TopSpec Nutritional Advice

The TopSpec Helpline is available to all our clients free of charge

01845 565030

Introduction

Fifty years of feeding horses and a deep understanding of the science involved have convinced us that the best way forward is to replicate nature whilst meeting modern demands.

If you have never fed a feed balancer before it helps to think about how a horse would eat if turned out into the wild.

During their evolution horses grazed for about sixteen hours a day on a pure roughage diet. Left to their own devices they still do so today.

Their digestive systems are therefore suited to little and often feeding and the best feeding programmes are based on this principle.

Unfortunately the pressures of modern life often make it hard to give horses frequent small feeds and many problems occur when horses are fed large quantities of cereal-based feeds.

TopSpec Feed Balancers contain concentrated amounts of nutrients in a small amount of feed, allowing more forage to be fed throughout the day, creating a more natural way of feeding that is in harmony with the horse’s digestive system.

Whether you need a feed balancer to form the base of a larger feed for e.g. a performance horse, or a balancer to feed alone to e.g. a native pony, then one of TopSpec’s Feed Balancers will provide the perfect solution.

TopSpec Feed Balancers can be used in lots of different ways to improve the way you feed your horses. Ideally they should be used as a base feed with any additional calories (energy) required added in a form to suit the individual horse.

A brief guide to feeding a TopSpec Feed Balancer follows, but every case is different so please feel free to call our experienced nutritionists on our Multiple Award Winning Helpline for advice tailored to the needs of your own horse.

The way forward for healthy, contented and calm horses

1) Offer Ample Forage

Forage, whether in the form of grass, haylage or hay should usually be offered ad-lib to horses and ponies. This means that when turned out there should be approximately four inches of grass length evenly spread throughout the field. When inside the hay/haylage net should have a handfulof forage left in it when it is collected for refilling. Doing this ensures that the all-important microflora (mainly bacteria) in the hindgut have a constant supply of fibre to digest, resulting in a consistent fermentation pattern. This consistency means that your horse is much less likely to suffer from the many problems that can result from an upset in the microbial balance.

Naturally the type of grass/haylage/hay that you offer your horse needs to be chosen with your horse’s requirements in mind. For example a hard working event horse is often suited by ryegrass haylage; a sharp mare used for pleasure rides often settles better on hay, whereas a really good-doer in light work may need late-cut, high fibre meadow hay. Overweight horses and ponies often have their forage limited by turning them out onto ‘sacrifice’ paddocks and limiting their hay to perhaps 1-1.5% of bodyweight. For a 500kg horse this equates to 5-7.5kgs of hay (approximately 2- 3 slices from a small bale). These horses and ponies will actually be healthier if they are offered more hay that has been soaked for 12 hours before feeding in ample, fresh, cool water. The soaking reduces the level of soluble calories in the hay but does not reduce the fibre content. This approach is a very useful tool when weight loss is desired or when low sugar and starch values are desirable e.g. for a pony prone to laminitis.

Forage, in the form of long fibre and chops (e.g. TopChop) also provide hours of contentment for stabled horses.

2) Keep Bucket Feeds Small

Feed Balancers can be fed on their own or as a base to which other feed is added.

For example the first thing to go into the feed bucket for horses whose main workload is schooling and hacking might well be TopSpec Cool Balancer. This, like most TopSpec feed balancers, is fed at 100g per 100kgs bodyweight per day.

For a 16hh TB X this probably means 250g TopSpec Cool Balancer should be fed morning and night. At each feed you might add 1 Stubbs scoop of TopChop Lite, which is unmolassed. If the horse looks well and in the correct condition on this ‘Non-Heating’ but conditioning regime then there will be no need to add anything more than a little water to damp the feed. A salt lick should always be provided so that horses can replenish the salt that they lose if/when they sweat. Should he need more condition then add either TopSpec CoolCondition Cubes to his feed according to condition (the maximum weight recommended would be 1.5kgs per feed but he is unlikely to need anything like this much) or if you want him to be more forward going try adding a small amount of TopSpec Turbo flakes (maximum 1kg per feed), again adjusting the amount you feed according to his condition.

For a 15hh cob that is a very good-doer we recommend a small feed twice a day of 250g TopSpec Lite Feed Balancer plus half a scoop of TopChop Lite.

Even show horses do not need large feeds when a feed balancer is included in the ration. If you are preparing a middleweight show hunter for HOYS with feeds twice daily you would put 300g (1 heaped TopSpec measure) TopSpec Comprehensive Feed Balancer mixed with 1 Stubbs scoop of TopChop Alfalfa and with 2kg (1 Stubbs scoop) TopSpec CoolCondition Cubes.

3) Keep an eye on condition

This is because over a period of time feeding most TopSpec feed balancers will significantly reduce the requirement for hard feed. If adding a TopSpec feed balancer to one scoop of cubes, you will probably need to cut down to half a scoop of cubes within 4-6 weeks.

4) In most cases do not add supplements

In most circumstances the provision of several specialised supplements within TopSpec Comprehensive Feed Balancer eliminates the need for any further supplementation. Additives e.g. TopSpec Calmer or TopSpec 10:10 Joint Support can be added if required

Quantities to be fed

Most TopSpec Feed Balancers should be fed at a rate of 100g balancer/100kg bodyweight daily. The following table will help you to decide how much to feed to your horses or ponies. (As a guide a half-pint mug holds approximately 200g of any TopSpec Feed Balancer). Free measures are available from all stockists. Please refer to the sack or to our Multiple Award Winning Helpline for feeding rates of TopSpec Stud Feed Balancer and TopSpec Racing Feed Balancer as they are fed at higher rates.

IMPORTANT POINTS

•     As with all new feeds TopSpec products should always be introduced gradually over a period of four days, starting with approximately one quarter of the amount you intend to feed by day four. TopSpec feed balancers can be fed with forage alone or with your choice of straights/blends and/or compound feeds.

•      TopSpec Comprehensive Feed Balancer contains TopSpec All-in-One multi-supplement, and therefore there is no need to add any further vitamin or trace-element supplements to the horse’s ration. Should you wish to add any specific additives please call our Multiple Award Winning Helpline to check that no imbalance or over supplementation will occur.

•     We are frequently asked if garlic can be fed with TopSpec, and the answer is yes.

•     The diet of sweating horses must be supplemented with additional salt, especially if feed intake is low. Common salt is recommended on a daily basis. However following, but not prior to, heavy sweating e.g. following competition, we recommend electrolyte mixtures be fed for 48 hours instead of pure salt.