New feed regime!

[brigadier]

Right peeps,
very soon Im going to be responsible for sorting out the feed for Basil and as its about a zillion years since Ive actually fed a horse and I am clueless about all the new products on the market I want your expertise.

He is currently on ad lib hay/haylage bran, chop, cubes (standard) and sugar beet with cod liver oil.

I dont want to feed bran.

He reacts most fizzily to food so its must be cool!

He needs to retain weight so must have high oil content.

Whats out there and what a good regime?

[haffyfan]

Alfa A oil is supposed to be good for conditioning and I am a big dengie fan in general....I would also recommend their alfa beet rather than traditional s.beet

They have loads of info on their page about their feeds.

[fleabitten]

high fibre cubes with linseed oil - you can mash the cubes up if you like. fibre and oil. baileys no 1 might be good - its a powder that you mix with water so it turns into a porridge texture. however it is not a balanced meal on its own.
if you can get complete high fibre cubes from somewhere making sure theres no molasses on them then you can add the no 1.

i quite like bran - why is it you dont want to feed it? you could just feed it once a week in a small handful to keep things ticking over.

dont even look at any of the products on the market lol!! too confuzzling! just head to the feed shop and take whatever they have lol!

alternatively your local animal feed manufacturer may have horse and pony cubes or mix at a cheaper price than some of the commercial brands. theyll be able to tell you exactly whats in it etc as they made it.

[brigadier]

Why not feed bran?-
nutritionally it is detrimental to the horse and must be fed with other food stuffs to balance it out, but I dont want to feed the other foodstuffs in any great quantity so what is the point in buying it.
Plus all the supplies of bran Ive seen in the last few years are the over processed stuff that means you may as well feed sawdust as it cant even be tasty for the horse.

[baymare]

alan and page calm and condition is fabulous.my tb is so quite on this and is in super condition.you have to soak it for 10 mins.then i mix with a mollie-chaff.brillant.bay.

[zara]

Hi Brig, as Basil can be "hot" keep him on a fibre diet and avoid concentrates. AJ is fizzy and "fat" so he is on Dengie Good Doer at the mo but usually has Healthy Hooves. The Dengie web site is useful and will help you navigate to the correct feed. I know a few people with TB's who lose condition easily or who need to gain weight and they have Alfa - oil and Allen and Page "Calm and Condition". I would really suggest contacting one of the feed suppliers and discuss your requirements, all have excellent advice lines. Some of the Dengie feeds are "complete" and some require a "balancer" to ensure correct vits and mins etc. Good luck Zxx

[solomon]

Pete is on on Dengie hi fi original although i have contemplated the alpha a when he was slimmer. Also considered the healthy hoof one for his feet. He also gets a tiny scoop of spillers conditioning cubes which have made his coat like glass.

[fimacg]

can't help with this aside from phone a couple of feed companies.

I guess you don't need a slimmers diet, which all mine have...

[brigadier]

Ive heard of calm and condition -will have a look at the site, also at the dengie link- thanks peeps.

[jane]

Arrrgggggg I typed a huge reply earlier today and my connection failed....

Anyway

Dengie Alfa Oil is excellent, as is any of their feeds. A good chaff based feed combined with something like the next two suggestions.

A nice balancer is Baileys Lo-Cal, it is good value and compared to powders or liquids because it is like little pony nuts actually gives the horse something to chew on. This would give him all his vitamins. You can put the calories in with something else.

I also love Baileys no. 4 top line conditioning cubes, non-heating but high energy, great quality and you end up feeding less than you would a standard pony nut. I have always found that horses fed on this really do get a fabulous top line and a beautifully shiney coat.

Remember what ever you feed, initially WEIGHT IT, you can then put marks in scoops, cups etc to indicate for each product. This way you know exactly what is going in, and you can adjust easily should you need to increase or decrease anything.

Ad lib hay is the best way to feed forage, I would forget the cod liver oil, horses apparently can't utilise it.

A combination as above is a quality easy regime, in winter you may want to add some warm soaked alfa beet, but sugar beet can be quite heating, a lot more so than was traditionally believed.

[scattymare]

I'm anonter Allen & Page fan - you saw how the weight gain mix worked for P and gave him such a shiny coat. Calm & Condition is a great complete feed you just mix with a chaff. Also Ride and relax is similar but I think it's not as high calorie content.
If you email them via the webpage with your 'wants and needs' they will email the same day with their reccomendations and full fact sheets for each feed.

[brigadier]

Thanks again- looking at all of these.

[mossh]

Mattie is very similar to Basil and I have right issues feeding him.
Would recommend allen and page. Especially the calm and condition. Worked wonders for Mattie.

This year Mattie is on

Hi fi original/ Alfa A Oil
Barley
Sugar Beet
Spillers Senior Conditioning Mix (non heating!)

And he's doing well on this, feeling good but in a manageable way.

[joandlad]

I'd say keep it as simple as you possibly can. Easiest (and best IMO) way is to feed a balancer. Either Baileys Lo-Cal or Top Spec. They've got all the necessary vits and mins in the correct balance so you don't need to sign up for a nutritional degree course to work it out yourself. I don't feed cereals, mixes or nuts. They are stuffed full of things that horses don't need and can't easily digest. So I feed fibre. They'd be better for Basil too as they are slow release energy which shouldn't send him off on one. Something like Hi-Fi or Alpha-A. If you need some more calories for weight or energy then add a good dollop of oil. N.B. I think you may be wasting good money on Cod Liver Oil. Horses can't digest it like we can as they don't have gall bladders. You would probably get similar results from linseed oil which is high in anti-oxidants.

IMO people feed far too much hard feed. A horse should be capable of maintaining weight and working at low levels on good quality hay and grass alone. We should only need to feed hard feed to top it up where necessary. Lots of people will argue that their horse is the exception but in reality if they cut out the majority of their hard feed and fed a bit more hay they wouldn't notice a difference - except in their purse.

[brigadier]

thanks

[fleabitten]

yeah, linseed oil is BRILLIANT! The shine is amazing.

[jane]

well said Joandlad

[brigadier]

Had a very interesting discussion at the feed merchants. Have gone down the fibre route (similar to alpha A without the oil) which makes sense all round with some extra cool nuts as he does seem to love nuts (probably from his racehorse days) however am going to abandon oil (any type) at the moment as its now thought to be contributory to fizziness. Linseed is a big no no as it definitely does cause a reaction. Have also got an unmolassed fibre beet which is very low carb just to tide him over until the spring grass comes through.