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Feed suggestion for an easy keeper who needs more energy when ridden

Horse Care
#1

I have an easy keeper horse who is doing really well - he came to me quite fat and we have trimmed him down and working quite well. However, I have no clue how to feed a natural fatty who needs just a LITTLE more kick than what he is getting on the E-tec Balancer he is on.

The barn only feeds Poulin and Cavalor (welcome to New England) but will feed something else if I buy it. I don’t really like any of the Poulin feeds, and the balancer compared to even the Triple Crown I used to feed isn’t as good - but I wasn’t really willing to pay for the incremental difference to go up to Triple Crown for a balancer. His coat quality could be better than it is currently.

My trainer feeds Cavalor, but I am seeing a lot of their feeds as oat based, and I was always told not to feed easy keepers oats. She suggested FiberForce but I worry about being able to meet his nutritional requirements without making him fat. Carbs are a concern since he is a pretty natural fatty.

He is a dressage horse, 15.2, wb x, and currently weighs about 1150. He gets basically free choice hay that is of middling quality. It’s not bad but it’s not the world’s greatest hay. He works for about an hour, 6 days a week.

Other brands I can get locally:
Blue Seal
Nutrena
Purina
Triple Crown
Progressive Nutrition
ProElite
Tribute (by special order)
Hallway

Things I wish I could get but cannot get:
Southern States/Legends
Seminole
Kent
Pennfield (whatever Pennfield became - can’t get it)

#2

If he’s getting the full recommended amount of a ration balancer, you could try adding a cup or two of a higher energy grain to each feeding to see if it gives him a bit of a boost. The ration balancer would cover any potential nutritional shortfall.

Also, could you try putting his hay in a slow feed net? Free choice hay (of any quality) and easy keeper horses can sometimes be a bad combination.

#3

As a person who has had two metabolic horses (one is still alive) and having two close friends who had horses with metabolic issues:

metabolic issues can, indeed, zap a horse’s energy. They often start out with their normal level but soon reach the point of hitting a brick wall and they just can’t perform.

the fact this horse came to you obese and can’t lose all the extra weight, is a good indicator it is dealing with metabolic issues.

The key with feed is:

  • low NSC (non-structural carbohydrates).
  • very low added iron or no added iron.
  • soy-free if possible; soy is the protein source in the majority of feeds and ration balancers.

this means you need to carefully read what’s on the feed bag.

the horse needs a grazing muzzle for the time it is on pasture. Hopefully it’s not low in the pecking order as the stress of not feeling it can defend itself will only add to the increase of insulin. I had to separate my IR horse.

If the horse can be drylotted, it won’t need a muzzle, just several slow feed hay bags in several places to make her move.

dont feed legume forage. Grass hay only and weigh it. A horse needs 2% (two percent) of its body weight in forage every day. Feed the hay in slow feed nets.

in short, you aren’t going to feed the horse anything healthy to provide more energy without first getting the weight off and revamping the entire diet to accommodate a horse with metabolic issues:)

3 Likes
#4

What were your hay test results? Did you actually test it, or are you just eyeballing it and drawing a conclusion over how it looks?

If the difference is only incremental, why not feed the Triple Crown? You need to break the cost down into a per day amount, so 50 lbs/cost will give you cost per pound, then # pounds per day x cost per pound.

It doesn’t sound like you are willing to feed your horse quality feed, yet you are complaining about his coat quality. Garbage in, garbage out. I’m not calling your feed program garbage, but you can only expect to get out of it what you put into it.

If you are meeting your horse’s nutritional needs and he still lacks energy, you may want to check with your vet about getting his thyroid level tested, and depending on the results whether or not a thyroid medication would be appropriate in helping to manage his weight and address his energy levels.

1 Like
#5

I don’t know that you can feed any horse anything healthy to give them “extra energy while riding.”

I agree that I would check into metabolic issues. I have a friend who had an adrenal gland tumor (pseudo-Cushings) removed this year. Her #1 complaint was lack of energy, and she is still dealing with it almost 1 year post-surgery. Despite all of the other problems that the metabolic condition caused her (major weight gain, joint problems, body pain), lack of energy has been one of the worst, and seems to be the last thing to go away. She still has to nap every day and she cannot exercise much even though she has lost 50lbs.

It was really interesting to compare her details with my Cushings pony - luckily she is a good friend so she was not offended by this conversation. But it gave me a lot of insight as to what my pony probably has lived with for most of his life.

#6

I am not going to pay $60 more a month on top of $700 in board for a ration balancer that is 5% better than another one. As everyone on here always says, the ration balancers are basically all the same and all “fine.” There was no reason to seek out another one.

Poulin is what the barn feeds, so if you want anything other than Poulin or Cavalor, it is at your expense. I’m willing to buy whatever will work for him.

I’m not sure how you seemed to miss that we were taking weight OFF this horse for the past three months and now his weight is at a healthy weight. We were deliberately not meeting his calorie needs because he was 200 pounds overweight. Now he is not 200 pounds overweight, and he can have more, in which case, overfeeding him a ration balancer will do absolutely zero to address that. He already gets as much hay as he wants.

I am asking for a grain that is one step better than a ration balancer in terms of calories, and of better quality than Poulin, which I think is crap, personally. If the answer is Triple Crown Lite, then I will get him that. If the answer is Cavalor FiberForce, then he can have that included in my board.

Man, some people on this board are bitches for absolutely no reason. Also, since I’m such a horrid owner - he has had recent blood work done and no, he does not have some thyroid problem or cushings or metabolic disorder. He is 7 years old, naturally lazy, being asked to do much harder work than I’m sure he was bred for.

