# Feeding? - dissertation help



## spollard828 (24 January 2012)

hi there,
i am very interested in what everyone feeds their hunters? 
im currently writing my research proposal at uni and wondered if you could let me know what you feed and why? does anybody feed bran mashes?

i would like to stress that any information given will not be used in my actual work but is more to help narrow down the many ideas bouncing around my head...

many many thanks to anybody who replies!


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## MILLGREENLADY (24 January 2012)

Hey I have two hunters,

Both go out once a week and sometimes 3 times a fornight.
Both tend to drop a bit a weight towards the end of the hunting season.

I find D & H Build and Glow very good for weight gain, both on that.
Both on Stay Power Museli half a scoop twice a day then built up when hunting to a scoop twice a day.
The smaller younger one also get competion mix 1/3 scoop twice a day then up to 2/3 twice a day when hunting, which contain oats and barley.
Would feed straights but not that confordent !
Feed Alfa A Condition. 
The younger one is also a fussy eater so gets a warm bran mash with her Alfa A every evening, bran bash their are a lot of arguments regarding lack of calcium and it doesnt actually benfit a horse but it helps get the rest of the feed down her.

Also if lacking weight feed fibre cubes to bub up the fibre intake and are both on hayledge !

Probebly seems a lot of feed but they are hunted hard.

Hope it helps.


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## JenHunt (24 January 2012)

Ron is 16.2 IDx hunting once or twice a week, and is fed ad lib haylage, with alfa oil, speedibeet and lo-cal balancer. He's fed once a day as he won't eat breakfast. He goes loopy on cereals, and looses weight. 
don't feed bran mashes unless I'm trying to tempt a poorly horse, as I believe that modern bran has no place in modern nutrition for horses.

and this is how the dearest donkey is looking (as of Sunday!)


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## Rollin (24 January 2012)

I don't hunt but interested in the bran mash question.  I used to keep two old boys at livery in Berkshire, with a few hunters.  They were fed bran mash at the end of a day's hunting.


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## maggiesmum (24 January 2012)

I always fed my hunter a mostly fibre diet of alfalfa pellets (made into a mash) and soaked whole oats, I'd have liked to have fed him speedi-beet but it made him footy :-/ 
I altered the level of oats as and when I needed to, alongside that he had ad-lib haylage and was turned out all day. I'm not into feeding a bran mash, when we're always told to change feeds gradually it seems daft to throw a totally alien feedstuff at them, especially when the bodies already tired, different if they have some bran every day I suppose.


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## spacefaer (24 January 2012)

Ad lib haylage (or hay for the ones who can't cope with haylage) 
Conditioning nuts
Sugar beet
Chaff

In varying proportions, depending on the horse and how much hunting!

I always used to feed straights but this is what works for the current herd.


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## spollard828 (25 January 2012)

thanks everyone, much food for though!


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## orangepony (25 January 2012)

Mine are fed:

Ad-lib haylage, rolled barley, sugarbeet, chaff of some description (usually readigrass or the like) and soaked copra meal with kossolian blood salts.

The feeds resemble a slightly lumpy mash, given warm with salt & carrots after hunting. 

The quantities vary from horse to horse, but tb and tb x breds so keeping weight on without fizzying up is paramount. Wetter feeds of a fibrous nature retain water in the gut preventing dehydration and permits slow release energy; exactly what you want out hunting!

Good luck with the dissertation, I know how hard choosing a topic is, but make sure you find it interesting to start with, after 20 thousand words of typing even the most riveting subjects begin to make you feel bored!!


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## Rosie Round The Hills (25 January 2012)

Alfafa chaff, sugar beet, split peas, linseed & a balancer.

c24 lbs Hay a day plus 6 hours turnout per day on grass in the winter

Three meals a day when hunting as she sheds weight quickly.

She's allergic to grains - this is my alternative-to-gains weight-keep-on diet.


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## Grey_Eventer (25 January 2012)

1 x scoop Alfalfa chaff, 1 x scoop mix, 1/2 scoop baileys calm and conditioner, 1/2 scoop rolled barley, fed twice a day, warm with carrots.
As much hay as he'll eat (skinny horse!)


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## doodleberry (25 January 2012)

HI I have 3 hunters all hunt once a week sometimes twice not hard though . the 2 big boys 17.2hh have scoop staypower muesli am  and scoop alfa a oil 1 scoop muesli and 1 scoop build up mix and half a scoop of bran .I use the bran for bulk and just makes the meal last longer and they eat it slower i don't use epsom salts with it though but do use warm water.If they have travelled a long way and have had a tiring long day I will give a bran mash then with half a scoop of mix then a proper meal later but it's very rare.Olden methods insisted you fed sugarbeet with bran to balance out etc .All horses are differant and they is no set rule just guidelines what should work sometimes doesn't and what should never work does!! they also have 2 scoops pink powder pm!!


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## MeganLindsx (25 January 2012)

Dand H calm and condition- for extra wieght without excess engry

Alfa A oil- For wieght and condition 

Conditioning cubes- Ditto

Topspec Balancer- Don't really know why lol probably hope that it will help her gain wieght

She is a very poor doer!


