Feeding Rodeo

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He is doing great, eating all the grain I give him, spends his sweet time picking threw they hay and makes uncle Ernie take him out to the pasture often (isnt much to eat out there)

He is eating the same grain as Molly which is Farnam Platform 50% Senior (14% protein) 50% Mare & Foal (16% protein) pelleted feed. He gets 2 cups AM, 2 cups noon, 2 cups PM. (8oz cups) I was trying to add "Grow colt" vitimens in there but he wont eat his grain if its in there so he got out of eating that

I noticed today he is getting a little hay belly, which was expected but he is getting a little thin, his back bone is very easy to feel and you can feel his ribs easy, he doesnt look very under weight but I know how quick he could get into trouble and I dont want to go there. What else should he be eating? I could up his grain?

I know hay isnt the greatest thing for him but he does get pretty close to free choice hay. He also gets at least a half hour a day to eat in the yard, which is really good grass.

Any thing else I should/can do for him?

Here he is a few days back out side waiting for his grain...

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Nicole, I think he looks just great!! I would not drop his hay off, you are quite right to give him free choice, even if it is doing Ernie's waistline no good at all

You could try soaking the hay, to put the moisture back, that would help his digestion by making it more like grass, and it would also help the hay gut- although I have to say I don't see one!! Do you give him Beet Pulp? His gut is mature enough now to start that and, again it will help digestion and the "gut" Also I know you know this but baby horses need worming more often than adults= so, are you fully up to date on worming??? All in all, considering what you two have been through, I think you can give yourself a really big pat on the back....Oh, and a hug for Rodeo, please.

 

[Robin_C]

He is eating the same grain as Molly which is Farnam Platform 50% Senior (14% protein) 50% Mare & Foal (16% protein) pelleted feed. He gets 2 cups AM, 2 cups

The colt looks fine, but I am wondering what your rationale is behind mixing your feeds, especially mixing a Mare & Foal feed, which is the most appropriate choice for him at this age, with a Senior feed?

Foals can tend to be bellyish. They don't digest hay as efficiently as an adult horse. If he is getting practically free choice hay, that would easily explain why he has a "belly". It's not bad to give him that much hay, especially since he has so little pasture time, but he will continue to have that little belly. If you're not showing him, that shouldn't be an issue.

Young horses have different vitamin and mineral needs from older horses. Mare and Foal feeds address those needs of younger horses. Senior feeds generally have more fiber than young horses need. So many times emphasis is put on the protein percentage of feeds without thinking about things that are just as important, like the amino acids (lysine, methionine, threonine) and the calciumhosphorus ratios (should be tighter for a young horse than a senior horse). Unfortunately there are no magic formulas for all ages and classes of horses, and my best advice is to feed each horse as what he is -- an individual. While it sounds easier to use the "one feed for all my horses" approach, the horses may be the ones who will not benefit from that approach.

Robin C

 

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Thanks

I have never fed any one Beet Pulp, not sure where to get it, how much to give, or what exactly its for!

Soaking his hay would be a good idea, I will start doing that.

And yes, he is current on all his wormings

He gets plenty of huggs - this is his favorite thing to do

 

[rabbitsfizz]

What him, spoilt???? Nah, never!!! He is going to make some child a DREAM companion one day, Nicole, you've done a brilliant job with him, well done.

 

[nootka]

Robin's advice sounds great. I also wondered about the Sr. feed.

I feed mine a baby feed and it tends to keep them looking great all along.

Another piece of information I have gleaned is that the addition of fat will help w/nutritional absorption in horses.

I absolutely would not cut down his hay intake. I find that will exacerbate the belly if anything.

Can you get some rice bran or corn oil, etc. to add a little to his diet? I would say Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, or BOSS, but I don't feed it to weanlings, I usually wait til they are about 6 months before they get much of them.

He does look pretty good, though, overall.

Liz M.

 

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Robin C

I mix the mare and foal with the senior because Molly cant handle a full load of 16% feed - if I mix the two she is just fine.

I talked with a feed specialist down state on the grain I am feeding and she said Senior and Mare&Foal are so similar that its fine for him to have the mix so Im not to worried about that, just wondering if its the right ammount and if there is something more he needs, he was 3 months on wednesday.

 

[Robin_C]

Nicole - From the picture, he looks like a perfectly healthy foal with no issues. Growth spurts will change the way he looks from week to week and month to month through his weanling and into his yearling year. One month he may look bellyish, thin and gawky, and the next month he may look like a show horse!

If it's important to mix the feeds for the mare's sake, then don't worry too much about it. Once he is weaned, perhaps you could try him on just the Mare & Foal product until he is well into his yearling year.

Good luck with him. Love the photo of you and him in the grass!

Robin C