My husband and I are going to be purchasing a just-turned-2 year old paint stud next week. He’s a big boy, probably 15 hands already. I’ve never fed a young horse before and need some opinions. I was thinking Triple Crown Training, 4lbs a day, and alfalfa cubes, 2 lbs a day. He has 40 acres to graze all day and will have a round bale of brome most of the time. Any and all opinions are welcome!
Triple Crown Sr or Growth. No 2yo needs the sugars in the Training formula.
Feed according to the directions for his age and expected mature weight. You can increase quite a bit from there as those are good feeds. If he still needs significant calories (and he likely won’t) then start adding alf cubes or pellets
I’m thinking that with 40 acres of pasture you may find that you only need to feed a ration balancer. Four pounds of feed a day sounds like too much for a 2 yo stock horse. A ration balancer combined with a proper deworming program is probably all you need. I would strongly advise against overdoing the grain.
4lb of a quality feed isn’t all that much for a 15h 2yo, considering a RB would be fed at probably 2lb minimally. If the minimally recommended amount makes him too heavy (and at 2, he needs to be lean), then definitely drop to the TC 30 ration balancer.
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My husband and I are going to be purchasing a just-turned-2 year old paint stud next week. He’s a big boy, probably 15 hands already. I’ve never fed a young horse before and need some opinions. I was thinking Triple Crown Training, 4lbs a day, and alfalfa cubes, 2 lbs a day. He has 40 acres to graze all day and will have a round bale of brome most of the time. Any and all opinions are welcome![/QUOTE]
I really hesitated to post on this topic; to the point where I “made” myself wait several days. But in light of what I see out there in the world weekly, there is something I feel must be said:
I sincerely hope that this young horse is going to be gelded–soon. If you are at a beginner’s level of knowledge where you must ask random people on the Internet for feeding advice (as opposed to your own experience, with advice from your vet or trainer), you are not anywhere close to qualified to be raising, let alone standing, a breeding stallion.
“Paints,” most of which resemble poorly built quarterhorses wearing cow suits, are going to Canada for meat by the semi-load every day of the week, from every auction in America. No matter how “well-bred” or sporting “good color,” let alone the poor unfortunate “breeding stock” who pop out plain bay or chestnut, lacking the spiffy colors “color breeders” desire. This is a plain fact you can check all over the Internet.
If your idea is to turn this guy out in that “40-acre field” and eventually throw some mares in with him for live cover, be aware that you are on the road to a financial and humane trainwreck that is not justifiable by ANY metric of the current equine market.
A two-year old colt needs to be gelded. He also needs DAILY handling, socializing, grooming, training, things to do to keep his mind developing and occupied. He needs to learn to defer to human handlers, to respect other horses, to stand for vet, farrier, blanketing, and eventually tacking up and riding.
If you are NOT prepared to do these things, EVERY DAY, with a clear goal for him in mind, PLEASE move him on before he is a dangerous handling problem bound for a sad end. The past month has seen an ENORMOUS number of young, unhandled, not even halter-broke stallions run through the New Holland and Cranbury sales on the East Coast, unwanted and not even bid upon. They are most likely to wind up as food for big cats at zoos.
Please do not let your guy become one of those.
We do not need more babies on the ground, especially of indifferent quality.
You will not make money as a “breeder.” The “tax write-off” is not worth it.
I hope I am barking up the wrong tree here, sincerely. But unfortunately, the OP sounds like too many cases of “good intentions” combined with ignorance, the penultimate results of which are very sad and oh-so avoidable.
Please geld your young stallion, and HANDLE him. For his own good and yours!
What is his current body score?
I agree that unless his pedigree is superior and he has outstanding breeding potential, maybe consider gelding him.
Lady E, I agree with you. stallion ownership is a huge responsibility. It can be a full time awareness job even for those with many years experience. If he has no especially rewarding characteristics, such as outstanding performance breeding, excellent conformation, and great temperament, geld him.
