mash, so you can feed it alone without worrying about them bolting it down.

While not fat, she is still carrying a little more weight than I would like going into spring. So I have now switched to feeding literally half a handful of safe and sound with a scoop of Equivite. She looks well on this.

Our grazing is non-existent (think bog) and I weigh her hay, feeding 1.5-1.75% of her bodyweight in total a day.

If we had good grazing or she was on ad-lib forage, I wouldn't be feeding anything extra.

Hope it helps! :)
 
Good hay and grass :D he gets the occasional carrot from the YO in the morning when everyone else is fed if he is looking. He is the right weight now and has plenty of energy and if he needs any more energy I will give him a bit more hay.
 
Just to throw another one into the mix!

I feed my good doers Allen and Page's fast fibre. It is a high fibre, low calorie feed that is totally balanced so no need to supplement. My 2 love it and it is very economical, and mix it with a handful of hi fi lite, but does require soaking for approx 1 min before you feed.
 
I am not feeding mine now and have to say they are doing just fine without hard feed, they have grass and hay.

When Samba goes on Livery in March she can just have a handful of good doer so shes not left out, Toffee is getting her supplement mixed with some warm speedi beet which is literally a cups worth if that.
 
Another vote for fast fibre, you really don't need to feed huge amounts to give their daily intake of vits/mins and it is low calorie, you can also feed to replace hay if necessary. I rate it very highly for good doers, and it saves messing on with additional supplements.
 
touchstone said:
Another vote for fast fibre, you really don't need to feed huge amounts to give their daily intake of vits/mins and it is low calorie, you can also feed to replace hay if necessary. I rate it very highly for good doers, and it saves messing on with additional supplements.
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Iv tried this and 4 out off 5 off my horses wouldn't eat it even when I mixed it with other things to tempt them. Waste off a bag as after a few days the other lad stopped eatting it so chucked the bag away
 
Dengie Lite Lick Garlic or HerbiLIX whichever I can get.

Hay put out onto oat straw so they have enough hay for their size but always have something to nibble on.

One tiny feed as a treat when checking over. Kwickbeet & carrot or parsnip.
 
I use Simple System feed and have him on Lucie Nuts and Purabeet - its a complete feed, and lasts forever and keeps his condition.
 
Both mine are good doers - one needs a little more help in the winter though. I have just started using the Spillers lite balancer, before that I was using baileys lo cal. I feed it with a scoop of hifi lite to slow them down and when the other needs a bit more help she gets soaked sugar beet. oh and obviously hay at night when in!

Grazing is just mud really now so its good to know they are getting what nutrients they need without any of the calories.
 
My 5 year old cob x started the winter on a handful of apple chaff and Baileys No 14 Lo Cal Balancer at the reccomended quantity twice a day. Our grazing is rubbish so he's been coming in at night for as much hay as he can eat.
He did drop quite a bit of weight so his feed was slowly changed to 2 double handfuls of Mollichaff Calmer, reccomended quantity of Lo Cal Balancer and 1/3 scoop of cool mix plus ad lib hay and daily turnout on poor grass. This is maintaining him nicely but I will be decreasing quantites quite early in prep for the spring grass! :-)
I didn't really want to give him any hard feed through the winter as cobs are renowned for being good doers but as he's young I wanted to be sure that he got all the neccessary vits and mins.
He has taught me that we have to treat every horse/pony as an individual irrespective of breed.
 
Personally if I had a good doer that didn't need any supplements (ie for feet, joints etc) then it would be on grass and hay in the winter. If worried about minerals etc I would then make sure the horse had access to a mineral lick. My fatty 23 yo pony (and indeed my 19mth old) only gets hard feed in winter really because the other 3 horses we have (one old TB who does drop weight and two others who work for their living!) get fed. If I just had fatty then i think he would just be on hay and maybe the odd 'treat'.

As it is he's probably on far more food than is needed - mainly he has it so he doesn't steal off the other one (he eats very fast). He is on standard coarse mix with some sugar beet and alfa a (to slow him down). He loves his hay though - in fact he'll eat practically anything, well other that lo calorie mix. We tried him on that once and he wouldn't eat it! Me thinks he has a sweet tooth!!! Lol
 
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Until recently, my 18 year old Thoroughbred was getting 500kg Dengie Healthy Hoof, 100kg Spillers Senior mix and 3 scoop of Speedie Beet to make if moist plus a couple scoops garlic powder, split into 2 feeds. I noticed that his feed was going in one end and out the other, so I've now cut this down to 100kg Senior mix, 100kg Alfa A, 1 scoop Speedie Beet, garlic and now give 2 scoops biotrition.

It was a Dengie Rep at a trials event who advised me to change to Alfa A and biotrition so that I could cut down the amount he gets. If they are not doing any work, they don't need hard feed. I only give hard feed in order to give his biotrition otherwise he would only get hay / haylage.

I'm also saving on the time it takes to muck out and the amount of straw used.
 
My personal opinion is good doers don't need an all in one feed. If you feed it at the manufacturers recommended amounts they will get FAT.

Mine get a cup of lo-cal balancer in a bit of Alfa A Oil (because it is unmolassed, at one time the only unmolassed chaff easily available), restricted grazing, carefully weighed out hay/haylage equal to 1% of their bodyweight for overnight, stabled overnight on non-edible bedding and they are still chubbier than I would like... Plenty of energy though and they look fantastic even if I do say so myself.

I'm not sure an all in one feed is the right way forward for your horse from what you've written. Maybe just halve the amount of lo-cal (like I did) and see if that helps at all?
 
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