Wintering out a poor doer Thoroughbred

[Saxon_Jasmine]

Hi,

I have decided to winter out my TB mare (until it starts snowing) and I was wondering what the best way of doing this is, in terms of rugs, feeding, keeping weight on, etc.

She is 15.1hh, 9 years old and in lean condition. I currently feed her (split into 2 feeds) 5 scoops of Alfa A Oil, 3/4 scoop (dry) of Alfa Beet and NAF GP suppliment.

She gets some hay and haylage when she's in her stable waiting for me to take up, etc. From October she will also have ad lib haylage in the field with her (and 3 other horses). The grass in her field is very good.

She is a poor doer so I really don't want her to lose weight. What rugs are best for the day and night? Do you think she'll lose weight? Is there anything else I need to do/know?

Thank you.

 

[TGM]

If she is going to have truly adlib haylage (and isn't bullied off it by the others) and fed twice a day, then she will probably do as well as she would be stabled, as long as rugged well. In fact she might do better than when stabled if she is the sort to stress indoors!

You might have to change the feed slightly if she does start to lose weight - I guess from what you are feeding at the moment that you don't want to feed cereals. If you need to get more calories into her, then you could swap the AlfaBeet for Speedibeet, as Speedibeet is more calorific and she is already getting alfalfa from the Alfa A Oil. You could also add another oil source if necessary for extra condition - perhaps micronised linseed, Outshine, Equijewel, Triple Top Up or similar. You also might want to consider swapping the GP supplement for Pink Powder or some other form of balancer - on top of the vit/mins it will also supply probiotics which are meant to ensure the gut bacteria are in top form and enable the horse to make the most of the fibre foods it is eating.