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Double C
25th Jul 2008, 11:08 AM
Well, first off. Hello everyone ^___^ I am new to the NR forums, but have browsed here recently and found it very helpful, with all you nice Horsey people.

I suppose I should tell you all a little bit about myself. I have a Welsh Section D x Hackney, Skewbald Gelding. He is 15hh and is actually 20 years old. He'll be 21 this October, but he certainly doesn't act it. I have owned him for nearly 8 years, so we've got a pretty good bond. He's my little handsome devil and Love him very much =D We used to do quite a lot, but over the past two years he has had some troubles. Big Vet bill troubles, but He pulled through, resulting in us now taking an easy life with moseying out along the roads and enjoying our trots through the woods. even though every now and again he will go off on a whim and start his Bronco sessions. Love him though and I am being very careful with him.

Anyway, back to the topic. Sorry for my rambling, I do that quite often. Apologies in advance =)

I have enquired about his feeding regime and things. I have asked a few Feed companies, Spillers, Saracen and Bailey's to be precise, and so far have only got a reply from Bailey's, recommending Bailey's Lo Cal. I have seen quite good feedback on here about that, so I am debating.

Charlie [My boy, Charlie Brown], is definately a Good Doer. And at the moment he had out on average grass for 8 hours a day, and after just having a few weeks off we are increasing workload a bit. The thing is with that all we can do i Walk and trot, trotting only on softer ground, like grass and soft dirt. I don't mind, as I've always been careful. The maximum we can go out for is 1 hour and 45 mins. So we will eventually work our way up to that, so we can have nice hacks in the woods, seeing all the evil squirrels with chainsaws [He is a very excitable chap, and spooks alot, but he has always been like that.]

He is stabled at night, and there is no chance I will let him go out all night. Due to his leg and the fact that I don't trust certain people. But anyway.

I've calculated roughly how much hay he has when he is in. I do weigh his nets and everything, getting to grips with starting to weigh his feed too.

He has two haynets at night, doubles up, so one haynet inside the other. Extra small holes, so he has to work for it. I tie them up in different corners of the stable too. He gets 4lb in each net, so 8lbs of hay at night, which I think roughly works out about 4kgs? I'm not very good with math :-\ He has a very small, 2lb in the morning when he is fed breakfast and is left to mooch around the hardstanding with his stable open, so he can pick at a very blades of grass and stuff, until I get there an hour and a half after he is fed. Weekends, we feed so its slightly different, but he still gets the same hay.

His Menu is currently:

Tea:
1/4 scoop, biggish handful of Dengie Good Doer.
Half a cup, or slightly more than half a cup of Sixteen plus Mix.
Dodson and Horrell Surelimb, Vits and Mins.
Saracen Yea-Sacc.
MSM and Glucosamine.
Cod Liver Oil.
Apple Cider Vinegar.
And of course, apples and carrots.

A cup of Baileys High Fibre cubes in his ball at night, too.

He also gets a sachet of Danilon every other day to keep him ticking over, due to his Bone Spavin [Osteoarthiritis] and Tenosynovitis in his fetlock, basically tear in tendon sheath. The vets hack okayed everything so he is pretty healthy, just wanting to make sure everything is okay feedwise.

Breakfast:
A small haldful of Good Doer, less than a 1/4 scoop.
A big handful of Sixteen plus mix.
Dodson and horrell surelimb [It's spread between both feeds]
MSM and Glucosamine [Spread, again]
Cod Liver Oil
Apple Cider Vinegar and of course, apples and carrots.


So, in case you are put off by reading all that jumbled up mess. I told you I rambled on a bit, didn't I? =D

He gets roughly around 5kgs Good hay a day and 8 hours, averaging around 8 to 9 hours anyway, on average grazing. Stabled at night. Worked 6 days out of 7, as I said, light hacking. but he does like his trots on grass with the odd Buckaroo =D

So, here is the real question, to all of you guys here at NR.

