Getting supps in with smallest possible feed!

tasha

tasha

i'd rather be riding.
Jul 10, 2001
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Petersfield, Hants., UK
After Poohsmate's comment at the weekend that Kal is starting to look portly, I have decided that perhaps it is time to cut her feeds down. Unfortunately she is already on very little so I dont know how to make it smaller!!

She gets:
200g Fast Fibre
Handful Alfalfa chaff
Oil

Once a day. She's out 24/7 currently on restricted grazing. I was thinking of just feeding when I ride/exercise her - 4-5 times a week. The thing is, at 21 I want her to have joint supps and vitamins (she currently gets these via Fast Fibre) so cant cut feed down to next to nothing as I'd have to fit a powder in somewhere!

Any ideas? Cheap as possible also as I have tight budget restraints!
 
Ours is 19,semi retired, a good doer, out 24/7 on rotated grazing, she gets her vits through happyhoof and has a seperate joint suppliment, she get a lunge or walk out every day, ridden a couple of times a week and is looking great, we have gone to great lengths this year to ensure no overweight ponies, shes 13.3hh and weights 380kg now was 412 coming out of winter (mainly thanks to the Haylage and was on hi-fi and balancer) and looking a tad overweight, since we have changed her diet she has lost the excess weight and maintained it as have our other two.
 
you could change to a lower energy value chaff - ie happy hoof or safe n sound as alfalfa chaff will be higher protein...
does she really need the oil? it's quite high energy....
other than that maybe look into different speedi-beet types feeds - you may find one is lower enregy than Fast Fibre....
good luck! i've had a similar problem and moved to equibites for my mare - but those would not suit your situation if you need to feed a joint suppliment
 
My 2 are on the lowest energy Dengie chaff, Good Doer, which they prefer to Hi Fi Lite :D

This is so low cal that I don't have to worry about how much of it they get.

At present I mix this with Bailey's Lo Cal and dampen with water because Joy prefers it damp. I swapped from Naf Pink Powder to Lo Cal as it is more pallaetable. Having said that when I was feeding the Pink Powder it was with Hi Fi Lite.

Just to give an indication of palletability my 2 actually ate their bucket feeds even though I was moving the fence out to give them more juicy grass to eat :eek:
 
just googled them..

posie said:
my fatty wont eat it :rolleyes: in fact she wont eat anything with suppliments in at the mo (winters fine when she's more hungry ;))
equibites are fab - she loves them and i'm happy she's getting vits and mins and hardly any calories :D
Click to expand...

they look a good idea :)
how many do you have to feed in a day, and how long does it take to get through a tub? :eek:
 
Thanks all!

Kal's not a big fan of plain chaff but she may tolerate Happy Hoof, will borrow some from a friend to check.

The oil makes a huge difference to her joints - she clicks without it. Feeding twice a day isn't an option either.
 
tasha said:
Thanks all!

Kal's not a big fan of plain chaff but she may tolerate Happy Hoof, will borrow some from a friend to check.

The oil makes a huge difference to her joints - she clicks without it. Feeding twice a day isn't an option either.
Click to expand...

Ours wolfed it, it has mint and garlic in it so guess the taste/smell is inviting.
 
beki x-x said:
they look a good idea :)
how many do you have to feed in a day, and how long does it take to get through a tub? :eek:
Click to expand...

they recommend 1 bite per 50kgs of horse - so honey gets 11 a day - she loves then :D
a tub is approx £7 and is 3kgs.... no idea how long it will last as it's only my first tub :eek: but i imagin 3 weeks if not more :cool:
 
we had some horses that were basically on grass and some hay over the summer. but like yours need suppliments. (these were semi-retired but kept on good weight)

what we did was what we like to refer to as the worm effect, we carved a hole in an apple (or a couple depending on what your needing to give) and then hollowed most of it out. then we filled the apple with suppliments. was yummy so they didnt notice what we were sneaking in. and if if you have liquid suppliments the apple will soak them up quite happily.
 
my pony normally eats his supplements with Happy hoof no problem -wet it so the powder doesn't get left in the bottom of the bucket. He was on antibiotics recently though and wouldn't touch his feed till I put a bit of peppermint flavouring in the water I damped it with with
 
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