How fat do you like your babies and why? I have a yearling who will finish around 17hh, and he’s already horse size. I’ve been told to in the past to keep babies on the lean side unless you’re trying to show them (I’m not). He gets lots of good quality grass hay, a little alfalfa and a little Triple Crown Low Starch. He recently grew about 2 inches of neck and got a little ribby so I was going to up his grain and maybe throw in some sunflower seed. Other thoughts or suggestions?
I never “feed up” my young ones when they look ribby. The ribby look usually comes after a growth spurt and the last thing I want to do is dump a bunch of calories in and get them chubby.
Totally agree with keeping youngsters on the lean side.
No opinion on whether you add in BOSS or any other supplements, but I, personally, wouldn’t increase grain knowing that he just came out of a growth spurt.
2 Likes
I agree with ribby being a growth spurt and not feeding them out of it. Problems can come from over feeding them and being overweight, and far fewer if they are lean,
If he’s going to be that big, don’t push growth. My 8 year old is about 16.3 and basically only got hay through 4 even though she kept weight on like she was in show condition and was perfectly balanced in her growth the whole time. Her 10 year old sister looked like a ribby, butt high yak/ostrich in the same conditions. Both are beautiful and super sound now. All horses grow they way they need to grow.
Be able to see the last few ribs. I don’t even mind a few more visible, as long as that is due to lower calories and not just reduced nutrition. It’s usually pretty easy to tell the difference between an under-nourished lean youngster, and one who is lean but well-nourished. The topline tells a bit story there.
As a yearling, I would have him on TC Sr, not the Low Starch. It’s much better formulated for this fast growing period of his life.
How much of the LS does he get?
About 1/2lb a day of the low starch. It’s what his dam was eating and I’d been mixing it with Calf Manna in his creep feeder. I left off the Calf Manna (mostly because it stinks) and left him on the TCLS because his mamma was such a pudge and I don’t want that for him. She has some symptoms of being insulin resistant. Not a place I want to go with this young man so I don’t want to introduce anything with molasses or higher sugar content. I’ve mostly been feeding grain at all to keep up on his domestication. It’s only recently that his body condition has changed. Still has a nice neck and topline, just showing ribs higher up than he had been.
You can still feed low/lower NSC, and high nutrition. Triple Crown 30 is 9.8% NSC. Molasses is not the devil. TC Sr has molasses, and is only 11.7% NSC. It all depends on where it is in the ingredient list, and just how much there is.
We can’t escape the nutrient requirement needs for developing a healthy young horse. Some of the areas of growth/strength/integrity can’t be made up later. You have to feed them while they’re growing.
Since you’re feeding so little of the LS (nutrition is insignificant in 1/2lb), I would put him on the TC 30 balancer.
That’s what I’ve been looking for! Not sure if TC was doing some rebranding or if I just did a stupid and missed it but I SWEAR that the ration balancer wasn’t on the website when I was looking for it 6 months ago. I’ll switch him to that. I worry about him getting enough minerals, the right kind of fats etc. I don’t want to overload his frame, but I do want it to grow correctly. I’ll pick some up tomorrow. Thanks!
LOL the balancer has been on there for a long time 
I think you will like it (or whatever balancer you end up with, there are lots of good ones). You’ll want to feed 2-3lb, depending on his expected mature weight.
I’d look at adding fats not grains if you are concerned about his rib appearance. Even adding 1 tablespoon of coconut oil on his grain can make a large difference, or a small amount of flax seeds or flax oil (though I am not too experienced with flax oil). Of course if you have the ability to ask your vet what his/her opinion is it would be better than us internet dwellers who have never seen your horse.
