Should I split it into two feeds?

[ClaireBear_nz]

Hi,
I've got a supposedly old pony, of around 14 hands, stocky-ish build, not fine but not too stocky. At the moment, she's doing around an hour of work per day (weather permitting!) with a mix of basic dressage, hillwork, hacking, jumping etc, and I'm beginning to attempt to get her fit for the summer eventing season as we're coming out of winter down here.
She has quite bad teeth, with very worn down incisors due to being grazed on stoney ground as a youngster, but her back teeth are still alright according to our vet who floated them a couple of months ago.
She's currently being strip-grazed on relatively long/lush grass, with a section of hay each night, which she sometimes eats, sometimes doesn't.
For her nightly feed, she gets 1 scoop of lucerne chaff, 3/4 of a scoop of Mitavite Gumnuts which I soak in water for a couple of hours to make them soft so they are easier for her to eat, and 1/3 of a bucket of sugarbeet. As an estimate it equates up to around 6.5kg of food...

Should I be splitting it into two feeds and giving her some in the morning and some at night? Do you think she needs to put on condition?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/ClaireBear_nz/horses004.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/ClaireBear_nz/sparks011.jpg

[entreat]

SHe looks good to me. :)
You could split that into two feeds, but I don't think there's any reason fore or against.

How long have you had her? Do you know if she drops weight over summer? Knowing the quality of hay in NZ and the fact she doesn't always finish her hay, I think she's probably feeling quite happy in her food. A splash (1 cup or so) of Sunflower oil would be a nice addition at this time of year (& carried throughout summer) to give her a very shiney & soft coat. My gelding gets about 2 cups, and he's looking fabulous - but he lives in dirt & loves rolling, so he's never clean & shiny, just soft and patches of shiny!

'old' at 14? you're so funny! I wouldn't call that old, particularly for a smaller equine.

Best of luck with your season of eventing. I'm lookign forward to others advice here. :)

[ClaireBear_nz]

SHe looks good to me. :)
You could split that into two feeds, but I don't think there's any reason fore or against.

How long have you had her? Do you know if she drops weight over summer? Knowing the quality of hay in NZ and the fact she doesn't always finish her hay, I think she's probably feeling quite happy in her food. A splash (1 cup or so) of Sunflower oil would be a nice addition at this time of year (& carried throughout summer) to give her a very shiney & soft coat. My gelding gets about 2 cups, and he's looking fabulous - but he lives in dirt & loves rolling, so he's never clean & shiny, just soft and patches of shiny!

'old' at 14? you're so funny! I wouldn't call that old, particularly for a smaller equine.

Best of luck with your season of eventing. I'm lookign forward to others advice here. :)

I've had her just over 4 years, and she usually gains weight over summer, and fills out across her flanks etc. I may do the oil, but her coat usually goes brilliant by itself, she's just shedding at the moment, so looks like a mothball!
No, she's 14 hands, not 14 years, she's between 25-30 years :D and she's still eventing!

[entreat]

!! OH! my bad!! well done to her for having teeth at that age!! my retired pony is 30-35yo & has *no* teeth - front or back!! He was a neglect case, though & was kept on sand (with almost no grazing) until he nearly died. He's only retired because I moved to Kalgoorlie and it wasn't fair to move him across the country to a yucky environment with no grass. He loves being ridden, but he's happy in the paddock.

Well - you are in NZ... she probably doesn't need any hard feeding at all unless she's in work. I start dribbling when I see the green grass there. If I told my horse, he'd kick me in the teeth for not shipping him there!

[ClaireBear_nz]

!! OH! my bad!! well done to her for having teeth at that age!! my retired pony is 30-35yo & has *no* teeth - front or back!! He was a neglect case, though & was kept on sand (with almost no grazing) until he nearly died. He's only retired because I moved to Kalgoorlie and it wasn't fair to move him across the country to a yucky environment with no grass. He loves being ridden, but he's happy in the paddock.

Well - you are in NZ... she probably doesn't need any hard feeding at all unless she's in work. I start dribbling when I see the green grass there. If I told my horse, he'd kick me in the teeth for not shipping him there!

She's not doing too badly. We'd told the vet she didn't have many teeth, he looked in her mouth and said "well you weren't kidding". He also said she had a very very strong heartbeat :D He also had thought she was a gelding and had actually written it on her vet card....:rolleyes: I don't think he'd looked. He also referred to her as a "freak of nature" :D :D

Shes in *relatively* hard work, and yes our grass is brilliant, it's started growing again, every spring we end up trying to school in knee deep long green grass :rolleyes:

[entreat]

ahh yes, I remember trying to ride my ASH in melbourne through grass that was up to my knees - when I was on him!! He was a total chicken about it too, so made life alittle difficult.

Riding in Kal has it's troubles... no long (or any) grass to contend with, but two weeks ago, a horse I was riding stopped & dropped to roll in the dust!!! LMAO!

[jovi_y2k2]

yes i would definitely split it, horses need to eat little and often and can only really manage about 2-2.5Kg of concentrate in one go