Feeding...conditioning...showing

[MooreAcres]

I have questions about feeding and conditioning a yearling. He will be showing.

What do you guys feed your yearlings on your show string? Grain, beet pulp, alfalfa pellets/cubes...???

How often do you work them? For how long?

I have one that I am trying to get weight on. His coat is dull and he needs to build muscle.

The other one has a hay belly, but nice muscle. I dont want him to loose his nice condition, so what should I be doing?

Thanks, Erin

 

[Fanch]

I am no expert when it comes to yougn show horse, but I wil pipe in with what I know.

You can add BOSS or flax seed to improve the coat condition, the flax seed also contains Omega 3, which is good for them. I feed BOSS right now and after 1 or 2 clips, my black geldings is shimmering, I totally trust it. I feed 1/2 cup daily of BOSS but the amount daily for flax seed Im unsure of.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I am currently "fitting" three yearlings...I do not work them at all.

The two fillies have a run in and a half acre paddock with grass that they can and do play in all day and night, and the colt has a stall with daily turn out with a colt and a gelding that really does all the work he would ever need!!

Feed is relative to the animal, I use basic grain, in my case barley, and he gets four cups of that and four cups of stud mix (the muesli stuff, I prefer it to pellets, many do not) and then he gets four cups of beet pulp, and four cups of soaked alfalfa pellets. All this goes into a bucket of grass chaff, and he gets two tablespoons of corn oil and a tablespoon of ground flax seed, BOSS and yeast mix.

Then it all gets mixed together and it makes a lovely, slightly damp, mix that he will take half the night to eat.

He has ad lib hay, grass hay, roughly 14% (last time it was tested which I admit is some time ago)

and that is all I do with him.

He has his first show on Saturday so I'll let you know.....

 

[kaykay]

I have 2 yearlings that I am showing and had much the same as you. One came too thin and lacking bloom and muscle (Joanne) and one was in condition but had a belly (Dale)

I am a firm believer in keeping feeding simple. I dont think you have to be out there measuring all day if you have

1 good nutritious hay

2 a good pelleted feed

Most pelleted feeds have beet pulp etc already in them (read the labels)

For Dale he was fed Tiz Whiz 16 (I cant get equine jr anymore but thats a great feed) and hay. I increased his workouts in time and made him work up and down hill. The belly was gone in no time

For Jo We fed her 4 times per day. 3 feedings ofTiz Whiz pellets plus hay and 2 feedings of beet pulp. I did not start working her until her weight increased which took about 3 weeks. She is now at a great weight and is working. Because shes working now I upped her feed a bit to make up for the extra calories shes burning

I will hopefully have pics of her and dale at the last show soon

This is Jo at her first show. I went ahead and showed her to get experience on her but you can see she needs weight. She looks tall in this pic but shes only 38. At this point I did not work her as she was too thin. Since this pic was taken about 3-4 weeks ago I bet she has gained 30 lbs

 

[The Simple Life Farm]

I totally agree with Kay, that is how things get done on my farm too. She gave you some great advice.

 

[Leeana]

My show horses get Purina Strategy / Soaked Beet Pulp Shreds / Loose Minerals and some get Calf Manna...

So that is basically the same for the yearlings i am showing, except of course the levels of feed that they get. I also feed a nice alfalfa / orchard grass 50/50 mix hay. I have never had any trouble with a belly on any of the yearlings that i have shown. I feed the Calf Manna 2x a day ontop of their reg. feed ration as i feel it helps muscle tone them up with the roundpenning ..i think with yearlings if you can get the feeding right the rest will just fall into place...