Feed/Energy question?

Question

one of my horses is getting 5 flakes grass/alfalfa mix hay (not alot of alfalfa in it) and about 1 quart am and pm blue seal trotter a day. he is incredibly lazy and im thinking of switching his feed to something that will give him a little more pep. hes a pretty easy keeper too so im also considering a weight management feed like triple crown lite so the little amount he will get will supply all the vitamins and minerals he needs...maybe adding some rice bran or corn oil for extra fat. what do you think? also im concerned that a higher enery feed will make him too "fizzy"...hmm =/

Answer 1

Feed changes will not give your horse extra "pep".  If his weight is good, why make changes?  You say he is an easy keeper, so high carbohydrate food will not be good for him (or any other horse).  Your question had so many contradictions, it is unclear - ie easy keeper, needs weight management, may give high carbs, extra fat?  Doesn't make sense.    Recommendations:  Give your horse balanced nutrition and free choice grass or grass mix hay with good pasture and turn out.  All horses are lazy by nature so this is not unusual.  If you want him to have more energy, he needs more exercise.  Learn to play horsey games with him so he is not bored.  Stimulate his brain as well as his body.  Horses are smart and learn quickly.  If he is on a balanced diet, he does not need supplements.  If your horse has good nutrition, adding supplements can actually be harmful (if there are no specific health problems or deficiencies in your pasture/grass/hay/etc.).  Bran is high in phosphorus and throws off your horse's mineral balance and can lead to serious problems.  There is a lot of research that has become available about this in recent years.  I know a lot of people still bran their horses, but it is not a good idea.  If you need extra calories that will not harm your horse and is 100% digestible fiber, use plain beet pulp.  If he is an easy keeper, he does not need corn oil fat???  Hope some of this helps.

Answer 2

Sounds complicated....I'm wondering why you want to feed him a lite feed, and then add rice bran/corn oil for extra FAT?  Seems counter-productive.  If he's an easy keeper, why the extra fat?

I am of the opinion that many horses are over-grained these days.  I prefer a main diet of hay/forage, free choice salt, and a little grain as dessert.  That's just my opinion.

You can try your higher energy feed, but it may just make him fatter and lazier.

Answer 3

You people only feed 2 flakes/day?  I hope your horses are getting supplemented with other forage.  A horse is supposed to eat between 2 and 3 percent of its body weight daily.  For an average 1000 pound horse, that's 20-30 pounds a day.  2 flakes don't weight that much.

Is your horse overweight, or just lazy?  I have a lazy horse (not overweight) but the more I ride him the better he goes becuase he is in better shape.  I also mix up what we are doing  a lot so he doesn't get bored.  I don't think you can fix lazy by just getting him hyped up on feed.

I'd take him off the grain.  The one you are giving him is a complete feed, meaning that you don't even need to feed hay if you feed enough of that.  So on top of 5 flakes a day you are adding even more fiber to his diet.  Horses don't need grain.  Often people just like to give it to them because it makes the human feel better.  Of course there are exceptions to this, but in general, if you have a healthy, non-senior horse, I wouldn't give him grain.  It's just giving him extra calories that he doesn't need.  Throw  a mineral block out there and he should be fine with just hay.

Adding corn for extra energy will just give him a burst of energy (enough to do something stupid) but it's not a sustained energy.  It's like a sugar high.  And corn oil will add both energy and fat, which is not what you need.

Rice bran is the most fattening feed you can give a horse but it doesn't give them extra energy.  So don't give that, all you'll be doing is making your horse fat.  Rice bran is what I give my hard keepers to put weight on without giving them more energy.

Answer 4

It sounds like he is getting plenty of calories now, just check his vitamin/mineral rations with your vet, just to make sure he has no deficencies.

Also, it may be his temperment- easy keepers are usually calmer. If the weather is hot, he is more likely to be lazier (who isn't?)

Make sure the quality of your hay is good, but Blue Seal is a good feed brand.

The corn oil won't give him more energy, but it will make him fatter, since they are "empty" calories.

It also depends on how much he's worked, if he's lazy or just tired.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

5 flakes, wow. When mine are on hay they get 2/day. I don't know how big your flakes are though. I would definitely make sure that he's getting all the vitamins and minerals he needs from supplements. If he's lazy, I highly doubt it's from 5 flakes of hay. There may be something wrong with him or he's just testing you and isn't doing what you tell him to. A lot of "lazy" horses really are just smart horses in disguise. Good luck!

Answer 6

first of all, if he's an easy keeper, the last thing you should be giving him is high fat feed like rice bran or corn oil.  My easy keeper gets free choice grass hay, with about 20-25% alphalfa she doesn't need, but my other horse does, and a mineral supplement.

We have grass pasture and she's out 24/7 so she has to wear a grazing muzzle part of the time as well.

Have you kept him on a regular deworming program?  He may be losing nutrient value if he is infested with worms.

Answer 7

My TB is a pretty hard keeper. its difficult to keep a good amount of weight on him. His previous owner were NUTS cuz they gave him 4lbs of oats a day! and he wasnt even in work so he was a complete basket case. yeah so when we got him we switched him over to the grain that the barn was using and he lost a ton of weight. idk why but it took forever to get it back on him. we switched him back to oats but gave him only one scoop for each feeding. we also added corn oil and gace him a flake of straight alfalfa hay for a   month or so. this seemed to work great! he has been keeping a healthy weight on and has had plenty of energy because of the oats (which generally speaking is a high energy feed). oh and he also got the standard 2-3 flakes of hay in the morning and 2-3 flakes in the evening (the flakes were pretty small and he was not on grass)

hope this helps! =]

Answer 8

OMG! You give him 5 flakes aday! That is WAY too much. You need to give it to him once in the morning and onece in the evening which means only 2 flakes aday, 5 is overdoing it. Ok you don't need to add anything for extra fat because if your horse is lazy it probly means he is bored and a bit overweight. I would give him Dumor, Triple Crown, or Platform feed, i give my 8 and 15 year old horse Dumor senior feed and they love it and they are always eager to get their meals and are "peppy" all day. A suggestion would be, ride him more often, he will seem perkier because he will be happy when you are around. I would give him 2 flakes of hay and around 3-4 cups of feed depending on how much you ride him and if he's in the pasture alot. If he is older 10-15 consider a senior feed but if he is older and you ride him often consider getting a pleasure horse feed so he will have energy. If he isn't as perky as you want during a ride consider giving him a few handfuls of WHOLE corn, (not cracked, it can make the horses sick, they sell whole corn at any feed store with the grain.), before your ride, it is a quick energy snack because the outer layer goes quickly so the energy producing nutrients on the inside and a quick, fast acting boost. You DO NOT need to give him 5 flakes, you DO NOT need to add anything for extra fat, and you DO NOT need weight managment, if you ride enough for your horse's health they will stay at a healthy weight. Good luck!