What should I feed?

[NickelsChram]

I was wondering if any one had advice on feeding my gelding. He is 8 years old and I have only owed him for a year. When i first got him he looked great. The old owner gave us some of the food he was used to, to switch him over to our feed when I brought him home, I'm not sure what it was but he only got a little about a cup. I board, and all the other minis get sweet feed, so we switched to sweet feed and gave him the same amount. This show season was the first time I have shown him I don't know if he was shown before. The shows are an hour away from us and we stop half way to get breakfast and to let him rest for a bit. Every time we unload him when we come home I notice he has dropped a lot of weight. Right now none of the minis are being fed grain just hay and pasture and most of them are a bit fat so I feed him every time I see him which is about every other day. A lady at my barn told me I could use her hay pellets and her rice bran oil to help him gain weight. Well he likes the hay pellets but isn't finishing his food because he doesn't like the oil. He has gained weight but not in the right places. Hes getting a bigger belly, but I still see his ribs and his cresty neck which was really soft is starting to get firmer. So the two places where I don't want fat he is gaining. When i feed him I still give him the same amount he got when I first got him. I am relatively new to minis and I am so afraid to feed him too much because all I heard from people when I first got him was how I couldn't feed him to much or he could founder, or worse. But going out to the pasture and seeing my horses ribs every time is unacceptable to me.

So i was thinking changing his feed would help. Ive heard good this about the mini horse &pony feed, but a friend told me they tried it when it first came out and their mare colicked bad and almost didn't make it. Have they changed the formula any since it first came out? Should I worry about colick? Should I try something else? How much do you think I should be feeding him?He's in medium work about 30 min every other day some times less but hes been getting a break because he needs weight. Is there anything I could try next year for showing to help him keep weight when we go? i don't have any really good pics showing how he is now but i have pics of when i got him and recently.The first two pics are when i first got him and the last two are at shows. the pic where i am in the purple shirt you can see his ribs if you look hard enough.

 

[AnnaC]

Hi and welcome to LB.

You have a nice little fella there - his colour is gorgeous too!

I'm in the UK so not really up on the concentrated feed you have available over there, but hoping I can give you some general help.

First, you dont mention worming - is he on a regular programme? You do know not to use Quest wormer on minis dont you?

Next, how much time does he get outside daily to eat grass and what quality is it? You need to up his main feed amounts - find a good quality brand of feed - around 12-14% protein and slowly bring him up to 3 or 4 cupfuls a day - you may need to increase this even more, but start off slowly. Will he eat soaked sugar beet, as you could add some of this to his feed as well. It would be better if he could have 3 feeds a day as you slowly increase the amounts - if he's out all day this might not be so easy unless you can find a reliable person to bring him in for his mid-day feed? The hay he is offered should be reasonably soft and certainly leafy - 'stemmy' hay is not good for minis, they have difficulty in digesting it and it can lead to a 'blown up' look in their belly region.

How long is he outside and how long in his stall? He will need hay whilst in, the amount will depend upon how much grass he has and how many hours he is stalled, but for general reference I would say to aim for a flake of hay (approx 4lbs) be available for a normal night inside (6pm-8am) then his breakfast feed before being turned out for the day. If he has to spend several hours stalled after his breakfast before going out, then perhaps a half flake of hay would be sensible - the same in the afternoon if he has to come back into his stall before it is tea-time. I dont know the routine where you board but hope you will get the idea of how to break up his general food intake - horses need to trickle feed, not be left for hours with nothing going through their systems.

Keep his concentrated feed (grain) going/slowly increasing, and give/adjust his hay intake according to the hours spent outside and the quality of the grass.

Hope this helps a little - good luck!

 

[ThreeCFarm]

First of all, he should be getting fed every day, not just when you see him, even if it is usually every other day. Second, why not ask the previous owners what they fed him, how much and how often? If you thought he looked good when you got him, why not go with what they were feeding him or something similar?