stallion owners...what are you feeding your boys??

[SuperEventer]

Hey all!

I am an eventer, so I'm pretty good with nutrition, but I want to make sure that my stud is getting everything he needs nutritionally. I know that there is a bit more to feeding a breeding stallion, especially one in work, than the rest of the herd.

Thanks for any help!

[Equine Reproduction]

Hey all!

I am an eventer, so I'm pretty good with nutrition, but I want to make sure that my stud is getting everything he needs nutritionally. I know that there is a bit more to feeding a breeding stallion, especially one in work, than the rest of the herd.

Thanks for any help!

Obviously, it depends on the stallion. But, when we were competing Mannhattan and he was standing to a full book AND competing full time, he had free access to grass hay, was given about 20 pounds of alfalfa, about 12 pounds of oats, and at that time, Buckeye ration balancer and Buckeye's fat supplement. He looked phenomenal and I still remember at one of the shows down at High Prairie another stallion owner made a comment that we must not be breeding him that year <smile>. He "did" look good.

We currently have a variety of stallions standing here and some with definite issues, so feed programs need to be structured to each individual. They ALL have free access to hay and I think that's critical. With the harder keepers, they get free access to alfalfa and if we have a horse that's prone to ulcers, alfalfa is pretty much all we feed them. All the boys receive Progressive Nutrition Envision and Progressive ProADD Ultiamte. We add calories with oats. And, we adjust calories with the Envision, as well. Obviously, some of the boys are higher maintenance than others, but pretty much, by using the above, we can structure feeding programs for each individual. People are always amazed at just how good the boys look when they come as we have stallions from as young as a couple years old, all the way up to a 24 yo stallion who can be tough to keep weight on during the high heat and height of breeding season.

Hope the above helps!

[quicksilverponies]

Well, mine are ponies, but during breeding season, they need a lot of calories to stay in good weight. I feed mine Purina Ultium, they go out either all day or all night on grass fields (but not lush at all), and when they are in they get free choice grass hay.

[Daydream Believer]

I feed excellent quality grass hay, mixed pasture, alfalfa pellets (in place of grain), rice bran and flax. I mix my own custom mineral supplement to balance to my forage.

[pintopiaffe]

Free choice grass hay (seeing a trend? ;) )

He can't have alfalfa or soy, but since removing them, has actually become a way easy keeper.

He's little, so gets about 2lbs whole oats when working. Otherwise gets 2lbs dry weight beet pulp, 1/2 c oil, 1 cup whole flax seed, and if he needs more calories but is getting hot with condition, I'll add rice bran and or BOSS.

Vits and mins for the grass mix and my area... was using fancy stuff, have been back to the old standby Min-a-mix and Min-a-Vite for about a year, and everyone is shiny and happy.

[Dressage_Diva333]

My boy is a pony, but still has a busy breeding schedule that requires some "extras". He gets free choice grass hay 24/7, one good sized flake of Alfalfa per day, 2 "scoops" of Elk Grove Milling Stable mix, 1/2 scoop rice bran, and 1 scoop of A&M. I think that free choice grass hay is imperitive to stallions during breeding season :)

[SuperEventer]

Thank you all for your information! My guy is a 5 year old 16 hand Hano stud. He's just started into daily work. He hasn't really bred this year, but he will be breeding a few in a week or so. He is just a bit too ribby for my liking. He is SUPER shiny, so I know he's healthy and doing well. Just need to add something to 'top him off.' :)

Thanks so much, I really appreciate the insight!

[camohn]

When Boomer was not in training and breeding at the same time we had no problem keeping weight on him. During breeding season he did get his grain upped some (in spite of the fact he was out all day on good pasture it was not enough) and added ricebran oil to his diet. The oil helped a lot. I did not want to overgrain him with the starch/sugars so the oil thing was better.