Fattenning Up

[greydales]

I've used garlic for years with mine and I am not sure it does anything LOL! It certainly doesn't keep the flies away, but it is supposed to be good for the blood.

[DalesLady]

exactly Gill and Karen. Don't think it's actually doing any harm LOL

[rebeccajane]

Oh now Im thoroughly (emoticon nearest to worse than confused)
The oil I feed is linseed which I got coz it was supposed to be good for itchie ponies...

I started to feed garlic for the same reasons - but I have since read that ayurvedic (sp?) medicine says it is heating and likely to CAUSE itching.. it hasnt appeared to so Ive carried on esp. for my inside ponies who cant help themselves to a varied diet.

I give the seaweed for the same reason, plus my ponies do a fair bit of work and as unlike humans they dont shed less sodium in sweat as hey get fitter I feel it is important to replace salt and I feel he seaweed is quite natural way to do it.

Istarted to feed the dry grass to give the in ones a bit extra as some of them scour a bi on hayledge. Not on the homemade stuff but on the bought in.

Interesting to read about the ryegrass tho I wonder if it does anything else?

Still these cubes Ive got can be fed in quite large quantities so Ill up that and see.
Im not bout to buy anything else as I had a traumatic dental do yesterday stuffed full of valium (or I wont go) managed to loose my purse . Not fit too be let out alone ... Oh well.

The Baileys crumbs - I know when itwas first bought out over 20 years ago we found bits of old bread wrapper in it - is it still recycled tale bread? We used to give it to skinny t.b.s to try and get weight on.. I cant remember if it worked.

[lancslass]

i think its a changed a bit now rebecca LOL......especialy with the fact that if a horse choked on an old bit of bread wrapper baileys would be looking at a court case these days. i can vouch for it working as it put weight on our colt when he was stressed and looking a bit ropey.
i think any fibre based nut will put weight on if fed at the right amount. its more a case of keeping the pony sane and content if they are stuck inside. mine are all worked either undersaddle or inhand when they are inside so i guess thats another factor to look at.......feedxwork = conditon.
sorry to hear you had such a rotten day yesterday.
mary, you probably won't notice the barley heating mac up with him being out 24/7.

[suew]

Rocky has never been a good doer and now he's 30 it gets even harder to keep plenty of weight on him. The diet which works for him has taken me 20 years to perfect as he can also be hyper.

Summer and Winter he goes out on good grass during the day, gets unlimited haylage at night. He is fed once or twice a day depending on his current condition with Alfa A, lots of soaked sugarbeet and mix (amount depends on the work he's doing). I have messed around with various supplements, they work for different things but cant say they really affect his weight much.

Currently he's got plenty of weight on, full shiny summer coat and fit (for a 30 year old) so cant be doing too much wrong.

[jet]

Jodie has had lumps for the last few years and I never thought about her diet being to blame. They have all been on Balanced At Grass mix which looking at it now probably is quite rich. We have put Jodie on Happy Hoof and Lamishield as she has put so much weight on and it will be interesting to see if the lumps reduce. She's also being restricted from grazing. Thought I was the only one with a lumpy pony!

[lancslass]

no you are certainly not alone sue! a lot of people including myself initially pass them off as bad fly bites, but once i had a closer loook at daniels and realised they weren't going i decided to start looking into what had caused them. so after going thru wash powders used for rugs, shampoos, show shine etc, then went on to the feeds! and that was exactly what brought the lumps up.

[Deleted]

I have changed Merls diet after speaking to Karen as I thought he was looking under weight he is on spillers high fibre cubes and baileys no 1 and he is starting to look much better after about three weeks, he also has sugar beet, garlic and soya oil.

[shaklana]

what are the spiller's cubes made of? are they grass nuts?

[lancslass]

no, they aren't grass nuts.........daniel can sort out grass nuts........sucks them and spits them over the door! LOL
will read the label and let you know

[lancslass]

www.spillers-feeds.com/Frame_Work_Page.htm
not a good idea to look on the label at this time of the morning, so used initiative {lol} and went on their website!

High Fibre Cubes



High Fibre Cubes are a highly versatile, palatable ration with a full complement of vitamins and minerals. Their high fibre, low starch formulation means that they are non-heating*. They provide a great low calorie meal, and rattle irresistibly in a bucket when you’re trying to catch your pony!

w Approved by the Laminitis Trust.

w Palatable low calorie feed, well accepted by horses and ponies of all types

w Balanced diet which contains all essential vitamins and minerals
Recommend for:
ü Horses and ponies at risk of laminitis
ü Veterans with poor teeth. Soak the cubes for 1/2 hour to make a soft, easily eaten, mash.
ü Excitable horses or ponies which boil over on other 'low energy' feeds.



Oil % 2.75
Protein % 10
Fibre % 20
Starch % 10
Energy as fed MJ/kg 8.4
Vitamin A iu/kg 10000
Vitamin D3 iu/kg 1500
Vitamin E iu/kg 200

Bag Size 20kg











* A non-heating feed is one less likely to produce excitable behaviour in some horses or ponies when fed at the recommended rate.

[shaklana]

Hmm, that doesn't give any ingredients, thanks for the link, I'll email my question.
It really annoys me that feed ingredients don't have to be listed - what if your horse has an allergy???

[lancslass]

yes, it really annoys me too that a lot of feedstuff don't list the ingredients.
these are the only feed i have tried that don't bring the lumps up on daniel...........and boy have i tried some different feeds! LOL
im almost sure i emailed spillers about daniels problem telling them i needed a feed with no cereal in it at all..........anyway, when they get back to you with the ingredients would you mind putting it on the board please

[manorian]

Since William got his food allergy 18 months ago, where he was allergic to just about everything I changed all of my ponies onto his diet and they all look brilliant on it. They get sugar beet and grass nuts with a splash of vegetable oil twice a day and a 1/2 bucket of readigrass at lunchtime. Not only are the grass nuts a natural feed they are quite cheap at £4.40 for 25kg.

[anna85]

We have finally (touch wood) found whats causing Tucker and a couple other's lumps....a protein excess. He's had them all his life originally starting on his shoulder and spreading backwards, we've had them biopsied, blood analysed repeatedly, multiple vets looking at it over the years, had him on garlic, everything!etc etc.

Anyway we came to conclusion it must be an environment thing but he isn't rugged in winter, wears an anti-fly rug in the spring/summer so it must be a food related thing; mum halved his Bailey's Stud balancer (moderate levels of protein), it had a small effect with no new ones appearing but then we noticed them on some of the others. Now Tucker and 2 of his brothers get no feed at all (well chaff and carrots to keep them quiet when the rest get some) and the lumps are disappearing, less angry looking and certainly are not multiplying in numbers.