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## spotty_pony (25 January 2012)

My boy hunts once/twice per month. (Any more and I think I would struggle with his weight as he gets really excited and puts so much into it!)

He is fed ad-lib haylage and two feed each day which consist of:
AM - 1 scoop of Mollichaff Condition and 2 cups of Topspec Balancer
PM - 1/2 scoop of Baileys No.4 Topline Conditioning Cubes, handful of chaff, carrots and 1/2 little scoop of Cortaflex.


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## ffgirly (27 January 2012)

My 15'1 cob lives out 'almost' 24/7 I bring him and his field pals in if weather is really bad (I go more on wind speed to determine if they come in or not rather than temp), they have a huge shelter that they are happy to all go in together, he's hunted twice a week.  Hes fed Alfa Oil, fast fibre, with garlic, pink powder, Nutri-bites. I do use warm water to make the fast fibre up before and after hunting, ab lib hay.


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## Foxhunter49 (29 January 2012)

Mine are fed Equilibra and Tiger Oats with a grass chaff. The amount of oats depends on what work they are doing but none seem to need more than 4 lb. 
Ad lib haylage.


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## CrazyMare (30 January 2012)

My mare is 20, and hunts about once a month, some months she gets 2 or 3 days if shes really lucky!!!

She gets 1 1/2 scoops of Alfa A, 400g TopSpec Balancer, 1/2 scoop of SpeediBeet, with 2 cups of TopSpec Fibre Plus cubes, with Superflex joint supplement, and a small spoon of salt.

She also has adlib hay.

She goes bonkers on cerals, and is prone to tying up.

This was Boxing Day, she's dropped a bit since then, but has just had a week off so has probably put it back on again


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## JenHunt (30 January 2012)

It's nice to see so many people are feeding a fibre based diet! well done folks - those horses are lucky to have you


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## Daddy_Long_Legs (30 January 2012)

My OH feed one hunter 1 scoop of cooked oats and 1 scoop of mix. twice a day. The other hunter gets 1 scoop mix and 1 scoop of cooked barley. if i had my way they would be getting beet pulp and chaff too. but they both look great on it. they both hunt once a week.

My guy is at a different yard so he gets alfafa, 1 oats, 1.5 mix and beet pulp. he gets copper and sunflower oil aswell. he gets this twice a day and all get ad lib hay.


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## pipsqueek (30 January 2012)

Mine are both fed exactly the same (one is a 21yo TB x connemara and the other a 10yo connemara) :-  ad-lib haylage, 3/4 scoop meadow-mix, scoop speedi-beet and few handfuls of chop  and carrots (this is spread over two feeds with the majority in the evening feed as they are keen to get out in the field in the morning and are not too interested in food!)  Put vet-vits equiflex in my older mare's feed and the hoof supplement equivalent in my other mare's feed.  They have both hunted this season but mainly the younger one, they both look extremely well.  

And no, do not feed bran mashes after hunting!  Make their feeds with boiling water added to the speedi-beet, i'm sure they prefer this and it has more nutritional value...!


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## CrazyMare (30 January 2012)

JenHunt said:



			It's nice to see so many people are feeding a fibre based diet! well done folks - those horses are lucky to have you 

Click to expand...

We've been doing it for about 6/7 years now - I think my mare above looks pretty good for 20!!!

My 4 year old is fat as butter, and shiney as a mirror on fibre alone. She feels so well that she did a vertical take off on the long lines tonight!!!


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## TeamChaser (31 January 2012)

Mine is only hunting couple of times a month but kept fit for team chasing starting again (3 and a half weeks and counting )

Ad lib haylage (about 38lbs over 24 hour period if no turn out .... we have very little grass unfortunately), has bit less than half scoop pony nuts morning and lunch time .... only really cos other horses on yard are fed! Then has scoop calm and condition, scoop mollichaff conditioning, cortaflex and soya oil in the evening.

Don't do anything different after hunting/team chasing except electrolyte couple days leading up to it (if I remember ), although he doesn't tend to sweat too much hunting or team chasing .... relaxed fella mostly


He's ISH so quite a good doer. High fibre diet with good quality haylage seems to suit him - looks fab, has kept nice weight/condition and has plenty of energy, particularly in the warm up area on team chase day lol


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## JenHunt (31 January 2012)

CrazyMare said:



			We've been doing it for about 6/7 years now - I think my mare above looks pretty good for 20!!!

My 4 year old is fat as butter, and shiney as a mirror on fibre alone. She feels so well that she did a vertical take off on the long lines tonight!!!
		
Click to expand...


Ron is 18 (we think) and I think he's looking his best yet this year...


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## GinaGeo (1 February 2012)

My horse is fed Grass Nuts, soaked, varying as to weight and workload. He also gets a Spillers Lite Balancer and Graze On. Split into three feeds, he's a Connie type and is a good doer.


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## immoralorchid (2 February 2012)

My 16hh sports horse is fed 3kg of balenced n-hance (roughly 3 scoops) 2 mugs of top spec balencer


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## immoralorchid (2 February 2012)

Argh stupid phone wasn't finished 

And a scoop of sugar beet per day (divided into 2/3 meals a day) she is hunted once a week she also has ablib hay


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