Feeding Daisy and the Rest of the Herd

 

Winter is coming fast and Daisy is already showing signs of its approach. For anyone who doesn't know, Daisy is DH's 23-year-old Oldenburg mare. The picture here is an old one, but it's our favorite. Bryan doesn't ride Daisy very often anymore because she hasn't been doing well with long rides. She enjoys the occasional trip to the beach and that's about it.

The point is that Daisy's getting very thin and that is a very bad sign.We noticed when we brought them home from the summer pasture this weekend that she was really showing signs of her age. We agreed that I would go out every day and feed herto try to get some weight back on her before the cold really hits.

We expected this to be a hard winter for her. We had gone out about a month ago and bought a special food for her, that is designed for horses that have a little troublekeeping weight on, whether they are breeding or are old. Luckily for us, she seems to love her new food.

When I fed Monday, she gave me a bit of trouble. This would be the first time for her to go into the box in many year and she was not liking the idea. I ended up feeding her at her usual trough and fighting to keep the other three horse off her food the entire time. That was both unpleasant and painful for me.

So Monday night DH went out and taught Daisy to go in the box. He ended up feeding the rest of the herd while he was there.

Tuesday I went out to feed only Daisy again. She went willingly into the box and was eager to eat. But then the other three started fighting in the shed, trying to be as close to Daisy as possible and unhappy about the lack of feed for them. I drove them out of the shed, shut them out, and went and gave them hay. The result was that Daisy refused to eat until they were back inside and even then she was uneasy, wanting to know what was outside. AARGH!

Last night our favorite fruit and vegetable man came by with some stuff he couldn't sell for us. Mostly carrots and apples on the verge of being too old. So DH went over with that stuff and to feed Daisy and ended up feeding hte whole herd again.

When he got back in, we made a new deal for the near future. If the whole herd needs to eat once a day now, let me feed them so there is no fighting and hassle. He agreed. This is new for me--DH has always stood for horse feeding. Our feeding method is complicated with several different feeds and supplements to mix and he would adjust it based on exercise level and weather. Now that responsibility is mine--if I can handle it.

It went really well today. Ria (QH mare, around 7, proper name Borregos Maria) got the new box spot because it has a section of concrete on the floor. That lets the messy pig clean up all the food she throws all over. Because she tends to fatten easily, she also gets less feed than everyone else. Having her in the box keeps her from getting as annoying with her neighbors because they have more food and eat more slowly than she does. Ha!

This picture, by the way, is from this summer when she was on the pony pasture with Tanja, the fat shetland pony, for both of them to slim down a bit. She looks GREAT that way but is already bulking up a bit from having free access to hay in the past few weeks.

Quintas (paint mare, 4, proper name Quintas Cold Cash) came home from the trainer looking very fit and trim. Since the typical Danish wind and rain (and early dusk) keep us from riding as much as we'd like, this won't last long. But she still needs some feed now because there is so little on the pasture and the cold nights are coming fast (2 hard frosts already!!).

These pictures are from DH's first ride on Quintas after she came home from the trainer. The helmet was a concession to my concerns that we didn't know how she'd react with nearby cows, lots of on and off fitting the saddle on "The CorrecTOR" and a good bit of wind. He minds the helmet much more than he minds the safety vest. The CorrecTOR does its job excellently, BTW, and  makes his saddle fit her perfectly. I don't think we had it adjusted right in the first picture--his feet are farther forward than he usually has them riding. Another day we had taken a good length trail ride on our two and you couldn't even tell where the saddle had been on Quintas except for the slight smudge from the leather grease on the girth strap.

 

Our final large horse is Tracy (solid-bred Paint, 2, Miss Tracy King). I am ashamed to admit that this is the best pic I can find of her on my laptop. I swear DH went out one day this summer and took awesome pics of all of them, but I can't find those pics on my laptop.

Anyway, Tracy is a young two, being a late-in-the-year foal. She is still growing, probably, so needs plenty to eat. She seems to have a great temperament and we love how she moves. We hope she might end up being an even better riding horse for me than Ria because she doesn't have the sensitive feet and tendencies to pudginess that Ria has.

So, with these different needs, feeding really is quite an interesting job. The basis for all of them is whole oats. But I have to mix the leftover oats from last year with the new oats from this year. Ria only gets a small portion because of her weight issues.

To the oats for Daisy, we add some wheat. It should help her put weight on. She can't have barley because it makes her legs swell. Daisy also gets a glucosamin supplement that we are trying for the first time to see if it helps her move better and feel better. A dose of "Shy Feeder B" encourages her to eat. She also has the special gain-weight food I mentioned above. It is a mix of a bunch of different things, so we tend to think of it like a musli.

Ria has a special Musli of her own too. It is designed for ponies and other horses that gain weight easily. Part of the point is that it should have a long chew time, keeping her occupied with less feed.

Quintas and Tracy aren't left out on musli. They have a normal one with lots of herbs in it. Daisy gets some of that one too. Those three also get a type of melasses that is mixed with wheat bran. It is much cheaper and less messy than liquid melasses. We tried liquid last year but it didn't work well. They didn't really like it. We manage to keep water liquid many times by putting it in the shed, so don't need liquid for that either (that's what my mom did for the sheep when I was growing up).

Then all of them get the main vitamin supplement and hoof supplement, although Ria is the one most in need of the latter. We also use some kind of soy product that I don't know how to translate. Also not exactly sure why, but they like it.

Sound complicated enough for everyone? We had tried a full feed two winters ago, but none of them did well on it. They tended to turn up their noses at it.

Oh, I forgot to mention the green pellets that are basically a pressed grass. They look like giant rabbit food pellets. They're filling and help prevent problems from grass changes. Ria especially is getting a few handfuls of those right now.