winergy, how much?!

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WoodysMum

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The winergy range of feeds seems like a fab concept, I contacted them and they recommended I feed my older boy 4kg a day of Growth
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I just can't afford to feed that much, and I dont think he will finish it!

People Ive seen seem to feed reduced amounts but Im just worried about a vitamin/mineral shortage if its not fed at the recommended rate? Can anyone enlighten me?
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I was recommended 3.5 kg a day, realistically though I only feed 2kg, and infact over the summer they only get 0.5-1kg and cope fine...

I asked them how little I could feed without it affecting their vitamin inteake and got told 1kg approx....

My horses look and feel great on it.
 
Thanks
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I really like the concept and I would love to try it at least before the winter so if it makes my boy lose weight he wont feel miserable. But just cannot afford to feed 4kg a day, thats for sure!
 
I only feed around 1kg a day now, my mare was just getting too fat on the recommended amount + she was struggling a bit to actually eat it all. She is looking fab on it, I highly recommend it.
 
I use the Medium on my mare, I was recommended 3.5kg but the amounts are rather generous and I was told she'd be fine on 2kg. She's never been better, hasn't tied up or colicked since she has been on it, and has plenty of presence for dressage without being too much of a nutter!
 
I've fed it to 4 of them of varying types and degrees of 'excitability' and it hasn't affected any of them, and there are some amongst them that are very feed sensitive.

All have done well on it.

Never at full rate, if needed you can feed a small amount of a vit/min. supplement to make up for that.
 
I've tried it and didn't make my horse any calmer than when on normal conditioning mix and I found it worked out more expensive as well.
 
Have you thought about feeding something like AlfaBeet or FibreBeet alongside a balancer or vit/min supplement? That way the diet is still fibre-based and you can reduce or increase the feed according to the horse's condition and the balancer/vit/min supplement ensures all nutrients are met.
 
I've a stressy trakehner on it(she put on 29 kg in 1 month, and has about the same to do again), and a Tersk they are both improving in condition and coat like you wouldn't believe, and actually stress head is calmer on it than she was on generic conditioning mix (which wasn't working - she stressed the weight off)

For mine, it's working out expensive as the mare still has a way to go, but the gelding is on 1.5kg as maintenence and still looking smashing, cost will reduce ones she's reached optimum condition. Worth it.

Woodysmum - they have a new conditioning feed for mature horses coming out in 6 weeks, the trial feed that my mare did so well on (and the reason I'm converted) Might be worth you just shutting your eyes and trying it for 4 weeks, buy a weight tape and see what happens. Bet you end up impressed!
 
If it makes you feel better, I think the amounts they say you need to feed are bonkers! It's a great feed, but no, my 16.2 eventer competing regularly at Novice BE does NOT need 3.5kg of feed a day, whatever they may think! He does absolutely fine off half a scoop a day. You could add a vit/min supplement if you are really worried, but in all honesty I didn't bother and horse was fit, healthy and shiney. I think I might have dies if I'd fed him 3.5kg of medium energy a day.

Not aimed at OP, but it seems to me that feeding and assessing condition, energy levels etc is a dying art and everyone is too willing to ring helplines and ask for amounts they should feed - it really is worth learning how to assess how much feed a horse needs and not using these lines/the advice on the back of the bag, because I have never yet come across a horse which needs as much hard feed as the feed companies suggest it does...
 
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Not aimed at OP, but it seems to me that feeding and assessing condition, energy levels etc is a dying art and everyone is too willing to ring helplines and ask for amounts they should feed - it really is worth learning how to assess how much feed a horse needs and not using these lines/the advice on the back of the bag, because I have never yet come across a horse which needs as much hard feed as the feed companies suggest it does...

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I half agree with you on this! I agree that people should be able to judge their horse's condition and feed accordingly rather than feeding by what the manufacturers suggest. For example, if a competition horse is in good condition and has plenty of energy whilst fed a half a scoop of pony nuts a day, then there is no need to up his feed or switch to competition mix!

However, the feedlines can come in useful in specialist cases and I found them invaluable when feeding a lactating mare and her foal. Also when it comes to conditioning feeds, some poor doers do actually need to be fed the recommended amount. I've often heard someone say that Brand X or Brand Y didn't work for them, when actually they have only fed miniscule amounts of it!

Also it is helpful to know the recommended amount of feed to know whether or not the RDA of vit/mins are being supplied. Now lots of horses do very well without receiving all their vit/mins in the hard feed, but if for some reason the owner is anxious to ensure their feed supplies all vit/mins then they need to realise that they need to feed near the recommended amount to ensure that, or to feed a vit/min supplement alongside the reduced feed.

So it is useful to know the recommended amount of feed, even if you don't actually feed it to that level.
 
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If it makes you feel better, I think the amounts they say you need to feed are bonkers! It's a great feed, but no, my 16.2 eventer competing regularly at Novice BE does NOT need 3.5kg of feed a day, whatever they may think! He does absolutely fine off half a scoop a day. You could add a vit/min supplement if you are really worried, but in all honesty I didn't bother and horse was fit, healthy and shiney. I think I might have dies if I'd fed him 3.5kg of medium energy a day.

Not aimed at OP, but it seems to me that feeding and assessing condition, energy levels etc is a dying art and everyone is too willing to ring helplines and ask for amounts they should feed - it really is worth learning how to assess how much feed a horse needs and not using these lines/the advice on the back of the bag, because I have never yet come across a horse which needs as much hard feed as the feed companies suggest it does...

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I agree with everything you have said SC apart from one thing .... you have met a horse that needs the amounts the feed company says ...

It is dark grey, completely gormless, and currently eating me out of house and home
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i think you only have to feed the recommended amount if you are trying to improve condition or energy. i had mine on 5kg of growth a day for 6 months until i wa completely happy and now she's on 2.5kg. i'll probably up it in winter to about 3.5 but still worth every penny for piece of mind it gives you.

they told me they recommend those levels as not all horses are the same and it is easy to reduce an amount if it is working really well than have to increase it after a period of not working so well - i think that's what they said anyway!
 
If you are worried about your horse not getting the correct amount of vits/minerals buy some "Event" supplement, it's great stuff
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40ml once a month via a drench per horse, easy!
My two youngsters and their mum get it, they are turned out, get no hard feed and they look fab. Coats are shiney, feet are good, etc.
Its about £25.00 a bottle which will last one horse about 3 months, so far cheaper than all those feeds and supplements, we buy ours from
www.horsesupplements.co.uk
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i think you only have to feed the recommended amount if you are trying to improve condition or energy. i had mine on 5kg of growth a day for 6 months until i wa completely happy and now she's on 2.5kg. i'll probably up it in winter to about 3.5 but still worth every penny for piece of mind it gives you.

they told me they recommend those levels as not all horses are the same and it is easy to reduce an amount if it is working really well than have to increase it after a period of not working so well - i think that's what they said anyway!

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I was told that too, each horse is different and it's hard as they don't know your horse. Mine is on 3kg of Med, but I will up this to 4kg over winter if she drops weight, though she's fabulous at the moment.
 
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