I have a 14.hh pony light/medium build stabled at night and in sand arena during the day wears a 300g winter rug she is on a horse walker 3 times a week and ridden at weekends however her work load will be increasing in the next few weeks.
she is fed 2 hay nets and 1/2 a scoop hard feed in the morning and the same at night. she is on 1 scoop a day of calmer horse mix feed that is nutritious muesli which is non heating and oat free. she is a very fast, strong and hot headed pony so needs a feed to keep her head cool. however she loses weight during the winter and i find it really hard to keep weight on her.she is fine during the summer but as soon as the weather turns really cold and she is brought in off grass her weight drops.
she weighs around 475pounds. dose any one have a guide line or a good mix of feed i can give her to keep weigh on her? i was thinking of maybe Alfa-A Oil and barley?? any help?
thanks:)
She's being fed plenty - my friends arab (really light bone and coat) eats 2 haynets a day - and has 3 scoops of meal twice a day the meal consists of;
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
1 scoop beet pulp
1 scoop horse and pony nuts
1 scoop cool and easy
with linseed oil & molasses added.
she has a really heavy outdoor rug & neck cover and when it's really cold she has a heavy stable rug under it as she's clipped and she's schooled, shown or hunted 6 days a week and is perfectly kept on weight fed that.
Constant good quality hay. (Keep doing what you're doing, just keep hay in front of her at all times.)
BTW: have you thought about a magnesium supplement ... helped my spooky and nervous mare a lot.
Nothing wrong with turning out in the winter: just with hay to eat instead of grass. Keeps the extra energy crazies away.
Mixing in a carbohydrate (grain, oats, barley) will help. It will help her get more energy out of her feed and keep weight.
Increase her hay, a good quality grass hay and add a legume such as alfalfa. As for feed, you can put her on one of the low carb/high fat feeds that are now readily available - at least they are in the US and probably are there in the UK as well, I'd assume. Alternatively you can continue on with the feed she's on, as long as it's low in NSCs and then add rice bran, flaxseed, or coco soya (or any of the other oils) as a calorie-dense, "cool" source for her. Oats are not a particularly good idea in your case, IMO. What's happening is she's burning up a lot of her calories maintaining her body temp. Always start with forage increase, then increase the hard feed and add oil, which she may well need as her work load increases. Other good sources of cool calories include beat pulp and alfalfa or T & A cubes (all of the aforementioned soaked before hand). With the hay cubes, horses absolutely love them and can consume a lot of calories in a fairly short time. That's my favourite for hard-keepers. Everyone has their own methods, but these seem to be the safest and most effective in my experience. It's tricky with a hot pony, as you also don't want to trigger a laminitis, but need the calories to maintain weight. Most ponies I see are so fat, look like the Thelwell ponies!
Unlimited hay if possible especially if she's not grazing in a pasture as horses are grazing animals. This will keep her full and warm allowing the hard feed to turn into fat.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Add BOILED barley to her diet. It doesn't heat many horses up and it is very high in fat. A scoop of this added to your calmer horse mix feed morning and night will do wonders. Boiled oats are actually high in fat too but if your horse gets heated up on oats then she will be best with the barley. Also, add a few handfuls of chaff to her hard feed for more bulk. Like the hay, it helps the hard feed to turn into fat.
Agree with you on your oil idea too. Add the oil. It's good for putting on weight and also gives them a ncie shiny coat:)
The barley is a heating food and will give her more energy and make her more " hot headed ". As are oats and maize. I just think you need to increase her hard feed. Try mollichaff calmer, it has cammomile and lemon balm to make horses feel calmer and you can feed her as much as she needs without making her more excitable. Also has magnesium and high fibre nuts. Try giving her a scoop for dinner and a scoop for breakfast see how she goes. You could also try giving her haylage, made our lot put on weight last winter. You can get it bags or small cubes better if only feeding 1 horse as it has to be used within 7 to 10 days of opening. She doesn't need a 300g rug on the milder days, get a middle weight rug for mild days and double rug her when the temp is minus at night. Could you put hay in the paddock for her, unless there's too many other horses out there to cause fighting.
If you can, I'd start with providing her good quality grass mix hay 24/7. Among many other benefits, feeding hay 24/7 allows for continual fermentation in the hind gut which generates heat like an internal furnace, which significantly reduces energy waste associated with trying to keep warm in cold weather.
