# Feeding the Skinny/lean 4 Year Old



## winchester (4 March 2013)

My 4 year old is 16hh and has always been on the lean side.

He is a worrier so i dont think this helps but i really thought he would start to fill out a bit now.  When i tacked him up yesterday you could even see his ribs.

He is currently on Dengie Hi-FI and Top Spec Comprehensive Balancer.

Shall i change his Dengie to something else like Alfa A Oil or shall i add a conditioning feed to his current dinner?


----------



## whisp&willow (4 March 2013)

I have never seen a lb gained in any of mine using "conditioning" feeds.

Have had good results using allen and page fast fibre though.


----------



## Oscar (4 March 2013)

Mine is exactly the same and now he is about to start work I want him to be able to develop muscle etc so I have put him on ad-lib hay, chaff, readi grass, alfalfa nuts, micronised linseed and full fat soya as I don't want the work makin lose any more condition.  Teeth, wormer etc all fine


----------



## rowy (4 March 2013)

Could you add some micronised linseed. 
My rising 4 year old is quite scrawny (or was when i got her 6 months ago) and is very behind with her growing. She is doing quite well off some micronised linseed added to her feed and ad lib high quality hay.


----------



## CBFan (4 March 2013)

When you say he is a worrier, do you mean he is stressy? excitable?

I personally would overhaul his diet completely...

Put him on hi-fi mololasses free if you really want to feed a chaff - it is high in oil so will help with the weight- Alfa-a will more than likely fizz him up and make his 'worrying' worse.

Feed a mug full of micronised linseed a day

plus either Speedi beet or fast fibre

and then a vitamin and mineral supplement - preferabl either pro-balance, or forage plus balancer rather than one of the commercialised ones which tend to have a lot of fillers in them.

Plus, of course add lib hay when in.


----------



## Kat (4 March 2013)

How much hay or haylage is he getting? That was really important with mine when she was a thin 4yo. 

I agree with CBFan's suggestions too, mine has speedibeet, micronised linseed and a suppliment together with an absolute shedload of haylage and she is looking better than she did on more than the recommended level of conditioning feed.


----------



## Goldenstar (4 March 2013)

Alfa A oil is excellent for young horses however if he's skinny I would feed him linseed up to 500 grammes a day so I would  avoid the Alfafa with oil added and just add a chop to bind the feed together I would give speedibeet with the linseed and add lib high quality hay or haylage.
Four year olds are still growing and often use all aviable for  for growing not laying down fat.
I feed oats to all my horses they are I think underrated as a feed .


----------



## winchester (4 March 2013)

This is him at his 'fattest' in August last year as a 3yo.  As you can see its not like he is in bad condition but just needs that bit extra.  He is still in good condition i.e nice coat, bright eyes, but just skinny ribby and lean.

TopSpec have recommended adding conditioning cubes they say start at 2 cups a day and increase to 6 cups a day if needed.

But i am unsure whether to change him to Alfa A oil or not?  Does it blow their brains, he is a nice person but going through a bit of a Kevin the teenager stage


----------



## Maesfen (4 March 2013)

I honestly wouldn't want my four year old to be any heavier than in that pic.  He's healthy, why put pressure on young limbs and heart by piling on the pounds?


----------



## winchester (4 March 2013)

But as i have just said this was in August....  he is now ribby


----------



## Kat (4 March 2013)

How much hay is he getting? Before you try any conditionng feeds I would up the forage, it will help with the stressiness too as it will keep him busy. You need him to have enough that he is never standing with nothing to eat, or with just scraps. I thought mine was getting ad lib as she always had some left over but she was looking thin. I weighed her haylage and increased the weight of it gradually and at first I found that she always had the same "bit left over" in the morning, I kept increasing the haylage until she had noticeably more left in the morning. Basically she wasn't greedy enough to clear up the scraps but was standing stressing because she had eaten up while she still had some left - upping the haylage helped her weight pick up. Oil did too, but I have since swapped oil for micronised linseed which seems to do the job even better.


----------



## winchester (4 March 2013)

He has ab lib hay, and access to haylage in his 3 1/2 acre field he is out in during the day.

Honest i am just hoping to get a bit of extra coverage over him.  Hopefully the spring grass might help him along.  I thnk i will add the conditioning cubes to start and see if i notice any difference.


----------



## Kat (4 March 2013)

winchester said:



			He has ab lib hay, and access to haylage in his 3 1/2 acre field he is out in during the day.

Honest i am just hoping to get a bit of extra coverage over him.  Hopefully the spring grass might help him along.  I thnk i will add the conditioning cubes to start and see if i notice any difference.
		
Click to expand...

Yes but how much is the ad lib? 

Try adding another hay nets worth a day and see if he eats that too. 

