What to feed?

[clairev]

My15.2hh five year old heavy cob gelding has been turned out all summer and has survived very well on good quality pasture alone. I am now starting to ride him - working up to hacking 3-4 times a week (1-2 hours a time).

He will have access to adlib hay and will be living out all winter with good shelter and rugs. Will probably do a trace clip if he is getting quite a bit of work by December.

He dropped a little weight last winter (trace clip, rugged and stabled at night)

I think will probably start feeding a vitamin supp and not sure what to feed him - should I get vitamin supp, hacking mix plus chop or should I just give him a balancer instead? He has grown an inch in last 6 months by the way!

Help - there is too much choice out there!!! Any advice greatly received!

[subsectionx]

can I ask you something about your cob... I bought a welsh cob. how much alike should yours and mine be?
Its just I dont know how big he should be and how he should look.. I own minis other than that.. he is only 2 and he just seems lean to me.. but I dont know if it may be just the breed.. but he has alot of loose skin though.

[Maria]

Ad lib hay + a vitamin/mineral supplement or feed balancer would be a good start. Then you can add cubes or mix if weight drops off too much. To increase variety you could also feed an alfa-alfa based chaff.

My heavyweight cob is the type that only has to look at a blade of grass to put on weight. She is on restricted turnout currently with 3 or 4 sections of hay a day, 2 scoops of Hi Fi split between two feeds and Lo Cal balance.r