your thoughts on feeding please?

[Jericho]

A bit of a boring one but would appreciate your advice. Over winter I finally found a diet which put weight on my boy and he was looking fantastic. Unfortunately he was diagnosed with navicular syndrome and am now starting to slowly hack him lightly after 3 months off.

His previous diet was Top Spec Comp balancer, Outshine, sugarbeet and happy hoof plus a joint supplement. I did stop the outshine but out of everything feel that this is making the most difference to him and what with the credit crunch I am questioning my use of an expensive balancer. He is out 24/7 on fairly poor grazing (lots of it but quite weedy), adlib haylage as and when he wants it.

I like Outshine and feel good value for money especially as oil good for feet / joints and linseed good for antinflammatory
Dont want to feed cereals
Cant feed a lot of vloume
He hates AlfaAOil
He needs added biotin for his feet on farrier recommendation.
He needs a good joint supplement.

Very low work but maintains weight for difficulty so needs high calories.
teeth checked and all fine and worming counts show no eggs and wormed for tape worm.

I wish there was a good general purpose supplement that had a joint and hoof supplement and then I would feed that with Outshine and sugarbeet and something like happy hoof.

So any suggestions please for a diet which keeps weight on, has high oil content, good bitotin levels, no cereal, no fizziness generatiion, all in a small volume and doesnt break the bank?

 

[Nailed]

whya re you feeding happy hoof? anyparticular reason.. as this is a laminitic feed techinically..

If he was MINE i woul dhave him on horsehage cherrychaff, bluechip Pro and a cool mix, with sugar beet if needs must.. Id have em on profeet for foot supplement. and a glucosamine and msm supplement for joint..

Lou x

 

[Jericho]

happy hoof because my laminitic welsh gets it to put her vits and mins in and because it gives a bit of substance to the sloppy sugarbeet mess his feed is - suppose I could cut it out - its really only a handful!

 

[K27]

Something that is simple, provides slow release energy from fibre and oil sources such as Dodson and Horrell Staypower Cubes or mix, Spillers Slow Release energy cubes, (or another make of an alfalfa based mix with high oil/fibre, so you can feed less chaff and save money!!)

Or something that is concentrated with an elevated vit/min content like D and H Competition concentrate or Spillers cool concentrate to name just a few, fed with with an Alfalfa based chaff as there is slightly more protein in it for building muscle and condition.

If they are getting enough vitamins and minerals from the feed they shouldn't need extra balancers/supplements.

You could add a drop of linseed oil or soya oil as that does last a long time so v cost effective and then buy a hoof supplement/joint supplement separately that you like.

 

[Couloir]

I've had similar problems with my old man, who is a fussy beast, but SUCH a poor doer. He is 17.2hh, 23 yrs and was a Grade A showjumper, so his joints have taken a bit of a hammering. He also had awful feet when I got him, but has gone from looking HORRENDOUS, to getting compliments every time people see him. His feed sounds complicated, and it is a bit of a pain, but I've found that investing in the supplements that work means that you spend less money in the long run. Will list feed then explain

Castle Show and Condition Cubes
Countrywide M-Chaff
Baileys Outshine
Equivite Body Builder Milk Pellets
Corn Oil
No-Bute
Gellatine

He is easily fizzed up, and this diet keeps him calm, but looking fantastic, and able to hunt regularly! The cubes are relatively cheap and work brilliantly (he won't eat mix) and the Countrywide M-Chaff is only £5 a bag, and he LOVES IT (he hates Alfa A Oil and won't eat any other chaff now!) The supplements are expensive, but each lasts at least a month and they work so well for him! I feed two cups of Outshine with 12 50g scoops of Milk Pellets a day, plus half a pint of corn oil, one measure of No-Bute which has worked incredible well for arthriticky joints, and my farriers told me to buy gellatine from the supermarket, and instead of making jelly, I give him one sachet a day - if he's been off any of the supplements for even 3 days, I notice a change in weight and condition of coat and feet.
GOOD LUCK! And so sorry for the long post!