Diet Planning - Feeding for Condition Ten Top Tips
Tracey Hammond M.Sc. (Dist)
Whether feeding for weight gain or for skin, coat and hoof condition, Dengie have a wide range of products to help keep your horse looking their best this winter. Unfortunately we can’t do anything about the mud though!
Top Tip One: Forage, Forage and more Forage
Maximise forage intake by feeding ad-lib good quality forage to help maintain your horse’s weight this winter. Don’t forget the fibre fermentation process in your horse’s hind gut produces thermal heat as a by-product so literally acts like your horse’s very own central heating system. Keep a close eye on veteran horses and ponies with dental problems to make sure they can still manage to chew their forage.
Whatever your horse’s age, Dengie Hi-Fi Senior which combines high temperature dried grasses and alfalfa, can be used as a partial or total forage replacer. Whether you need a hay replacement due to a forge shortage, or something soft and easy to chew for your veteran, Dengie Hi-Fi Senior is the natural choice.
Top Tip Two: Monitor your horse’s weight regularly
Regularly combine weight taping and body condition scoring so you can act sooner rather than later if your horse is a poor doer and starts to lose weight. Click here for information on using a weight tape and a body condition scoring chart.
Top Tip Three: Weigh Your Feed
You may be using the right feed to help promote weight gain but if you feed by the scoop and don’t know how much your scoop holds you may still not get the desired result. As a rough guide a large round feed scoop i.e. Stubbs scoop holds 400g Dengie Alfa-A range products, 1.5kg dry weight Dengie Alfa-Beet, typically just over 1kg of mix and 1.5-2kg of cubes, but if you weigh your feed you’ll know exactly what you are providing.
Top Tip Four: Know the recommended quantities to feed
Rather than feeding small amounts of lots of different types of lower energy or ‘calorie’ feeds, choose a higher energy feed and feed it at the recommended quantity. Not only will this save some space in the feed room but if you feed a cereal based mix or cube, it is better for your horse’s digestive system to use a smaller amount of a higher energy mix/cube than a large quantity of low energy mix/cube.
Top Tip Five: Need Condition without the Fizz?
Avoid making sudden dramatic increases in energy intake and choose feeds based on ‘slow-release’ energy sources such as fibre and oil rather than ‘quick-release’ energy sources such as starch from cereal grains. Both of these factors are especially important in the winter months when your horse is stabled for longer and workload is less consistent.
Dengie Alfa-A Oil is based on alfalfa with a soya oil coating and has a calorie level comparable to a conditioning mix/cube, but without the starch. Based on fibre and oil Alfa-A Oil provides the ultimate source of slow-release energy for condition without the fizz. Feeding Dengie Alfa-Beet, which combines alfalfa and unmolassed sugar beet with a convenient 2 hour cold soak or 15 minute hot soak time, alongside Alfa-A Oil provides an additional source of highly digestible fibre for condition without the fizz.
Top Tip Six: What if my laminitic or Cushing’s horse or pony needs condition?
Don’t panic; Dengie Alfa-A Lite, Alfalfa Pellets, Alfa-A Oil and Alfa-Beet are all higher energy or ‘calorie’ options that are suitable for laminitis prone horses and ponies or those with Cushing’s disease. Click here to contact the Dengie Feedline for specific advice.
Top Tip Seven: Maximise Digestive Efficiency
If feeding a mix or cube, choose one using micronized cereals and feed little and often to maximise digestive efficiency. Diet change, stress and poor dentition are all factors that can impact upon digestive efficiency and some horses may need a little extra digestive support such as Dengie Natural Vitality Digestive Health or Natural Vitality Digestive Health Plus over the winter months.
Natural Vitality Digestive Health is a pure Yea-Sacc1026 supplement. With a 1kg tub lasting 100 days Digestive Health is an economical way to promote maximal fibre digestion and can be used for all horses and ponies. We currently have 28 day samples of Digestive Health for trial – click here for further information.
Natural Vitality Digestive Health Plus is a prebiotic, probiotic and yeast all in one supplement. The prebiotic and yeast help to create a favourable environment for beneficial bacteria to thrive, whilst the probiotic provides beneficial ‘live’ bacteria to top up the population. In practice Digestive Health Plus is particularly beneficial for ‘stressy’ horses and poor doers.
Top Tip Eight: What if my horse is fussy, fizzy and has a limited appetite?
Some horses can be naturally fussy with limited appetites and are poor doers. The trick is to try and find something they like that is very concentrated and can therefore be fed in small amounts. Dengie Fibremix Complement is just one option.
Fibremix Complement is a palatable, concentrated low starch mix that is formulated to be fed in smaller quantities than traditional mixes. This makes it ideal for fussy horses or those with limited appetites and as Fibremix Complement is based predominantly on ‘slow release’ energy sources it is also ideal for those more highly strung individuals. When fed at the recommended quantity no additional vitamin and mineral supplement is necessary and Fibremix Complement also contains a yeast, prebiotic and probiotic to support gut health.Top Tip Nine: Give your horse plenty of time to eat.
Fibre takes a long time to chew! This is no bad thing and with your horse stabled for longer during the winter it is a great way to help keep them occupied. If your horse is on a fibre only ration you do not have to be so fastidious about meal sizes. It is therefore acceptable to give your horse a smaller feed before they go out to grass and then leave them with a larger quantity overnight when they have longer to eat it. As long as they finish their feed eventually it is beneficial for feed to take a long time to consume.
Top Tip Ten: Promote good skin, coat & hoof condition
First check that your horse’s ration is balanced with respect to vitamins and minerals. If you are feeding a fibre only ration or less than recommended of a feed with added vitamins and minerals then you will need to top up with an additional source of vitamins and minerals in order to provide a balanced diet.
Dengie Alfa-A Balancer is based on alfalfa, rice and linseed. In addition to providing a broad-spectrum of vitamins and minerals Alfa-A Balancer also contains prebiotics for digestive support and glucosamine for joint support and is an excellent choice for balancing the ration of horses and ponies in work, those that struggle to maintain condition and veterans.
If your horse still needs a bit more help to look their best despite having a balanced ration then Dengie Natural Vitality Joint & Condition or Natural Vitality Coat & Hoof may be added to the ration. Natural Vitality Joint & Condition is currently on special offer in the Dengie on-line shop please click here for more information.
