Feeding a Yearling??

She's currently in a run in situation, so she has 24/7 access to turnout when she wants it but absolutely so chance of pasture. I'd love to move her to someplace with grass turnouts, but that's not in the cards right now. The reason I was asking about the Min A Vite is because I don't feed her the recommended amount of grain for her age (6 lbs a day??!! No way). I switched from the Ultium because I never really wanted it in the first place, I really liked the Sentinal because it's low starch and just seemed like a better feed. I got caught up when she showed up, the feed store was out of everything except Purina so I just grabbed a bag of the Ultium to tide me over until the Grow and Excel came in, then I switched her over. My main concern is she seems to have lost more weight since she got here. She gets about 1/2 of a bale of hay a day. The bales are first cut timothy / orchard mix. It's not fantastic hay but it's good for CT, we've had some bad hay crops the past couple of years.

I'm not so much concerned about putting weight on quickly, just putting the weight on period. I got nervous because she looks thinner. I went through the same situation with my gelding last year, he lost a lot of weight where I was boarding him. I moved him, he gets free choice hay and grass, one cup a day of Sentinal LS Performance, and 1/2 cup a day of flax and he is a WHALE. He only gets the grain so I have something to mix his supplements into. So now I have a fat gelding I'm trying to take weight off of, and a thin baby who needs to gain some.

Can I give her the flax anyway? I really like the flax for the omega 3's and would love to add some shine to her coat.

They get ribby when they grow. My yearling grazes for 5-7 hours a day, has free choice hay and gets Blue Seal Hunter (higher protein) and is still slightly ribby right now, but she's doing serious growing.

I'd much rather see a fit/slightly ribby yearling than the hunks of young horse in the yearling quarter horse halter ring...

Get her on free choice hay if you can - Constant trickle amounts of forage are important for all horses, but more so for babies. I'm with most of the others, I would have her on free choice forage, a vit/min supplement or ration balancer, and then only add calories if need in the form of low starch/low sugar feeds such as Speedi-Beet, oils, copra, lupins, etc.

It is far healthier for a youngster to be a bit ribby than a bit fat, so don't be too concerned unless she actually looks like she is starving. Over feeding youngsters is rife nowadays and is very, very bad for them.

Ditto to My Beau. Stress also often causes horses to lose weight, so it may be a case of just letting her settle in & the weight will come back.

Why have you got your fat gelding on a high calorie 'performance' ration?? I'd get him off that for starters and instead feed something like Hygain Zero to mix the supps with. I'd also be feeding hay in a slow feeder & consider getting him off the grass, or using a grazing muzzle or such to cut down his intake.

The Grow & Excel feed looks OK, altho I am hesitant of feeds that contain corn and molasses.

^ I just want to say that I LOVE Hygain Zero. It's what I have all my horses on when we are competeing :]

I'm not sure if it is available in the states, though.

My gelding gets the LS Performance because he is a picky spoiled brat and refuses to eat any of the "diet" food I buy for him. I figure it doesn't make a difference anyway, he's only getting a cup a day.

Can someone explain to me exactly what a ration balancer is? I hear about them all the time on this forum but don't personally know of anyone who uses them.

Yeah, generally speaking, 1 cup per day of anything shouldn't make much of a dent, BUT it does depend whether he's IR or anything, as many IR horses can't tolerate ANY sugar spikes without adverse effects. IR is also a very common issue, especially among overweight horses, so I would be wary of this at least. If he's got any 'growth' rings on his feet or any 'fat pads' I would take this as an indication his diet needs to be more carefully managed.

Ration balancers are the popular name for 'complete' feed supplements that are generally pelleted feed. They are also usually grain based, so again, not necessarily the best choice for fatties & depends if the horse is IR or such whether they are appropriate. But they are far higher in nutrients & better balanced(tho they all different & tend to get what you pay for) than 'complete' horse feed and therefore you generally feed way less of them than you'd have to to get a decent amount of nutrition into a horse with a 'feed'.

I personally have a couple of rather round(not obese, but certainly not fading away) horses, of whom one is also incredibly fussy, and I've chosen to feed a 'ration balancer' to them, to get the best nutrition into them without adding too much in the way of calories & carbs. After diet & feed analysis(thru FeedXL.com) I chose KER Gold Pellet because it seemed the best by far and palatable to my fuss pot and he only needs 60g(1/2 teacup) per day. It is expensive per 20kg bag, but at that rate, it's actually quite economical compared to cheaper bags, and after analysis, discovered I only have to feed bit more than half what it says on the pack too.

A ration blancer is a vitamin.mineral supplement on steriods :) it is designed balance the nutrition in the "average" hay

They are also GRAIN FREE low calorie type feed... they are ideal for IR horses or fatties....they are also ideal for younger horses needing good nutrition without all the sugars and starches of traditional feeds

What is a ration balancer and where can you find one?

Thanks for the info, Peggysue. I read the link you posted, and I really like the sounds of the Buckeye Grow and Win and that's the one that's most available in my area. For their feeding recommendations, a 400 - 600 lb horse should be fed .75 lbs a day, and this will cover all of her nutritional needs, correct? So I won't have to feed her a multi vitamin?
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