Upping the stamina

[bexj]

How can I increase Molly's stamina? She is fine in walk and trot - can go for miles, but we have several steepish canters on hacks, and she is always the first to pull up, despite the fact that she sets off thinking she is a TB!

She is not fed any hard feed, and is exercised about 5 times per week ranging from short hacks, schooling sessions, and longer (up to 3 hour) hacks at the weekends.

She always seems to recover fairly quickly, and on a flatter stretch she will go like a rocket.:D

[Yann]

If She's pretty fit anyway and just lacking that extra bit of oomph then I'd personally look at what you're feeding her and try giving her something with a higher energy content. Made a world of difference to Rio and it doesn't mean you have to make them wappy either, or necessarily introduce hard feed. What does Molly get at the moment?:)

[bexj]

Yeah, I don't want her to either put any more weight on, or make her any more fizzy, because she can be a bit of a loon at times! She doesn't get any hard feed at all, just grass from 8am til 5pm, and haylage overnight. She is one of these horses that can live of fresh air! What sort of feed would you suggest?

[Yann]

Bit of a different scenario to Rio as she's not a good doer, so it's easier to adjust things. You could try her with a feed balancer (I really like TopSpec) or introduce a small amount of something like Alfa A lite and see if that helps. Energy in = energy out, if the extra you give is being used for work then it won't go to her waistline, and hopefully not her head either being fibre:)