Horse Care Questions...

I am moving my horse in a month either to my house or to this other stables.. right now he is getting two quarts of strategy and two quarts of country acres 12 horse pellets(i think, it might be 10) twice a day. I was wondering if I need to gradually change him over to Purina Mills Equine Senior, or to put him on strategy by itself or country acres by itself?? If I put him on country acres I will probably buy grand complete supplement mainly for his joints and coat, he isnt a hard keeper..

Okay some info about my baby: :)

He is a quarter horse, he is 14-17 yrs old, we are not sure.. he is a western and english horse, right now due to an injury or abnormality(whatever you want to call it) he is not in good shape. But after this week he will be back on a training plan that works with my school times.. most winters he gets into shape and I ride him on saturdays for about an hour to start off then once he is in shape he will get ridden anywhere from 2hrs-4hrs..on a trail ride.. we do mostly walking, some trotting,cantering,and galloping.. it all depends :)....he enjoys it and so do I.. he is not OVERWORKED!! He will hopefully be doing about 1-2 ft jumping courses next summer and everything on the flat from english and western pleasure to trail classes.. okay I hope this is enough info.. tell me what you would advise..thanks :) oh and he will have 24/7 pasture.. and in the afternoon he will get walked for about 15-30 minutes(if he is by my house)..thanks!!

Anyone??? Please I really need some advice! Thanks!!

I would take what he is on now and get enough for like a week and slowly introduce his new grain as you're weaning him off of his old.

Do as Appy said take a week or 2 to switch him over to whichever feed you decide on. I've tried both they are good feeds. Keep an eye on him if he starts to gain or lose weight then increase or decrease accordingly. If he will have 24/7 pasture he won't need near as much pellet if any. If he hasn't been on grass at all, you will need to introduce that gradually too. Just letting him out for 1/2 to 1 hour at first adding an hour or so each day till he is out for good. I'm not familiar with senior feeds so can't give you any input on that

Unless he has some issues with chewing or eating forage I wouldn't switch to the Senior feed. I "think" purina's senior is a complete feed. Meaning it has a fiber base. So, if he's going to have plenty of forage/fiber already with pasture and / or hay I would keep him on the Strategy or the CAcres feed. I am not familiar with CA.. I doubt he needs 4 quarts of feed 2x a day tho.. But, you know your horse. :)

Thank you all for the help.. and yes I know he is fat but not fat, fat but fat and he is stocky, but he is a quarter horse so he is the stocky built kind(western built horse) but since duke is at a stables where the barn owner and my family is not agreeing right now nor talking I have no say so what so ever in his feeding schedule.. do yall think that is fair.. I mean even before we wasnt mad at each other the boarders couldnt chose how much their horses got!!! It mad me so mad, then they started to lock the feed room door because they claim me and another boarder was stilling and it was her 4 and 7 yrs old girls playing with everything and losing it!! Do yall think that is far... I mean they can't keep weight on him right... gosh.. he goes from ribby to thicky!lol.. but in all serious, I could keep him in perfect or close to perfect weight... but as soon as I move him I will have my say so in his feed.. he should be on about two quarts 2x a day.. that is how it was for about four months and he stayed PERFECT!!! So do yall think that is far... but okay, but I am thinking the owner of the barn is trying to wean duke and about four other horses off strategy, not sure why but I think ill put him on what he has been on for three years and he has been fine.. never coliced..ever.. so I have no idea why she put him on that.. gosh im so confused and mad.. but whatever he will be gone from that place SOON!!!!

Sounds like you are making a good move.. I would absolutely hate it if someone else was making the decisions as to what my horse would be fed. Advise me if there is a problem, sure.. Just don't run over my wishes as long as they are not endangering the horse..

Lil vent there for ya. ;)

lol.. yeah thanks!! I will have other threads up asking for help in other areas..yeah we may have to move duke to another stables bout twenty minutes away vs. the one he is at now that is only two minutes away. But I gotta do what is best for my horse!! But we want to move him to my house but since we live in the city limits, that is going to be a long and hard process because there is so, so many codes to follow.. but my parents have been talking bout moving... so im not sure what the future holds.. I have been here for ten years and I don't know if I want to move or if any of us want to move.. but if we don't we have to build a shelter, only put the fence up 200feet from other houses and other rules that I have memorized, so please pray for me everybody and hope everything will work out!!! I have a question has anybody used grand complete on their horses?? I need a joint and hoof supplement but grand complete has it all.. and the coat and digestive supplement wont hurt him.. and I can't wait to put him back on Country Acres.. only two horses have ever coliced from it.. but one was an arab hard keeper and the other was an exrace horse that had bad colicing problems and he died though, but that was from an ulcer in his stomach.. :( but thanks for the help!!