Horse of the Quarter - Sam
In this new addition to the Dengie Club Quarterly we take the opportunity to meet your horses and ponies. Each quarter we will bring you a case study from the Dengie Feedline so you can see the recommended feeding regimes and how successful they have been. Don’t forget that you can view lots of case studies on the Dengie website under each of the product pages. This quarter we meet Sam.
Sam is a 13.3hh Dales x Cob who has been owned by Sonja for almost three years. Sam is in light work and used mostly for hacking and has always been a good doer. Sonja contacted the Dengie Feedline as she wanted some feeding advice to help manage Sam’s bodyweight. Although Sam has never had laminitis it is always of concern to Sonja and she is aware that it is really important to watch Sam’s bodyweight so that he does not become overweight. Sam has access to sparse grazing or is turned out with a muzzle, but the main problem that Sonja was having was that she felt her forage was simply too good for Sam.
Suggested Ration
To help Sonja manage Sam’s weight it was suggested that she replace part of his haylage ration with Dengie Hi-Fi Lite. By replacing some of Sam’s haylage with a lower calorie fibre source Sam still gets plenty to eat, but the overall calorie intake is reduced. Dengie Hi-Fi Lite combines alfalfa and top quality cereal straw with a low sugar coating. In practice Hi-Fi Lite provides 5% sugar which is about half the amount of sugar found in average forage and Hi-Fi Lite is also approved by the Laminitis Trust.
In addition to grazing, Sam has 2kg of haylage and 2kg of Hi-Fi Lite which equates to two full Dengie Measuring Buckets. Recently Sam has been lame and so has been on box rest. During this time Sonja has increased the quantities of Hi-Fi Lite that Sam has to help keep him occupied as well as feeding his forage in small holed haylage nets to make it last longer. Sonja has found this regime successful in keeping Sam’s bodyweight in check as also says that it gives her peace of mind as she feels that she has more control over Sam’s feed intake.
If you have found a Dengie diet successful and would like your horse to feature on the Dengie website or as Horse of the Quarter then please don’t hesitate to send us your story click here to send us an e-mail.
