Thoughts on Purina Strategy?

You're welcome! Glad to help, if you have any other questions just let me know.

The biggest feeding tip I can give you is: Make sure you are working up to feeding him the amount he should get for the weight/level of activity you want him to end up at.

For instance, from looking at his pic I'm going to guesstimate his weight at about 800-850 lbs. But from his build I'd think 1000 to 1100 might be a better weight and you are riding him already which is burning calories. So......fed at 1 1/2% of his body weight for where you want him to end up, appx 1000 lbs, then you'd be feeding 15 lbs of Strategy per day. 5 in the morning, 5 at lunch and 5 in the evening is how I'd break it up. Beet pulp is great, I use it but only in conjunction with alfalfa or you can throw of his Calcium:Phosphorous balance off. Beet pulp is high in phosphorous. If you add in Ultium Compete, then you can start off with 1 lb/day, then up to 2 lbs/day and then up to 3 lbs/day if needed. It won't throw off any of his ratios and it will pack the weight on, especially if you feed the Strategy according to instructions.

Getting weight on an underweight horse in work can be a challenge, so I'd feed at the top ranges and then dial it back once he's where you want him. He's making progress and looking much better than when you got him.

Here's pics of a horse I had to repossess, a month after I brought her home and then a month after that:



Gigi at about 650 lbs.



A month later



At the end of 2 months into her rehab. I fed her Strategy and Ultium with free choice grass hay. You can't see it in the pics but there's a HUGE round bale available to her 24/7. The first 2 weeks I had her back, I kept her double blanketed and in the barn because it was cold. Not as cold as where she came from but she had no fat to help her keep warm so she would have shivered off all her calories. I don't think she picked her head up from the bucket or out of the hay feeder at all for 2 weeks unless it was to take a drink and to stick her nose in my hand when I'd pass by. I've never been so angry in my whole life as I was when I first saw her.

I just bought my horse a few months ago, and he was also pretty ribby and on All Stock. The seller told me "oh, yeah, he doesn't need anything fancy; you can just feed him whatever is cheapest at the feed store."

As soon as I brought him home and started feeding him food meant for horses, he picked up weight super fast.

And between sweet feed and Strategy, I think you definitely made the right choice

You're not supposed to feed grain at 1.5% of the body weight- that's hay. 15 lbs of hay would be great, 15 lbs of Strategy would be overload! The most they recommend feeding a 1000 lb horse is 9 lbs, and if he's not in regular work it would be more like 4-5 lb. (Based on Strategy Healthy Edge)

Strategy has a tendency to make a lot of horses very *hot* so be careful about that but if it doesn't do that to your horse, it's a good feed.

I feed Strategy Healthy Edge and it's great (didn't have the raving lunatic effect that regular Strategy did). My BO mixes soaked beet pulp with it, either the shreds or pellets.... it's the same after soaking.

I'm also a fan of the strategy healthy edge - it's put a nice amount of weight on my TB without making him nutty like the regular strategy did. That plus some COB and stable mix and he's at a nice weight.

I've also used it to help put weight back on my appy mare. She gets the strategy healthy edge along with some rice bran, stable mix and a dash of COB for "taste" haha.

http://horse.purinamills.com/product...2-0032691.aspx

That's a ling to the feeding instructions on the Purina website for Strategy Professional Formula GX which is what the OP says she is feeding.

[QUOTE=Dreamcatcher Arabians;1534564

For instance, from looking at his pic I'm going to guesstimate his weight at about 800-850 lbs. But from his build I'd think 1000 to 1100 might be a better weight and you are riding him already which is burning calories.[/QUOTE]


Impressive Dream Catcher! Had the vet out this morning looking at him and he put his weight right around 900 today and we set a goal of getting him to around 1100. It was suggested he might look even better at 1200 lbs but we're going to get him to 1100 and see.

And I am indeed riding him, but I have cut his work load. We do not canter while riding, and we keep all trot/hill/muscle up work to a minimum. Mostly just fun, relaxing walks which he seems to enjoy I want him to put on another 100 lbs before I start working him out again. I've felt as if I was fighting a battle between the calories and fat he needs to intake and the ones he was burning in order to muscle up, so I've put weight gain as a top priority now and muscle building on the back burner.

Talked to his previous owner some the other day. She found out I was feeding Strategy and claimed she had tried that but it made him feel too good (what?!?! That's a bad thing??). She said he wasnt necessarily hot with it, but he had to much pep for her young daughter to ride and she didnt want that (shock: ) I have not experienced him acting "hot" as of yet and this will be his 4th week on it. He has more energy and is obviously feeling great, but he is nothing I can't handle. If Strategy were to effect him in that way would it have already done so?

Also just wanna give a shoutout of thanks to every one on this Forum for being so helpful! It's good to have a lot of opinions and views when you're a little unsure or doubting your decisions. I appreciate it every one!

"Talked to his previous owner some the other day. She found out I was feeding Strategy and claimed she had tried that but it made him feel too good (what?!?! That's a bad thing??). She said he wasnt necessarily hot with it, but he had to much pep for her young daughter to ride and she didnt want that (shock: )"

I'm so glad I wasn't there to hear that excuse. That's a little along the lines of what the gal said who had the horse I repo'd. So, they feel too good and you aren't up to the task so you starve the energy out of them? I swear if I hear that again, to my face, there's going to be a jail cell with my name on it. Of all the stupid, lame, obnoxious...........GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!


"I have not experienced him acting "hot" as of yet and this will be his 4th week on it. He has more energy and is obviously feeling great, but he is nothing I can't handle. If Strategy were to effect him in that way would it have already done so?"

When you get him up to par at 1100 or 1200 lbs, then he may indeed get a little silly. More like giddy from joy at being fed decently finally! But my experience with Strategy is that once they get the weight on and you start putting them into serious work/muscle building they work off the excess and settle right down and go back to Steady Eddy if that's their real nature. Ultium the same, it's a lot of fat so not really anything to jazz 'em up, but BOY do they SHINE! Wooo HOOO! You can just about see your face on 'em they shine so good. Strategy & a curry comb work miracles but Ultium with it is just the icing on the cake.

An extruded, high fibre feed won't make a horse hot, which I am suspecting the Heathly Edge feed is, sorry don't have those brands here. It has the fibre which a horse needs to gain weight and the protein to maintain & enable muscle mass.