2 Likes
#7

I struggle with the same thing with my Haflinger driving pony. He needs more of “something” so he has the energy to work as hard as he needs to to be fit to do his job (CDE). He gets grass in the summer, and a mix of Nutrena Fuel and their Balance ration balancer at a 2:1 ratio. Right now he’s not getting hay because he’s on grass.

People have recommended TC ration balancer instead but the one main difference from the Nutrena is that it has iron, whereas the Nutrena feeds don’t have any. So he’s getting a glug of everyone’s favorite supplement for the last 40 years- Red Cell. Fortunately he eats it I just started this last week so hard to tell if it’s working yet. But the ration balancer even without the iron did help some. Vitamin E also helps with stamina.

I’d add the TC ration balancer to start with. And have to agree that my limited experience with Poulin feeds is that they are cheaper and the horses don’t like it.

#8

Whoa! Easy Soloudinhere. You state you are feeding middle of the road hay and do not want to pay extra for special grain. Here is the rub, you are probably going to have to pay extra. My mare gets a RB and a mix of alfalfa and orchard grass pellets for her grain. She also gets good quality hay. The barn I am at now has Nutrena products. I tried her on that RB. She is now back on TC 30% and I am paying extra. She didn’t look bad per se but she could have looked better. I switched her back to TC and that 5% does make a difference.

I had an airfern prior to this mare. What did a world of good for her was a good Vit/Min supplement with orchard grass pellets along with free choice hay. I never got my hay tested as we didn’t by enough at one time to warrant it. Storage issues. The Vit/Min supplement was chosen off of blood work results.

3 Likes
#9

Are you sure it’s a feeding issue and not a training issue? I’m sorry if I missed it, but when you say he needs more energy, how do you know it’s nutrition and not f you I think I’m done working for the day?

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#10

Assuming you are not being sarcastic here - he’s 7 years old, naturally lazy, and being asked to work harder than he was bred for…I’m not sure you can change him that much.

But if he came to you fat, and can now work for an hour/day x 6 days a week…what exactly is he not going that you want him to do? Because your post title said “who needs more energy when ridden.” I agree that it could be a training issue but it could just be that he’s not fit enough yet. As a human athlete, I know that it takes a long time to build up stamina and endurance. Over what period of time has he lost weight?

I used to feed TC Lite to my easy keepers and had no issues with it as a feed, but did find that one of my horses seem to have mild choking issues when on it - but if soaked, the other one had trouble choking. Maybe they both just ate it too fast but I just felt it was either too dry or too dense for them so I switched. I feed the fat ones Nutrena Safe Choice Special Care now instead.

1 Like
#11

  1. You should have said he had blood work done and it would not have been brought up.

  2. People WERE trying to you help you based on what you WROTE.

It it doesn’t sound as if you want honest help — you merely want your ears tickled.

best wishes getting your problems figured out ---- it sounds as if more than one issue exists--------

3 Likes
#12

Do you have access to a Tractor Supply? If so, you may want to check out Renew Gold: http://www.renewgold.com/renew-equine

I feed this to my easy keepers – they are fit not fat, their coats and feet look great, they have plenty of energy (perky but not hot). The nutritionist who designed this (who has also created feeds and supplements for other companies) has been very helpful about answering questions, analyzing diets, and making specific recommendations. I can supply his contact info if desired.

RG is around $30/30# bag at TSC (may be more at independent feed stores).

#13

From the original post - “However, I have no clue how to feed a natural fatty who needs just a LITTLE more kick than what he is getting on the E-tec Balancer he is on.” How much more is a LITTLE? 5%?? It’s not easy to make suggestions when you are vague, don’t seem to know what kind/quality of hay your horse is eating, and don’t handle suggestions well when you get them. Plus you contradict yourself. And if you take every suggestion as a personal insult, you are really going to have a hard time.

What exactly are you feeding now? Are you feeding to maintain the current weight? You use the past tense when talking about your feed program - “We were deliberately not meeting his calorie needs,” so did you make changes? When you make diet changes, it may take time to see results, especially if he was being underfed to get his weight down and has just been brought back up to more normal rations.

2 Likes
#14

If you are worried about his coat, add a cup of flax.

Laziness is a training issue usually. Don’t nag with your leg but enforce with the whip and anything will sharpen up pretty quick. I hate a dull horse but I have never found a feed that will make one sharper. Give em straight corn and they will just get strong and dull unless you fix the dullness itself. Good luck!

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#15

I agree laziness is a training issue. Feed them more and they don’t go faster, they buck instead.

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#16

I don’t think that lazy is necessarily a training issue- it’s what you do with the lazy. I was following this thread with interest as we have a very mild mannered (lazy) pony who is a super easy keeper, as well. He moves off the leg- he is just naturally a laid back guy ANY kid can get on and he’s safe.if I hear one more time “what do You use to prep him” I’ll scream. (Answer-nothing- as little warm up as possible, no lunging and god forbid he’s turned out the night before a show).

3 Likes
#17

This, my air fern mare was a beast to get moving. Once she understood you no kidding want forward it was fine.

#18

Blue seal Dynasty XT pro is 15.5 nsc and very similar to TC senior. You could add some of that to the RB. I feed a small amount of XT and vita plus supplement from Farnam to my air ferns.

#19

This is a way over the top response. Any time you ask a feed question on this board, it is never met with a quick answer or recommendation. I agree sometimes people need to just answer the question or scroll on by without assuming every person on the planet tests their hay, because they don’t. OTOH, people are trying to help and this response is very off-putting. Hope you find your answers.

1 Like
#20

When someone attests to the quality of their hay, maybe you think they had it tested.

“He gets basically free choice hay that is of middling quality. It’s not bad but it’s not the world’s greatest hay.”

Hence the question - did you test? No assumption there, it’s a completely valid question based on the OP’s statement.

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