Too much feed?

[girl-friday]

I'm a bit stuck on what to feed my horse. I currently give him a stubbs scoop of HIFI Original, 1kg of Dodson & Horrell Country Cubes and about half a scoop of soaked sugar beet morning and night. I have to give him the country cubes for his recommended vit/nutrient intake but I think he is getting too much energy that he cannot burn off because I can only ride at the weekends at the moment. I don't really want to cut down on the HIFI either as it is a valuable forage source so I guess I should be cutting down his sugar beet?

He's a tb x appaloosa but not a particularly fine one, just somewhere in the middle. He likes his food though and is generally very good to handle, etc. He is 13.

Here he is on Saturday
http://images14.fotki.com/v379/photos/6/65918/3949224/DSC00121-vi.jpg

[Denbenj]

Is your horse being full of himself when you ride him? I would say if he's fine leave well alone!

[gypsygold]

Is he getting the reccomended amount of country cubes for his weight? If not he wont be getting is neccesarry amount of vits and mins anyway.

If he isnt getting the full amount and is a bit full of himself already how about swapping to pasture nuts or lesisure mix and giving the full daily amount, this way you will be putting in less energy but still giving him all the bits and pieces he needs.

Country cubes are for horses in more work load than yours is so I personally would consider changing to a lower energy feed or even a feed balancer.

[cwf]

Take a look at our 'how to...' guides, which includes a guide on How to calculate feeding rations for your horse or pony. You can find them here http://www.countrywidefarmers.co.uk/pws/Content.ice?page=GuidesEquestrian&pgForward=guides

Hope this helps!

[Jessey]

If you are only riding at weekends I would look to reduce the country cubes right down and supplement his vits and minerals with either a powdered supplement or a balancer to ensure he gets all the trace elements he needs :D
You are right to want to keep the HiFi, its great forage, you could switch to the lite version, it has far less molasses which being sugar can also add to energy levels :D but still gives the important forage.

J x

[girl-friday]

Hey, thanks for the opinions guys. I have added a pic of the little fatty now.

Gypsy - yeah, I am giving him the recommended daily amount for his vits and that, that's why I am unable to cut his feed down in that respect. I have had a look on the D&H site this morning and in fact discovered that pasture nuts would probably be more suitable. The reason why he is on Country cubes is that when I bought him in August he was well underweight and I had him on Baileys topline conditioning cubes and alfa A oil from day 1. After 3 months I changed him to HiFi and country cubes as his condition has improved amazingly, but at the same time, I didn't want to cut him right down as I thought he might lose it again (which he hasn't).

The last few times that I have ridden him, he's turned into a bit of a fruit at times, though nothing too dangerous. He is generally a good horse but like all horses he's very strong and aware that in a tug of war, he wins hooves down every time.

I honestly believe that if I could exercise him more he would be fine on his daily rations, but as it stands, I think he is getting too much.

[gypsygold]

Yes I think you should go for the pasture nuts as well (or leisure mix) they are similar energy wise. I think you should be ok sticking with the Hi-fi but you could change to hi-fi lite. The sugarbeet could also be changed to an ummollassed version ie. speedibeet if not already.

However I would change the nuts first and then see how you go from there.

[mogadoga]

Also baileys have a recomended feeding amount etc on their site.

[redcedar]

having had a quick look on the D&H site, you could put him on Leisure Mix ( as surgested above :) )

It still has a good protein, oil and vits level but with a higher fiber content you could drop the sugar beet down or totally and still give him a high fiber diet.

He looks great Laura :)

Helen

[Pink's lady]

If he's fizzy but holding weight well I would cut out the country cubes all together. As the only reason you're feeding them is for the vitamins, it would be much easier and cheaper to buy a good broad spectrum supplement such as TLC or NAF General Supplement.

Many people find that lesuire or pasture mix sends their horses loopy, so it's maybe not a good diea.

Horses are designed to eat all fibre, so it would be better to replace the cubes with either more Hi-FI (you can feed 4scoops at a time and it will keep him occupied when stabled) or replace it with Alfa-A, which is a higher energy fibre. And the sugar beet is perfect as it's high energy, high fibre and low fizz.

[puzzles]

to give him the necessaryu amount of vitamins and minerals he needs for a balanced diet, you need to feed 2-2.5kg of the Dodson and Horrel cubes each day - the conditioning cubes will provide too much energy and is likely to unbalance the diet rather than add anything valuable to it.
rememebr that the more you add, the less your horse will absorb.
keep feeding the hi-fi - however much you like but never feed more than 1.8kg maximum total in each feed.
changing his fed should occur over a period of 7-10 days - 14 if he is a sensative, stressy type - and if you find he is still too difficult to manage on this feed then you can safely and healthily replace the cubes with 2-2.5kg of the hi-fi, and a balancer/vit & min supplenent alongside to provide all the nutrients your horse needs.
be careful to actually weigh your feeds and find out exactly how much that scoop holds - it will hold around 400g of hi-fi and 1.1-1.8kg of the cubes, so it is vital that you find out just what your horse is receiving.
ad-lib forage is essential too.
i would presonally prefer to feed the Dengie. it is more suitable and just as nutritious for yor horse, and you can change it gradually to alfa-lite or alfa-a, or even hi-fi-lite in the spring, if you feel the need to.
i strongly recommend contacting Dengie via their website (www.dengie.com) as they are very friendsly and helpful - in fact i have just sent off yet another query to them about puzzles. it's a good idea if only for peace of mind!
rememebr also that mixes tend to contain more starch and sugar than cubes, and also lower in fibre so i would choose cubes if you do decide to go for a compound cube/mix feed.
good luck!

x
em