what would you feed him?

[eventerbabe]

just curious really, and looking for a little inspiration ;) 15.2hh irish cob, just turned 16. 100% healthy, in light work right now. Ridden 2-3 times a week schooling, hacking and the odd lunge/long line session. when he works in the school he does work hard as he's working at elementary level at home. both mum and i agree he's aged this year and has been a bit lack lustre the past month or so. currently on hi-fi lite, dengie fibremix easy, equiflex, garlic and selenevite E. am swapping back to cortaflex as i feel the change started when i switched to equiflex. He's a very good doer, out at grass 14-16 hours a day, stabled on adlib hay the remainder of the day. alfalfa and mixes send him loopy so definately not suitable feeds!

[coss]

would oats add sparkle? that seems to be the first thing my RI tries but it doesn't always help... she says it acts a bit like an old man on whisky - if they are generally happy and bouncy it makes them more so, if they are really grumpy it makes them more grumpy. She had a VERY lazy horse on loan and added oats to his feed to try and give him more energy, he became very nappy and put all his energy into bucking instead of going forwards. Her luso i being fed oats twice a day right now but it doesn't seem to have given him any extra either - but he's a very relaxed soul and just seems more relaxed :p

[eventerbabe]

hmm, might be worth a try? toby's been really quite quiet and grumpy recently. He's also been quite sluggish, usually in lessons we ping along and its more of a case of me holding him back but last lesson i was having to push him on constantly, even in canter work which is very unusual for him! there's nothing i can quite put my finger on but he's just not as lively as he was. Having said that, the dose of oxyshot he had yesterday sent him up the wall, tried to drag me across the yard :p

[Back2Black]

I fed my cob similar age and workload on the following

1 scoop 16 plus
1 scoop spillers response instant energy mix
1 scoop of alfaa
1 scoop of sugar beet
Naf 5 Stat Superflex liquid (i got better results than coratflex)

Split between two feeds and he had an abundance of energy (a bit too much at times) and top condition :)

[perkypinky]

It might be worth getting his bloods checked - he may just be slightly annemic (sp) also sometimes equivite gives them a little bit more sparkle.
- give the oats a go too - i used to feed my cob them for more energy. x

[acw295]

A friend of mine swears by adding small amounts of Spillers Instant Energy to her cobs usual feed when he needs a bit of sparkle. But he only needs literally one large handful of it for it to make a difference. Too much and he becomes a bit of a bargy thug on the ground and forgets all his parelli training :rolleyes:

[eventerbabe]

cheers guys! lots of ideas there. I'll get in touch with the vet about bloods as anaemia had crossed my mind too, i thought his membranes looked a little pale?

re oats, any 'type' in particular? whole? rolled? having never fed them before i want to make sure i get the right ones!

[coss]

i'm not sure :o RI just said "i've been feeding oats"... hope this bumps it up ;)