I'd also add micronised linseed rather than conditioning cubes - especially if he is stressy.


----------



## ofcourseyoucan (4 March 2013)

if he is being a teenager brat then you dont really want to give him conditioning food. add some oil or linseed to his current diet, make sure he never runs out of hay and in a couple of weeks Dr Green will bulk him up. his pic he looks an ideal weight, you dont want a fat youngster. dont forget he is still growing so will go through lanky looking stages which is normal. He is better to grow slowly with lanky stages than be force grown through grub!


----------



## Pearlsasinger (4 March 2013)

Some horses react badly to alfalfa so I would take out any chaff which contains that.  IME you can't do better for weight gain than grassnuts and dried grass chaff (preferably not Readigrass, which is ryegrass), combined with ad-lib hay/lage.


----------



## CBFan (5 March 2013)

Maesfen said:



			I honestly wouldn't want my four year old to be any heavier than in that pic.  He's healthy, why put pressure on young limbs and heart by piling on the pounds?
		
Click to expand...

Ditto. You say he is ribby now - he will be, he has just come out of winter. I am sure with some spring grass in his belly, which by the sounds of he has access to plenty of, he will put the weight back on. 

What worries me in your statement in your post with the piccy is that you state 'As you can see its not like he is in bad condition but just needs that bit extra'. basically Maesfen and I are dissagreeing with this statement. In that photo he does not need any extra. He is in perfect condition.

I am confused as to why you posted, to get several replies reccomending the same things, only to go on your own merry way and do the complete opposite of what you have been advised by the majority...

Alfa-a can heat some sensitive types up, conditioning feeds tend to be expensive conortations of other 'less conditioning' feeds with different labels, packed full of crap which tends to hype sensitive types up... cut all the crap and feed a simple, high calorie, low sugar, low starch diet and you have a much more sane horse that holds it's weight...


----------



## winchester (5 March 2013)

I posted to get some helpful and informative advice on feeding  I am not an equine nutritionist or a feed expert and I thought there might be some nice kind sole on here to help me, while i was waiting for the feed nutrisionist to phone me back.

I have removed the picture of my horse - so at least you wont have to 'worry' about my statement anymore - saves me trying to explain myself to those who can judge a young horses overall condition by one photo.

Thank you to those that have responded - i wouldnt dare touch speedi-beet after a pony reacted badly to Sugar-beet in the past and hospitalised my sister, never used linseed oil so think i will research more and go down this route and also start to add conditioning cubes.

After owning several horses over the last 18 years - im still learning!


----------



## CBFan (5 March 2013)

winchester said:



			I posted to get some helpful and informative advice on feeding  I am not an equine nutritionist or a feed expert and I thought there might be some nice kind sole on here to help me, while i was waiting for the feed nutrisionist to phone me back.

I have removed the picture of my horse - so at least you wont have to 'worry' about my statement anymore - saves me trying to explain myself to those who can judge a young horses overall condition by one photo.

Thank you to those that have responded - i wouldnt dare touch speedi-beet after a pony reacted badly to Sugar-beet in the past and hospitalised my sister, never used linseed oil so think i will research more and go down this route and also start to add conditioning cubes.

After owning several horses over the last 18 years - im still learning!
		
Click to expand...

You posted a picture so that we COULD judge his condition??! so you must've thought it was possible from one photo, which I think actually to the trained eye - one who is used to seing developing youngsters day in day out, it is.

I can understand why you might be put off speedi-beet but speedi-beet is actually VERY different to Sugar beet in that it has a LOT less sugar and I have not known ANY horse behaving adversely to it. there are alternatives though if you really want to avoid it. Fast fibre being one.

I'd suggest you do a lot more independent research into what feeds actually contain rather than relying on feed company 'nutritionists' reccomendations... If you look at some of the barefoot threads you will become very aware of what feed companies get away with in the labelling of their products and it is actually quite scary!! (you don't have to have a barefoot horse to learn something from these threads)

Don't bother with linseed oil. It will work out very expensive. Look at MICRONISED Linseed instead.

EVERYONE who has replied to this thread has tried to help you...


----------



## Milkmaid (5 March 2013)

I wouldn't worry too much at this time of year as the spring grass will be through soon.
I would too be going down the fibre route and there has been some excellent advice already on this thread.
Speedibeet & micronised linseed with a bit of chaff & the balancer until he picks up a bit would be a good plan.


----------



## Maesfen (5 March 2013)

Thanks CBF, you saved me writing that out myself!  Agree with every word of yours and Milkmaid too.


----------



## winchester (5 March 2013)

I posted the photo to show that the horse (i bred myself along with many others) was a typical warmblood and not a nelected/bad start in life pony!

Thank you EVERYONE for your replies on feeding advice


----------

