Help with Show Feed for the VERY easy keeper.

[KLM]

Hello all,

Please help! I am in need of advise for my 4 year old gelding.

I just moved to a new place in October this past year and while I was getting stalls and my barn situated I had all my horses out on pasture. There was plenty of feed out there and I checked to make sure no one was losing weight so no feed.

In December, I had my vet do exams and teeth float in preparation for the upcoming show season. I was lectured then that they all needed a little Jenny Craig influance. January 5 I got my stalls completed and brought the horses in part time and my show horses in full time.

My show diet has always been the same as my regular diet for the horses prior to pasturing them. For this horse in particular 1 pounds of a complete pellet 2x a day along with 1 pound of Omolene 400 (complete advantage) 2x a day. I have always been able to maintain a healthy weight with that.

When I body clipped him 2 weeks later I saw just how much work we had to do and decided to try a big trainers show diet for fat horses. That is 4 cups of soaked beet pulp with 2 cups of crimped oats 2x a day with 1 pound of alfalfa. I actually only give a small handful of alfalfa which amounts to about 1/2 a pound a day.

I also include Quiessence for the cresty neck.

I am not seeing a lot of changes, other than his topline is looking really good, but his crest and overall weight do not seem to be coming down. He is exercized 3 days a week for 20 minutes at a time with one day turnout on a dry lot each week.

Pictures attached. Any advise is greatly appreciated! I have never had one this chubby before that diet and exercize hasn't shown results in 4-6 weeks.

Pictures before and after clipping.

Thanks!

 

[JMS Miniatures]

IMO that's quite a bit of grain for him. Stick with just one feed, no need to be mixing both you could be throwing things off balance. My easy keepers that also show only get a all hay diet and a good mineral block. They looked and felt great. If they needed any grain like I have one that will sometimes need to be fed grain or can be just fine on hay he gets fed .4 of a lb a day on PrimeGlo and currently getting 4 lbs of alfalfa/grass hay a day.

 

[targetsmom]

With the cresty neck and you already feeding him Quiessence, I would suggest a low starch feed. For our insulin resistant, all around, do everything show mare (in my current avatar) I tried a variety of low starch grains (Blue Seal, Purina) and had a terrible time with lack of energy. It is amazing that Princess did as well as she did, because some days she would literally be dragging from lack of energy. Then we tried the fairly new Nutrena Safe Choice SPECIAL CARE formula. It is lower in starch than the regular Safe Choice, but probably not as low as some low starch feeds. But we saw almost instantly an increase in her energy level with no bad effects. She went from knocking over or refusing jumps on the first round, to making it to the final round and/or winning!

BTW, our IR mare doesn't get any alfalfa, but she does get grass hay (measured amount for her weight), soaked beet pulp and Remission in addition to 4 cups of the grain a day.

 

[KLM]

Targets mom, Thank You!!!

I will look into the Safe Choice, Special Care. I know my feed store carries Safe Choice and I am sure if they dont have it, they can order the "Special Care Formula."

JMS, thanks for the advise, but the problem I have from past experience (the past 5 years) I have not had luck with hay in my area for the minis. I have always fed a pellet diet because I know exactly what the guaranteed feed analysis is. The hay here verries too much from cutting to cutting and where they are bringing it in from.

I feed the soaked beet pulp in place of the hay, and basically just a taste of alfalfa (which for Biggie I will now omit). The show site I was on was stating that the oats and beet pulp would be sufficient, but I just feel he is missing too much that way.

I also got a message from a friend that I should try the SmartPak "SmartControl IR" in place of the Quiessence. Anyone have good results with that?

Thanks again!

 

[Jill]

I think we are lucky around here, because we have a "complete feed" pellet that is available through our local farmer's co-op. It is formulated by Kentucky Equine Reseach (as are a number of different types of feeds we have access to). I honestly thing that their "low starch" complete pellet is ideal for most adult miniatures. This is what most of our adults are on. MOST (of course, not all...) minis are really easy keepers especially at young - middle age and with good deworming and teeth maintainance programs. Most prime minis seem to "soak" everything out of a feed... this low starch feed has improved our very easy keepers and it has maintained most of our "average" metabolism adults.

