Winter Feeding

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jomax

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Help, please. I have a 14.3h section c welsh cob. She is a good doer and has good weight at the moment, she is living out but due to come in soon for the winter. At the moment the field she is on is fairly poor, so i have been giving her haylege once a day. She is worked 5 -6 times a week for between 1/2 and 1 hour.

I thought about giving her one or two scoops of pony nuts, along with 6/8 chopped carrots, and her haylege, every evening during the winter. I am going to turn her out during the day, rugged, and have her in every evening.

What do you all think?
 
Why not feed her less pony nuts but add a balancer of some sort to top up those vitamins and minerals that may not be found in winter grass?

I've fed bailey lo cal from 13hh natives to 16.3 with good results.
 
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I would feed a scoop of Happy Hoof or similar, and 1 scoop of pony nuts, and cut the carrots back. If she's a good doer, there's a helluva lot of sugar in carrots. Does she lose weight over winter, is that why she's coming in at nights? There's more sugar in haylage as well, so you may want to consider hay maybe when she's in the stable. Obviously if she loses weight in winter, then sugar is a good thing! You should probably feed an appropriate feed balancer as well, to ensure she's getting all her vits and minerals. Hope that helps.
 
I agree with monkeybum13. You will save a lot of money feeding her a balancer as you will have to feed a large amount of cubes/mix to meet her daily vitamin requirements so although Balancers are more expensive per bag in the long run, you will be using less bags of feed so you will be saving money. As she is a good doer, I recommend Baileys Lo-Cal Balancer.
 
Thanks for the advice so far, its really appreciated. Although i have been riding for over 15 years, this is the first time i have owned my own horse, and this is the first winter with her. She is one of only two horses on livery at the stables, the rest are riding school horses. I intend to bring her in for the evenings in the winter, and turn her out each morning, as i work i do realise that this is going to be hard work. The school owner, tends not to feed extra supplements over the winter and feeds only haylege, i just feel that i would prefer to give more than that (over caring first time mum!!).
 
Why are you bringing her in over the winter? I was once an over protective inside in the winter mother but my boy prefers to be out and it was me that wanted him in because i felt cold! the weight dropped off him when he was in as he box walked put him out with plenty hay and rugs and he done great :) as this is your first winter you might find she's the same why not try leaving her out and just feed her
 
Def feed a balancer, topspec lite has far more in it than baileys low cal, I have a chart comparing all balancers due to my work and topspec beats everybody, plus you feed less a day so works out cheaper than low cal.
I agree with as much turn out as poss over winter but I know a lot off yard owners don't like horses out much over winter to save their fields.
Just remember always fibre first so feed plenty off haylage and a simple balancer should work well.
 
I like the look of my horse on baileys lo cal but he went mental on it and turned into a nightmare some horses can eat it some cant sugarbeet also get him the same way you could try pink power from naf
 
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