Feed advise needed

[Tessa42]

Hi, I have 16'3 irish draught heavy weight, I 've had him stabled for the last 21 months at a yard with very little rich grass so I've been feeding him hard feed to maintain weight and condition with little work schooling.
We have now moved yards with a brilliant in door school so we can ride more, the grass is good meadow grass, which is all he has been eating, with a little hard feed and supplements after work. This last week he has had very little energy,so can any one advise me on what to feed now his routine has changed to give him more energy with out the fizz.

[Skye94]

what were you feeding him before hand??
Always remeber it takes a good while for new types of grass to build up in the horse, so he might just be ajusting as such.
I found that pasture nuts or leisure mix is good for horses that have a similar lifestyle to yours, or if you have something planned that might take even more energy from him i would feed Spillers slow release mix, i also found this very handy!!
If his lethargy is becoming really bad and no feed is helping then the vet can be called to do a blood test which may show up that he could well have a low cell count and in that case a supplement called Red Cell can be given.

[jayvee]

Hi, he maybe lacking in nutrients despite on good grazing. If me I would try Lo-cal balancer. Assuming he is looking well off the grass sometimes just having the right level of nutrients can make the diference. If unusually lethargic then he may have become slightly aneamic and may need a boost of say red cell.:)

[puzzles]

[QUOTE=jayvee;1401772]Hi, he maybe lacking in nutrients despite on good grazing. If me I would try Lo-cal balancer. Assuming he is looking well off the grass sometimes just having the right level of nutrients can make the diference.QUOTE]

Ditto!

horses often perk up when receiving a balanced diet - plenty of good quality forage should be all he needs,a lthouh if still in doubt and there is no change after another week or two, then you can always contact a nutritionist for free.
If your horse does need a bit extra, however (which he could well do with winter coming up and being the big boy he is) I recommend one of the Dengie products (www.dengie.com). These are feeds absed on Alfalfa, being high in fibre and other essential and useful nutrients.

xxxxx

[carthorse]

I've got an ID too!

I'd certainly go with making sure he's getting enough vit & mins though I'd go for a good general supplement such as Benevit.

If that still isn't enough then I'd try gradually adding some oats to his feed, slowly increasing the amount until you get the result you want.

Are you sure that he's really lacking energy & just hasn't decided that school is boring? With me mine really enjoys his schooling but if I let someone on him & they just do endless circles or go round the outside of the school he gets bored & switches off, at which point he seems to have no energy. Or he decides to liven the session up ......