need advice

[MindyLee]

Oh no rabbitsfizz, everyone on here has been very nice and very helpfull and full of good advice which I did take. I even recieved a super freindly phone call from another fourm member who's close by & talked with me for a while.

It was a few emailers who where the folks who personaly sent me some VERY VERY nasty emails which was uncalled for.

 

[targetsmom]

Your mare sounds a bit like one I had years and years ago that was losing weight over the ribs and getting a big "hay" belly. I wormed her thinking that would help, but it turned out in my case that the mare was pregnant and the seller had denied the possibility! Once she foaled I upped her feed considerably and she gained the weight back.

For our mini mares, I am feeding them between 4 and 5 cups of Nutrena Safe Choice grain twice a day, plus the foals get another 1 cup each, 2X/day. This is on top of a few hours of pasture plus grass hay, some soaked plain beet pulp, Strongid and vitamins. The mares are in good weight - one foal is fat though!!!

 

[Mominis]

My vet suggested a supplement called ProAdd by Progressive for a few of the older pasture horses at the place that I board that needed weight. It is best fed on a grass diet. It really does pack the weight on and you can use it with or without additional feed, just hay and/or pasture. I spoke with the nutritionist at Progressive about it for my yearling, as he needed a little bit of weight and he assured me that it is mini safe. It wasn't a fit for us, as we feed alfalfa as opposed to a grass hay, but if yours are on grass you may want to give that a go.

 

[chandab]

My vet suggested a supplement called ProAdd by Progressive for a few of the older pasture horses at the place that I board that needed weight. It is best fed on a grass diet. It really does pack the weight on and you can use it with or without additional feed, just hay and/or pasture. I spoke with the nutritionist at Progressive about it for my yearling, as he needed a little bit of weight and he assured me that it is mini safe. It wasn't a fit for us, as we feed alfalfa as opposed to a grass hay, but if yours are on grass you may want to give that a go.

Must be the ProAd Ultimate the vet was talking about; its a very nutrition dense "ration balancer" type product (very high in protein, vit/min); not really for weight gain, but help with muscle, especially on the topline. [Good for seniors, cause they don't utilize nutrients as well as youngsters, so packs a big punch in a small package.]

Progressive does make a standard ration balancer in both alfalfa and grass formulas; I feed the grass formula and love it, my kids look great. [8 of 10 are easy keepers and just get the ration balancer and hay; 2 need more calories, so they also get oats and senior (alfalfa-based senior - and, I lost my senior gelding the week after buying more senior, so they are helping to use it up).

 

[Mominis]

Chandab, that's the stuff! Pro Add Ultimate.

 

[chandab]

Chandab, that's the stuff! Pro Add Ultimate.

It would have been much less confusing if they hadn't named the super dense product so similar to their regular ration balancer products.

ProAd Ultimate is their super nutrient dense product, fed at about 1/2# daily for 1000# horse; its like 50% protein (which when figured with the whole diet,r eally isn't a very high total diet protein level).

ProAdvantage is their regular ration balancer, it comes in grass formula (30% protein) to be fed with grass or mixed hay/pasture and alfalfa formula (14% protein) to be fed with alfalfa hay.

I feed the grass formula to everyone here and really love it. 8 out of 10 minis only need the balancer plus forage; the other two need extra calories, so get a little oats added (and alfalfa-based senior feed, can't get decent alfalfa pellets, and I have the senior on-hand).

 

[Mominis]

If anyone wants the info on it and to see what the nutritionist at Progressive said about feeding the Pro Ad Ultimate to the minis, just toss me a PM and I'll send you a copy of the emails that we had exchanged about it. =)