My horse is currently on the following hay and grain schedule, and no matter what, he still seems to have a few ribs showing. He gets exercised 5 days a week for 1-1.5 hours a day, along with being turned out into a gravel paddock and grass paddock.
Morning:
2 Flakes of Timothy
Afternoon:
1.5 Flakes of Alfalfa
Evening:
2 Flakes of Timothy
Evening Grain consists of:
1 lb of Special Blend Haystack
1 Heaping Tablespoon of Salt
1 Heaping Tablespoon of Bio-Mos Digestive Supplement
3/4 lb of Beet Pulp
1lb of Powdered Rice Bran
1/4 lb of Purina Supersport Supplement
1/2 lb of Purina Outlast Supplement
1 Heaping Scoop of Platinum Performance
In addition, at shows, he gets an additional 1lb of alfalfa pellets, and senior grain (high in molasses).
First, everybody is going to jump in and ask you to define your “flakes.” :lol: I.e. what do the weigh?
Second, on the same vein, is the weight on the beetpulp and rice bran wet or dry.
Right now, I would say to increase your hay.
Haystack is essentially a hay stretcher with fat added. Beetpulp is extra fiber. I feed soaked beetpulp when I travel to shows to help with hydration, but I don’t feed it at home.
I have all OTTBs and I live in the PNW where Haystack and Purina are common.
I feed as much Timothy as they can eat. They get alfalfa at breakfast and dinner.
At breakfast they get a mixture of haystack and rice bran.
At dinner they get Purina Ultium because it is high fat/high protein/high calorie, rice bran, and some oats (this isn’t random, I’m a grad student working on equine nutrition, I do actually have a formula, I swear
What is the total weight of that forage? I’m assuming his turnout is minimal grass, so won’t count toward calories. How much does this horse weigh, roughly? Or, how tall is he, and what size blanket and girth does he wear?
If we assume the alf is 5lb/flake, and the timothy 4, that’s 16lb Timothy and 7.5lb alf for a total of 23.5lb hay. Not bad if he’s supposed to weigh 1000lb or so, but I bet a “large equitation WB” weighs more like 1300+, so he should really be getting more hay. I assume it’s a boarding barn without much control over hay, so let’s at least figure out what all his hay weighs to start.
Evening Grain consists of:
1 lb of Special Blend Haystack
1 Heaping Tablespoon of Salt
1 Heaping Tablespoon of Bio-Mos Digestive Supplement
3/4 lb of Beet Pulp
1lb of Powdered Rice Bran
1/4 lb of Purina Supersport Supplement
1/2 lb of Purina Outlast Supplement
1 Heaping Scoop of Platinum Performance
In addition, at shows, he gets an additional 1lb of alfalfa pellets, and senior grain (high in molasses).
Any Ideas???
Why such a hodge-podge of things that aren’t all that fortified, and in such small amounts?
I’d guess this “grain” is barely 3000 calories.
In other words- you’re feeding a harder keeper as if he’s an air fern.
Where are you? You need a good quality fortified feed, fed at, most likely, at least 5lb/day, if not more like 3-4lb at each of 2 feedings.
Then you’d drop the PP and the Supersport, probably the Bio-Mos too, and I’d drop the beet pulp as well, at least to start.
Good to know. Just know that a basic blood panel does very little to point out a variety of nutritional deficiencies.
For example, given his low grass intake, he likely is, or will be, low in Vit E, and that isn’t a test done on are regular CBC, you have to ask for that specifically. But at least we know he’s likely not sick
I was going to say, first, increase hay. You can then look at increasing concentrates. I would drop the beetpulp and add a second meal. I would add fat in the form or oil and/or flax.
You can pay a nutritionist to do a ration balance for you. I highly doubt you need all those supplements.
Feed an appropriate weight of complete product, example Brooks Omega O, roughly 10 lb per day (possibly more) divided into two feeds. Provide timothy free choice and alfalfa two “flakes” twice per day. This will likely cost less than your current plan, and will provide the nutrients and calories your horse needs. In this level of work, your are not providing nearly enough quality food.
PP would provide good vitamins and minerals but you are only feeding 1/2 the amount they recommend.
He might just need senior + alfalfa plus maybe a couple of the supplements all the time. You can get a good senior grain that is not too high NSC even if if does contain molasses. Adding hay would be better but a grain free senior, alfalfa pellets and maybe some beet pulp would provide the benefits of forage plus fortification if you can’t add hay or he won’t eat more than he is getting.
Looks like the bulk of calories and forage options are at the PM feeding, along with a bunch of different supplements. What concerns me is not enough hay during the day and not enough calories fed until PM. A large hard keeping horse working 1-1.5 hr/day is a lot. If it were me, I would be looking at 3 grain feedings per day of a high quality, high fat grain, and I would add a lunch hay feeding.
In addition to more hay (as everyone has recommended), you might also consider increasing how much of that is alfalfa. If you’re at a boarding barn, and can’t just throw more flakes, you can add cubes/pellets, instead. Alfalfa cubes fit well into a carrot roller/grazer (the green phallic-looking thingy), which has the added benefit of keeping them entertained for a while.
First and foremost…good quality free choice hay should be the foundation of his diet …turnout with good grass is also very important…,that aside …my go to feed for hard keepers are few different options …Tribute Kalm Ultra, or Fibergized Omega …another good option would be a combo of a ration balancer and fat source and fiber source such as Buckeye Gro N Win, Ultimate Finish and speedibeet…,then lastly a good digestion/ulcer supplement such as Succeed or Equine Elixirs Ulceeraser
