What to feed?... confusion

[Harriet]

Help,
I am suffering from feed information overload..
This is my first horse and my first winter and I need to know what to feed. He is 15.1hh PBA. He has no trouble keeping weight on, in fact quite the opposite. At the moment he is out at grass full time and as he is being worked although lightly its about 4 times a week. I feed him high fibre/low energy cubes plus carrots & apples. He will be going on to Haylidge in the winter which contains molasses. I do not want to over complicate his diet with unecessary supplements, basically I would like to keep it high fibre/low heat but I am worried about vitimins etc., what is the opinion on feed balancers or how else should I change his diet for winter?
Thanks for any help.
Harriet

 

[Sarah]

Feed balancers

hello!

I used to think 'pah, what a waste of money' when my friends started using these. As my horse is a Welsh cob, I thought i had no need of them. After taking her down to Heather's this summer, who pointed out that topline was somewhat lacking, i put her on Equilibra.

I am totally amazed with the results! i now have a horse with a beefy back, and no big fat belly. I would highly recommend it as a feedstuff, it contains all the vitamins and stuff that your horse will need. You will probably find that feeding Equilibra with chaff will be all you horse needs if he is not old.

You may find that your horse could get a bit whizzy on haylidge with molasses, Tango certainly can't cope with it at all. the molasses will give him energy so, if hdoesn't turn into a silly horse on it, he may well be fine without the nuts if you give him Equilibra.

Are you going to clip him at all? If he is clipped, he will get colder so may need more haylidge or hay than you initially thought.

the main thing with feeding a horse is to try to make the bulk of the diet forage - grass, hay, haylidge and only top this up with hard feed when necessary, with vitamins and minerals.

I hope that has helped.

bye!

 

[Maria]

If your horse is a good-doer then why not try haylage and a high fibre feed such as Hi Fi Lite, Fibergy, Happy Hoof. If you're feeding under the recommended amount of the fibre product then use a feed balancer. I use Happy Hoof + Bailey's Lo Cal at the moment.

 

[Sharon H]

I agree with Sarah.