What do you think of his diet? and What should I change?

I just want any feedback. Good, bad, whatever. I just want to know if I'm doing right, I want the best for my handsome Charlie Farley =D

Much appreciated to anyone who comments, and once more, apologies for a rather long, jumbled thread.

Thank you,

Charlotte xox

P.S Missed his weight, I use a weight tape so, perhaps not dead on. He is around 490kgs, and I do condition score him and right now I would say he is quite porky, moderately fleshy.

manwell
25th Jul 2008, 11:51 AM
sorry, couldnt finish reading it!!! but hi and welcome

emmathechief
25th Jul 2008, 12:02 PM
I did it! I read it all! **phew** me thinks a brew's in order!

Sounds like a very complicated diet! I think you have done the right thing by asking the experts. Hopefully saracen will come back to you, they were very informative when I spoke to them and sent out a pack and tables/charts and stuff all about my girl!

Anywho, I think it would be a good idea to also ask BlueChip and Topspec (and any other balancer people!)
I think you may save a small fortune and can rest your mind that he gets everything at the required levels. There vetran options seem very good.

Welcome to NR -forgot to say!

Double C
25th Jul 2008, 12:12 PM
Heh, thank you for the welcome ^__^ And sorry, thought maybe it would have put people off. Me and my rambling, lol.

Thank you for answering too ^__^ I was going to wait and see what feedback I got back from the other feed companies, I shall also look into Blue Chip and TopSpec too. Thanks for that =D

Reading it again now, I do think, maybe he has got a complex diet. Poor Charlie lol =) It seems I am in need of some nutritional help heh.

Thank you guys for the welcome =D

eventerbabe
25th Jul 2008, 12:26 PM
i'm always wary of feed company advice lines as they'll only ever recomend their own products ;) your hay quantity seems spot on, it works out at about 1% of his bodyweight which is fine for a good doer who needs to lose a bit ;) if he were mine, i'd get rid of the mix. I'm not a fan of cereals and prefer a fibre diet, so substituting it with something like speedibeet, or even spillers readigrass (for something interesting). either that or switch him from good doer to hi-fi lite/alfa-a lite and chop the mix completely. but that's entirely down to my personal preference for fibre based diets :) if he's doing well on what he's getting then you probably don't need to change anything :)

Double C
27th Jul 2008, 09:44 AM
Thank you for that, Eventerbabe. You make alot of sense =D

I got a reply from Spillers, they mentioned getting rid of the mix and putting him on Winergy Equilibrium Senior. Not sure about that. I'm still waiting on a reply from Saracen before I do anything.

I will probably scrap his mix though.

Thank you for all those have looked here, and actually took time to read that essay I posted.

I have some recent pictures of him, to show you his condition and tell me what you all think? They were taken this morning. =D

I also weigh-taped him this morning and his heart girth is still at 188cm so hmm. But I'm trying to do this condition scoring malarky. If I firmly, and I so mean, firmly run my hand along his side I can just about feel his ribs, with some fat inbetween, I know his bottom is not that apple-shaped. I think I will be altering his feed within the next few weeks, just still debating what to alter it to.

Hmm.

=)

http://www.newrider.co.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=899&pictureid=7717

http://www.newrider.co.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=899&pictureid=7718

http://www.newrider.co.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=899&pictureid=7719

Laura+Phantom
29th Jul 2008, 04:23 PM
What a gorgeous chap!

I too would say scrap the mix, I would think he just needs a handful of chaff to put his supplements in, would that suffice? Also, Good do-er has molasses in the ingredient list, whereas hi-fi lite has 'molasses extract', i've always know hi-fi lite to be the one with less sugar.

Hay amount sounds good, especially the double netting and putting in different corners. I wish I had stables so I could keep mine on the same system!

He's well covered, I would say, wouldn't want any more weight on him, but doesn't look obese for his type. Sounds like you're doing everything you can, I know the feeling with 4 good do-ers!