Windsucker's cost effective diet - help please!

Rudey

Rudey

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I'm posting on behalf of my friend. Can you please recommend a cost effective mix/nuts/balancer for a wind sucker?
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My friend uses pink powder and has graze-on as a chaff, and would like to continue using that as a chaff. She has been using soaked oats but understands this isn't a desirable diet for a windsucker assuming the behaviour is discomfort/digestion related.
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The mare is a TB, she holds her weight well. She isn't fizzy in the slightest and so my friend wants (doesn't mind) heating feeds to try and give her ridden energy (hence trying her on oats), BUT she can be a crabby/stroppy madam, so doesn't want feed to come out in negative energy fuelling her temper handling wise!
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She would like to feed her JUST the chaff and 'something else'. She doesn't want too many different feeds as she wants to get the correct balance nutritionally, and also for digestion reasons doesn't want 'too much going on'.
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Another lady I PM'd on here kindly suggested a proven diet she uses for her wind sucker, but when my friend asked local feed shops, they couldn't get any of it in without ordering it and adding a hefty price tag she couldn't afford
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Any suggestions will be muchly appreciated xx
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one of the horses at my yard is a wind sucker he gets some sort of chaff/ haymix a dengie 1, dodson and horrell high fibre cubes, and a bit of fast fibre and then pink powder to. 2 feeds a day and then ad lib hay. He looks great . x
 
One of mt eventers cribs, we have tried so many different feeds on him with price tags of up to £15 per bag.

He is also a fussy eater, very sharp and is/ was hard to get weight on.

Amazingly I have found he does best on simple hi fiber nuts. Baileys do basic hi fibre nuts they are around £5 per bag. Mine is on these with speedi beet 3 times a day and he has never looked better or gone so well.

With anything that cribs or sucks you dont want too higher starch content as this can agravate their stomachs. My horse can not have too high protein as this causing him to be super fizzy!
We were also told if you wanted a little bit more energy with out attitude use a mix instead of nuts as its a little higher in protein but not too much.

I would get your friend to try pony nuts/pasture mix and try a supplement such as propell to get a little bit of energy. NAF do a new energy type supplement too?
 
It really depends on the horse re nuts or mix.
I agree in that nuts are more 'simple' (an all of ours have them if possible) but I have had one cribber that did better on a mix. We just looked at all the levels etc.
 
One of my university lecturers is in the process of writing up his research into cribbing and palatbility of foods which your friend might find interesting. He found that adding antacids to the feed had the effect of reducing cribbing, which you would expect. The unexpected finding was that adding limestone flour had exactly the same result. It seems that the intensity of cribbing corresponds directly with palatability of feed, so on that basis avoid anything coated in molasses or high in cereal. The ideal diet for a cribber (or arguably any horse
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) is fibre based, so maybe alfalfa would add extra energy if that's what your friend wants.

On a slight tangent has the horse been scoped for ulcers and is it fed ad lib forage, antacid etc.?
 
Seeing as we're on this subject. What would people suggest for a little pony, windsucks & cribs & prone to laminitis & lives to eat! Only a pet so doesn't need to be in show condition but is kept in regular light exercise to control laminitis/weight. He just gets 'token' feeds of small handful chop + 1 carrot when others are being fed so that he isn't left out. Would dearly love to stop/reduce the wind sucking.
 
happy hoof! its amazing stuff for fat little ponies!!

If you got your pony scoped you could see it cribbing was due to stomach problems or just a habbit.
 
My windsucker is on Dengie Hi Fi, Spillers Hi Fibre cubes, fibre beet, a scoop of brewers yeast, and a mug of linseed and a bit of just grass split into 2 feeds, and fibre nuggets in his treat ball, as well as ad lib hay and he has never looked so amazing! Lives out 24/7/365 too, has massively reduced how much he does it, and I don't think he's ever looked so happy!
 
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Seeing as we're on this subject. What would people suggest for a little pony, windsucks & cribs & prone to laminitis & lives to eat! Only a pet so doesn't need to be in show condition but is kept in regular light exercise to control laminitis/weight. He just gets 'token' feeds of small handful chop + 1 carrot when others are being fed so that he isn't left out. Would dearly love to stop/reduce the wind sucking.

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Fibre only diet.. my laminitic and my cribber are on Fast Fibre. It has no mollasses or cereal and has added vits and mins etc plus well soaked hay.
My advice to managing cribbers is much the same as any horse,.. plenty if not 24/7 turnout, ad lib hay when necessary and if more required, then a high fibre, no sugar or cereal diet. Definitely no mixes.
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