Annabelle Needs Some Jet Fuel!

[StraightForward]

We were a little on the struggle bus with the energy level today in our lesson. It was hot, but not THAT hot. Now that we're upping the work expectations, my instructor suggesting tweaking her diet for a little more energy. However I don't want to add any weight because she's a tad towards the fluffy side already.

I've asked the BO to change out one of her flakes of grass for alfalfa to start. I'll give that a couple weeks, but looking for some other ideas. She's currently getting just grass hay (orchard, I think), plus Outlast 2x a day, a general vitamin supplement, Vitamin E, Amino Acids, spirulina and turmeric (for itchiness and inflammation management, respectively).

[Flight]

I tried feeding Ding a racehorse mix, but he just got fat...

[blob]

Alfalfa made a clear energy difference with MM. So i think that's a good option/adjustment.

Is she on any grain? If not, you can probably swap out the outlast and the vitamin supplement for a performance grain. Even a little bit of the performance grain (2-4 lbs a day) could make a big difference (but then I would keep the vit supplement)

[heddylamar]

If you're just looking for energy, not hotness, I'd lean toward stabilized rice bran pellets. It provides a slow-release energy.

Alfalfa turns my redheaded mares into fire breathing dragons

[StraightForward]

Thanks for the suggestions! She is not getting any grain.

Tesla gets Renew Gold, so it would be easier to do that than the rice bran, but I'm afraid she'll get more fatness than hotness.

I guess if she starts getting a flake of alfalfa morning and evening, we could stop the Outlast and give her a pound of something more grain-like instead. She was getting alfalfa before she got injured, and wasn't breathing fire, so we'll start there and try some of these suggestions if she's still to slug-like. Hopefully the increasing workload will help burn off the extra calories.

[blob]

If the alfalfa doesn't help, could be worth trying replacing the outlast with a smaller amount of Renew Gold since it would be a relatively easy swap. I don't know how much outlast she's getting.But you could try 1lb of the renew gold 2x a day (or even start at half a pound) and see how it goes.

[Chisamba]

is she sweating well? lack of energy in summer may be related to ablity to handle body tempersture .

if her overall condition is fluffy, her metabolism tends to store energy rather than make it bioavailable for rapid release. easiest fix is sugar cubes before work. Uf GMO worries you find sugar from sugar cane not sugar beets. it provides rapid release of energy , is a "cooling " food. if you are an anti sugar person you could try coconut. its a fatty food that supposedly encourages the body to produce ready energy.

[StraightForward]

Yes, she sweats well.

The sugar cubes are an interesting idea that I'm sure she would enjoy.

Over the weekend they were in for a few days due to irrigation, and she was quite forward and happy to work; she actually almost took off in a W/C transition. Yesterday, they'd been out in the pasture in the morning, then I brought her in at noon for the lesson. It was just a few degrees warmer than on the weekend, but I'm sure they all played and burned off any extra energy and just wanted to graze and nap by the time I showed up.

[silk]

Fitness work - speed/interval work

[StraightForward]

As an update, I took Annabelle off Outlast, and she is now getting 4# of Purina Strategy Professional,and so far, so good. She seems to have a little more pep without getting fat. She was maybe a little too "up" last time I hauled her out to ride, but not over the top stupid. She's still below the recommended amount, but those recommendations always seem high to me. I'll increase her to 6# if it seems like she needs it as her work gets harder.