# feeding natives for energy but not weight gain?



## ester (21 June 2011)

Is it possible?

I thought we were doing quite well this summer keeping the energy levels up but over the last couple of weeks I think summer (aka lazy/riding through treacle ) Frank appears to have arrived. Which leaves me waiting until winter to get some oomph back!  

So, does anyone think it is possible to stick any oomph back in without them putting on weight, I have never tried for fear of it going straight to his belly! After attempting to do fast work last night without my spurs I was left somewhat feeling like I had put more effort in it than him!   

Currently out 24/7 on approx one acre with one other of short cropped grass. Was strip grazing it, but up to the end now so on that until after hay is cut. Gets handful of hifi and pony nuts once a day for his joint and hoof supps. 
He is as fit as I can feasibly get him around work, ridden 6 times a week (never less than 5!) normally mix of 2x schooling, 2x 2hour hacks and 2x fast work hacks although this is ground dependent as we do it all on grass. 

I does help if I keep him in the night before a show  he doesn't get any energy food in winter just hay, hifi, pony nuts and sugar beet but is in at night and out during the day, so I think maybe he gets more sleep! 

Couple of pics, think I am just about ok with his weight atm, he put on a bit due to limited fast work on the hard ground we had. He always seems to end up with belly (not helped by the fact that looking back at old pics I think his back has definitely started to drop.. I have told him he isn't allowed to get old   is 18 now. ) but neck and buttwise I think he is ok. I am also keeping him fully clipped as he just holds on to his coat too much for the amount of work I want him to do and he doesn't do heat well!

FWIW never had lami, though always wary of it, was v overweight when I bought him and by some miracle had avoided getting it then. 

Thoughts on if you would just leave him as he is or try feeding something? It's infuriating when I finally think I have got him off my leg after another winter schooling then summer comes around and it goes to pot a bit 














and this was about 10 days ago.. I think he manages to look fatter here! after winning his whp class (before winning in hand and ridden veterans too.. show off!)


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## Princess_shamrock (21 June 2011)

I have a welsh d x connemara(more welsh though) and i was having trouble with energy levels she was out during the day in at nyt  and gettin only pony nuts, because like you i was scared she would put on weight if i even though of a proper feed,i ride about 5 times a week maybey more sumtimes, and after a horrifik lesson with just a lazy blob under me i had to do something, so heres what ive done and its worked wonders 

shes being strip grazed with 3 other horses(also good doers)
shes still coming in at nyt and out in the mornig witht he odd night out,
i also started giving her 2 scoops of competition mix with some fibre morning and night, shes not daft and high strung just when i want her to work she really has the energy now to try her wee heart out, its made a big difference

I bring her in about 4pm, ride and then feed her i leave her net(hay) outside her sable and the girls put it in at 7pm, coz shes greedy, ive noticed a huge difference in her so i hope my experience helps you,

ps your bby is georgous i think he dosent need to loose any more weight just tone up, as long as your feeding a high energy feed and burning it off which you will be doing the work your doing he will be as fit as a fiddle xx

Heres a photo of my girls she is 11yrs young 

This photo was taken at the local show a few weeks ago after i changed her diet*


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## dafthoss (21 June 2011)

I will be watching this with intrest as I am in the same situation.


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## Amymay (21 June 2011)

The fitter you can get - him the more you can feed - the more energy he'll have.

Personally I'd look at upping the hacking and increasing the canter work and faster work (with your stirrups.

Have you tried instant energy feeds?


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## tinap (21 June 2011)

Same problem!!! I feed winergy equlibrium high energy mix - not put (any more!) weight on, but not coming off either !!


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## Mince Pie (21 June 2011)

I have the same problem so i put mine on ProPell


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## trendybraincell (21 June 2011)

Mwhaha...welcome to my club!!!!!!

I don't bother with mixes, I find I just can't feed enough to get the required response without getting a fat Welsh Cob!! So its straights all the way. Oats are the easiest to feed, currently feeding shadwick tiger oats, but they seem to go through him, Matt wants me to try soaked whole oats.


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## MochaDun (21 June 2011)

dafthoss said:



			I will be watching this with intrest as I am in the same situation.
		
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Me too.  I had a small boost of energy once they were put onto the summer fields mid April but I think with all the dry and heat the grass wasn't as nutritrious as normal for as long this year though we did get weight gain.  But any energy waned within about 4 weeks and I am losing more weight than he is through our riding...as a dogwalker said to me a couple of weeks ago as we passed them...it looks like you're doing all the work!  He only gets a handful of a non-molassed chaff to have supplement in with some D&H Equibites if I think he needs them.  I'm just after a tiny bit of sparkle mixed with sanity.


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## AngieandBen (21 June 2011)

Half a scoop of Spillers Instant Energy Mix is brilliant fed a few hours before a long hack  gives my cob plenty of energy for the job.  He's fed a bit of Fast Fibre at other times with salt and magnesium.  He's stayed the same weight for over two years, he's on a track system which works well and out 24/7 365 days a year;  

He's lovely btw, looks very healthy!


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## ester (21 June 2011)

thanks for your replies and suggestions everyone . 

