VioletStripe
Well-Known Member
Hello!
Some of you may know I have a 15.1hh Connemara gelding, now aged 13. We have recently moved yards and the grazing isn't as lush as where we were previously on an old dairy farm. Since it's now winter and the grazing is becoming a barer, he's dropped a little weight. Nothing concerning but I think really he might need a little extra! Coming into winter he was a perfect weight, and I like him on the leaner side generally. He is fully up to date with worming and dentist, by the way - the weight drop is purely having less grass and probably more demanding hacking each weekend.
At the moment he is out 8:30am-3pm in the paddock, which at the moment has a reasonable grass covering but it is obviously dropping in quality and will continue to do so over winter. It's a reasonably big hill for him to graze/wander around and keep himself fit on too.
- Comes in to adlib soaked hay (due to asthma) overnight. I think it works out at around 8kg or so, before soaking.
- Morning and evening he is given 2 scoops of damped down Hifi Molasses Free with pink powder and some micronised linseed (4 little scoops which came in the packet/day). 2 scoops might sound like a lot but I like him to have a good tummy buffer before heading out to the sparseish field as we have previously suspected acidity issues with his stomach. He's never been scoped for ulcers but since treating him as an 'ulcer horse' we have never had any issues.
- Every so often I give him a handful of Thunderbrooks hay cobs in a treat ball (which he's strangely not overly fond of!) with the occasional carrot or parsnip.
Work-wise, he's ridden around 4 days a week with a mix of hacking and schooling. At least once or twice a week it's a 2hr+ hack which is heavy work with lots of hills and fast work, the schooling sessions range from half an hour to an hour (without cool off time around the field, which adds another 10mins of walking). Schooling is again usually reasonably fast, and we have maybe one walking or stretching session a week. So, light work but not uber-light.
So, thoughts? I want to keep it as light and cereal free as possible as he's a native (I worry about Lami even though he's never had it), and can be reasonably fizzy. I also worry about stomach acidity, as previously mentioned. I'm tempted to put maybe half a scoop of unmolassed sugar beet in to replace half a scoop of the Hifi at each meal - does this. sound like a good idea? Or up his linseed? Or, do I just cave and give a handful of standard pony/high fibre nuts in with his feeds and see how he goes? He seems fab temperament and general health-wise at the moment, but has dropped a bit of weight with the reduction in grass. I just wish I could stuff more hay into him overnight, or not soak it!
Some of you may know I have a 15.1hh Connemara gelding, now aged 13. We have recently moved yards and the grazing isn't as lush as where we were previously on an old dairy farm. Since it's now winter and the grazing is becoming a barer, he's dropped a little weight. Nothing concerning but I think really he might need a little extra! Coming into winter he was a perfect weight, and I like him on the leaner side generally. He is fully up to date with worming and dentist, by the way - the weight drop is purely having less grass and probably more demanding hacking each weekend.
At the moment he is out 8:30am-3pm in the paddock, which at the moment has a reasonable grass covering but it is obviously dropping in quality and will continue to do so over winter. It's a reasonably big hill for him to graze/wander around and keep himself fit on too.
- Comes in to adlib soaked hay (due to asthma) overnight. I think it works out at around 8kg or so, before soaking.
- Morning and evening he is given 2 scoops of damped down Hifi Molasses Free with pink powder and some micronised linseed (4 little scoops which came in the packet/day). 2 scoops might sound like a lot but I like him to have a good tummy buffer before heading out to the sparseish field as we have previously suspected acidity issues with his stomach. He's never been scoped for ulcers but since treating him as an 'ulcer horse' we have never had any issues.
- Every so often I give him a handful of Thunderbrooks hay cobs in a treat ball (which he's strangely not overly fond of!) with the occasional carrot or parsnip.
Work-wise, he's ridden around 4 days a week with a mix of hacking and schooling. At least once or twice a week it's a 2hr+ hack which is heavy work with lots of hills and fast work, the schooling sessions range from half an hour to an hour (without cool off time around the field, which adds another 10mins of walking). Schooling is again usually reasonably fast, and we have maybe one walking or stretching session a week. So, light work but not uber-light.
So, thoughts? I want to keep it as light and cereal free as possible as he's a native (I worry about Lami even though he's never had it), and can be reasonably fizzy. I also worry about stomach acidity, as previously mentioned. I'm tempted to put maybe half a scoop of unmolassed sugar beet in to replace half a scoop of the Hifi at each meal - does this. sound like a good idea? Or up his linseed? Or, do I just cave and give a handful of standard pony/high fibre nuts in with his feeds and see how he goes? He seems fab temperament and general health-wise at the moment, but has dropped a bit of weight with the reduction in grass. I just wish I could stuff more hay into him overnight, or not soak it!
