Winter weight and feeding advice!

[Becki1802]

Hi,
I have been feeding Allen & Page Calm & Condition since June this year and it has suited him very well over the summer. We believe he has a barley allergy as he had very bad hives that are now 95% resolved on C&C. He was a little underweight (poorer end of moderate) when I got him in April and his condition improved over the summer. By the end of summer he had a lovely shiney coat and was condition scored at Moderate to Good. Now we are in winter he is dropping a bit of condition and I'd say he is a level moderate now. I feel I may need some feeding advice to prevent him from loosing anymore.
T is fed twice a day - unfortunately no-one is around to feed at midday but when I get the opportunity I will give him a lunch too so he gets a 3rd identical feed. He is currently in at night and out during the day. He is blanket clipped but well rugged and with this cold snap he is now in heavyweight outdoor and stable rugs.
His workload is:
Mon - Thu - 2 days off, 1 day flatwork school (1hr), 1 day lunge (30 min).
Fri - hack (45min-1hr)
Sat - SJ training (1hr)
Sun - Compete SJ, occasional dressage. Travelling up to 1.5hrs away.

He is being fed 2 feeds of:
1 standard scoop Calm & Condition
1 standard scoop Alfa-A Oil
Feedmark Steady Up
Feedmark Original Balancer - about to be changed to Blue Chip Original.

He is on a full haylage net overnight and if given two he doesn't eat it all. During the day he has grass which probably has little nutrients.
His feed seems quite a lot in his feed bowl so I am not sure that I can add much more mass to it. I was wondering about 1/2 scp sugarbeet but I know C&C contains sugarbeet already.
I am going to talk to his livery yard owner about maybe keeping him in a few days a week during the day to feed more haylage.
His teeth were checked and rasped back in Sep, he is on the Equest worming programme and is in date and apart from the itchy skin he is in good health to the best of my knowledge. He has a laid back temperament generally but is nappy and spooky and can be occasionally sharp when spooked. He is 16.2hh, KWPN, 10yo, 520kg according to the weight tape.

Your advice would be gratefully received.

Regards,

Becki

 

[SmartieBean09]

The first thing that springs to mind, would be to feed oil. Oil contains 2.5 times the amound of calories when compared weight for weight with a cube or mix.

A lot of people on here recommened giving a mug full of Micronised Linseed. Charnwood Milling would appear to be the cheapest.

Feeding oil keeps the bulk of the feed down.

The only other thing that springs to mind is that you say your horse will leave haylage if fed 2 nets. Does this mean your horse eats all of 1 net? If so, could mean that your horses isnt getting enough. It is a good sign if some hay/haylage is left over as it means they have had enough through the night.

You could continue to offer your horse 1 haynet and perhaps add a tub trug of Readigrass? Will give you horse soemthing to keep him occupied in his stable but also another fibre source. Readigrass is a high calorie grass so it may help just to give your horse that extra boost he needs to bring his weight back up.

It is natural for a horse to drop slightly over winter so dont be too concerned. So long as your horse still has enough energy for his work and seems happy in himself then you are doing ok

 

[Becki1802]

Thank you for the advice. I will definitely be giving the oil a try and will keep giving him two nets for a while longer - I'll try making the second one a half size so there is less wastage if he drops it on the floor!

I do sometimes give him a few extra scoops of Alfa in his bowl - I'll start doing that more often. If he is still getting too skinny then I'll try the higher calorie option that you suggest!

Thanks again!

 

[mystiandsunny]

The only reason for a horse to need more feed in winter than summer, if the workload is the same, is because he/she is using energy to keep warm. To prevent weight dropping, the tips of the ears need to feel warm when you touch them (not hot, just warm). Two of my ponies are in 2xHW in this cold snap, and my TB has a double 13.5 tog winter duvet under her HW rug. I don't have to feed any more hard feed in winter than summer, and only hay much if grass totally frozen - have just had to cut back on feed as ponies gaining weight!