 

[Jill]

*** this feed I'm talking about is 12% protein, 6% fat (yes, that high) and 18% fiber. It does work well for our horses.

 

[KLM]

Hey Jill,

This is the complete pelleted feed available in my area. It seems similar to your co-op type feed but lower in protein and fat... I know they need the proteen at least the 12%... Hmmm....

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS:

Crude Protein Minimum 9.0%

Crude Fat Minimum 2.7%

Crude Fiber Maximum 32.0%

Calcium Minimum 0.4%

Calcium Maximum 1.0%

Phosphorous Minimum 0.2%

Sodium Maximum 0.5%

Ash Maximum 9.0%

Thanks for the input!

 

[Marty]

Mine lost their chunkyness look when I took them off of Strategy and put them on Purina Miniature Horse and pony food. The necks went down first.

I would not mix feeds either and I don't like additives unless its very necessary and I never remove hay as they are grazers. Complete feeds indicate they include forage of some sort of roughage which could be the culprit in your case. And also lack of excercise by being over stalled and soaked beet pulp which adds pounds.. I'd be letting that little guy out daily for a few hours in the dry lot so he can mover around freely and play and loose calories at will and give hay and mineral block.Understand that hay can be inconsistant so you can try some of the bagged hay that Tractor Supply carries. I've tried all of it and its very clean and consistant. Best wishes.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I would rather use an untested hay and add a tested supplement than remove hay form a horse- as Marty says they are grazers and the devil finds work for idle teeth- and digestive systems too! I love the idea of showing horses off hay alone (plus supplements) and I am serious thinking of trying that this year- it seems to make good sense and my air ferns are on free choice meadow hay (my own) and do not over eat at the moment, so they would probably be OK when I bring them up and stall them.

I just cannot see that eating a ration of pellets is going to be satisfying for a horse- Jill, I know what your horses look like (brilliant!) so, do you give hay as well, or is that it?

 

[HGFarm]

Once again, I recommend that folks who have horses that 'stay fat on air'- have them tested for low thyroid. I am encountering this more and more- when I purchased two that were very hefty and tested, both are low thyroid. I have now had a couple of other folks contact me that they had theirs tested, same issue.

I dont care what you do with their diet, if their body is out of whack and not functioning right, no diet change will work if you dont get to the root of the problem. A cresty neck and being fat is typical of a low thyroid horse. Just a suggestion..........

 

[Minimor]

In response to the above I would have to point out that in horses, a low thyroid is actually a sign that there is something else going on with the horse. Instead of treating the horse for low thyroid (which some people still want to do, even though true hypothyroidism is pretty much not an issue in horses) you need to treat the horse for whatever underlying problem is causing the low thyroid levels. Correct that underlying problem and the horses thyroid levels will return to normal. Its true.

The one year when we had some mares that tested low on T4 levelsthe real problem wasnt with the thyroidthe problem was a mineral deficiency. We changed up our feeding program to take care of the mineral deficiency, and the mares thyroid levels returned to normal. As I understand it there are a number of things that can cause a horse to test low on thyroid hormone levels.

 

[Jill]

We did have DunIT (EASY KEEPER as an adult) tested, he was normal. This was a few years ago and then we switched him to a low starch feed... then later most of our adults. It's worked well for us but I absolutely agree about testing especially if they're cresty.

 

[CMC]

Nothing to add, just thank you for this very informative thread.

 

[targetsmom]

Will add that our mare's thyroid tests came back normal so then we had her tested for insulin and glucose. Neither of those were way off but the RATIO indicated some degree of insulin resistance. Plus she has the cresty neck and fat deposits near her udder (maiden mare).

ETA: At our first AMHA show, we were advised to just give her Thyrol-L for her neck. We would not treat without a diagnosis.

 

[HGFarm]

OMG, I would NEVER give a horse thyroid meds if they didnt have a disorder. By giving a horse thyroid meds when their levels are ok, it makes them have too much thyroid, which can be just as dangerous. Also, the body can become dependant on the meds, because it thinks it's producing too much, so they actually start producing less on their own, and become low thryroid then in reality. Thyroid imbalances, just like in humans, can also affect the heart, weight, hair, etc....

 

[Becky]

As to what to feed an easy keeper and yet still be able to fit for show, I would highly recommend a Grass Ration/Diet Balancer, grass pellets and grass hay. I fit the horse in my Avatar, Fiesta Acres Mystique, on that diet last year and he is now a World Champion and Top 10.