Feeding help?

MsMac

Hi, my pony is coming into a stable for the winter and I have to organise how much food he'll be getting.
Only issue is, I have no idea how much I should feed him!
He's 14.1hh and slightly overweight(thanks to too much access to grass over the summer). We'll be competing regularly and riding 1 - 1:30 hours a day, with one day off a week.
He'll be fed twice a day (morning and evening), so I just want to know how much he should be fed in one meal, not overall.
Thanks!

fits

If he's fat, he doesn't need concentrate until he loses a bit of weight.

Hay plus if you're worried about supplements,, some balancer and he should be fine.

Kevhog1988

Plenty of hay and a scoop of cool & easy or similar once he loses a bit of weight would be ideal. If you are going to be giving him plenty of work i would up the feed once he gets fit. My ponys were always fed as much hay as they could eat and then a big bucket with a mixture of hard feed and soaked beet every evening (they were always ridden hard most days of the week).. If he is excitable stay away from oats etc.

MsMac

theemigrant wrote: »

Plenty of hay and a scoop of cool & easy or similar once he loses a bit of weight would be ideal. If you are going to be giving him plenty of work i would up the feed once he gets fit. My ponys were always fed as much hay as they could eat and then a big bucket with a mixture of hard feed and soaked beet every evening (they were always ridden hard most days of the week).. If he is excitable stay away from oats etc.

Great thanks How much would you suggest I feed him once he's the perfect weight? I know I said slightly overweight, but it's nothing he couldn't lose in two weeks of hard work and lessened feed (He's only a little pudgy thanks to wearing a grazing muzzle for the last month and being given plenty of work).
Also, how much oats would you suggest he gets, as he's not very excitable but he's not overly lazy. He can just be a little unwilling to get going, but once he does he's a flyer

convert

These websites may be of use to you when calculating how much feed you think your horse should get:

http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/feedingexplained/calculator.htm

http://www.spillers-feeds.com/feeding-guide/

Redmills also have an option where you can contact a nutritionist with your specific query:

http://www.redmills.ie/ie/horse/advice/ask-our-nutritionist/

fits

While I agree those tools are useful, they are created and hosted by feed companies whose ultimate objective is to sell more feed. I don't believe every horse needs feeding, certainly not if they are fat, in otherwise good health, not being worked excessively (most riding horses aren't) and have good access to forage.

Ave Sodalis

OP, if you're going to be very strict, I'll go looking for the specifics of a maintenance diet. However, access to a good quality forage should suffice. If they're losing condition, try half a scoop of feed and increase depending on that.

MsMac

Thanks everybody for all your help. I emailed the Redmills nutritionist and also got onto one of my friends who is related to an equine nutritionist, so I'm just going to wait for a reply from either of them.

I appreciate all the advice given to me and I will carefully consider it all, but I feel that my horse just getting a pile of hay will not be enough due to the tough show season and intense 1 - 2hr training sessions ahead of us, so I think I would feel best about him getting hard feed during this period. This is also considering how my horse is only slightly overweight, and in no way near obese, so his condition is rapidly improving.

I'll post an update when I have settled on a decision or if any more questions arise. Thanks once more for all your help

lyoness

I feed top spec lite balancer, 1/2 scoop soaked sugar beet & haylage to my good doer. I really recommend the balancer all the protein they need without the starch of cereal based feeds.

I would look for low starch high protein feeds.

MsMac

As promised, here is an update. The Red Mills nutritionist got back she suggests 1.5 - 2 round bowls of 'Cool 'n' Cooked' mix a day, depending on the amount of forage he's given as this will give him the required energy for competition but is an oat free diet so will not overexcite him