Amymay he very much sees limited point in hacking, and we are a bit limited, as much as possible I try and get him to the beach or on the hills (no hills here apart from motorway bridges!) and I do make the most of mum's anglo to tow him along  If I do a 2 hour hack which round ours has to be pretty much road we probably trot for an hour of that, mostly cos his walk is so infuriating!

I have never tried him on anything, he does have a propensity to be a bit idiotic and welsh at times so I have tended towards the oh well, he will wake up again in winter. Last night we had the mad triathletes swimming in the river on one side of us, and the steers cantering alongside us on the other (with my encouragement!) and it made very little difference! He loves his super steady canter rhythm and I haven't pushed him out of it recently because of the ground.. yesterday I asked and nothing much happened  and hate riding him in the spurs all the time (and a long schooling whip!) 

when I say fast work I have a 1km flat stretch of now rather long grass.. and I aim to do about 3km of trot and 3km of slow canter and 2km of fast canter. Often with some interval work. 
He jump's too but that tends to be more sporadic depending on what is on/ground/lessons etc.

I am guilty of stressing about his weight and his fitness but unfortunately PhD is at the point where that definitely has to take priority and he just has to do what I can fit in with him. 

Roll on hunting. . that definitely did the trick last year  

tbc.. having eaten tiger oats myself they are scrummy!


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## trendybraincell (21 June 2011)

ester said:



			tbc.. having eaten tiger oats myself they are scrummy!
		
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hmm can't say I've tried them myself, although they do smell rather nice


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## dafthoss (21 June 2011)

I can confirm that tiger oats dont taste bad . 
TBC do you find that the tiger oats make him fatter or not? My boy was on them from the middle of winter untill the grass came through but I took him off them as I didnt want him to get fat with the grass too.


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## trendybraincell (21 June 2011)

No not fat at all, he's at a really good weight at the moment and been on them all through winter. He's only turned out at night with soaked hay during the day but I've found them very easy to feed...trainer just wants more ummph for the harder dressage work


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## dafthoss (21 June 2011)

Thanks will start him on them again then. Just didnt want to carry on with them if they were going to expand his waist line and as no one else at the yard feeds any thing like that they couldnt help.


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## spotty_pony (21 June 2011)

What amymay said!

The fitter he is, the more energy he will have. 

My boy is also a very good doer and atm he is very fit and slimline and has plenty of energy whereas a couple of years ago, he wasn't very fit and had quite a big belly and he was quite lazy!


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## ester (21 June 2011)

I wish that worked! he is much fitter now than he was all of last autumn (didn't hunt until February) and he has a damn site less energy! Sometimes I'd like him to return to welsh tit status   

tbc you have to come ride him once you are fully functional again


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## soulfull (21 June 2011)

Tiger oats are fab for just this.  Also really work on sharpening him up in his transitions, we all except a nice steady transition when really we want a sharp instant one   At this point too much is better


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## huntley (21 June 2011)

We had a very lazy, fat Connemara and my vet said just oats. Non fattening and more energy. He didn't change temperament at all, but definitely coped better with all the work he was doing. Semi-starvation paddock and hay.


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## ester (21 June 2011)

thanks all 

soulfull transitions are in general pretty good, though he normally needs one hard reminder. He is always corrected on this. Why he hasn't worked out over the last 6 years that life might be more comfortable if you just did what you were told in the first instance  too much would be pretty impossible with him  

thanks huntley , I think I am considering along those lines.


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## trendybraincell (21 June 2011)

ester said:



			tbc you have to come ride him once you are fully functional again 

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I'm there  certainly think we need a pony day once I'm fit, although you're welcome to come sit on shadwick anytime, he's still working even if I'm not 

I know people say oats make their horses mental, but I think they are a brilliant feed for the good doer native type. I think all the sugar coatings in modern feeds are far worse than oats!


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## Cuppatea (21 June 2011)

race nuts.
simples.


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## SO1 (21 June 2011)

fitness is the key I believe, my native is off his head this year far too much energy for my liking sometimes and it is because it is the fittest he has even been.

Jumping and long hacks with hill work and cantering have increased his fitness. I don't ride him every day but make sure that when I do ride he works hard. He also lives out so is moving about himself which helps with fitness. I did have him on a balancer but I have taken him off it as I think he is getting plenty of energy out of the grass and I have now had to put him on a calmer.


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## ester (21 June 2011)

sometimes I hate being on the somerset levels, if I can get some decent hill work into him it makes a big difference to his fitness. Mum keeps nabbing the trailer to go to dressage atm though!


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## Jane_Lou (21 June 2011)

We evented a connie on tiger oats, balancer and Alfa-A lite for the last 2 years and his energy levels were spot on. He was kept very fit, when the gound was hard we would box twice a week to local woods with sand tracks for fast work and interval training and are lucky to have hacking from our yard with monster hills, even walking up and down keep them them pretty fit. I also found that only having him out for 12 hours a day made a massive difference. He was out either night or day on restricted grazing and would come in for the other half on shavings with a small net of soaked hay. It is amazing what natives can get out of apparently bare grazing, my other connie is out on what appears to be a barren wasteland but doesn't stop grazing all day - over night he barely finishes a 6lb soaked net he is so stuffed!


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