Knowledge
Nutrition Focus
Lorna Edgar – specialist equine nutritionist
Yard Focus Ollie Jones
In mid-July I found myself at Longdole Polo Club, admiring 3 goaler, Ollie Jones’ string who have already played 72 games and were looking great after what has already been a busy half of the season for them. Ollie’s grooms this season are Megan Taylor and Abigail Valance, who are doing a great job in keeping the horses looking well and going well this summer. I met Ollie four seasons ago, who had a couple of horses that he was having trouble getting some condition on and were playing a lot of polo. Quite rightly they were feeding two feeds a day, but the feeds were quite big, two to three scoops of mix, with chaff as well. You can imagine the look of confusion I received when I suggested feeding less – in three smaller feeds! My go to diet of three scoops of Conditioning Cubes, two mugs of Balancer, some Outshine, and half a scoop of Fibre Beet in each feed and a
Lovelocks Florida
A nine-year-old bred by Charlie Hanbury and has been with Ollie for the last three seasons. Flo can be tricky to feed as she is a hot mare that goes through phases of not wanting to eat, especially during busy times of polo. She is one of the yard favourites, so her needs are very much catered for! As she can be quite hot and become tucked up and hollow in the flanks, I have always tried to focus on the fibre element of her diet – ensuring she is eating adequate amounts and she has that extra support of a pre/probiotic supplement. Offering her more Fibre-
prebiotic was implemented – a month on and the horses were gaining condition and Ollie was happier with the reduced feed bill as well!! Very often Ollie’s string will consist of some tricky individuals that the Conditioning Cubes are not suited to, however they will all come in from their winter break on balancer Fibre-Beet. They will then progress to individual diets depending on their quirks and needs! Fibre is very much at the centre of success here as the horses are busy travelling a lot in the Cirencester area, the lorry always has hay nets in it when the horses travel, before and after polo. They currently live out at night where they have extra hay put out for them and during the day when they are stabled so they always have constant access to hay. Some individuals will have a prebiotic supplement from the beginning of the Beet in a separate feed bowl for her to graze on and keeping her meal sizes quite small really benefits her. Last season, we introduced her to Ease & Excel Cubes, which she found more palatable as they contain herbal oils, and she can’t pick through a mix to decide what she likes and doesn’t like! The Cubes have worked well in providing her with the calories she requires, keeping her eating and not giving her any excess and unwanted energy! The grass is suiting her well this year, but we are mindful that if and when it stops growing, she may well need to have the Ease & Excel increased to pick up her calorie intake.
season, particularly those that do not hold their condition so well. However, this year, once they started playing they all received the prebiotic to help support the beneficial bacteria in the hind gut, in turn helping to maintain condition throughout the busy season. Some days, Ollie may have two or even three games (not all on the same horses!) but whilst away from their stables they will have a lunch at polo consisting of a scoop of cubes, a cup of balancer and some FibreBeet, helping to maintain their energy levels and reducing the peaks and troughs in their Glycaemic Index. As Ollie has such a diverse selection of horses, we have decided to do a FAB FIVE! A huge thank you to Abigail for helping me get the photos as we raced against the rain clouds! And those chosen ones are as follows…
Current Diet 2 level scoops of Ease & Excel Cubes per day 3 mugs of Balancer per day 1 scoop of Fibre-Beet in each feed 2 measures of Digest Plus prebiotic per day
JB Rubio A seven-year-old bred by James Beim and is new to Ollie’s yard this year. He is a straight-forward, kind gelding on the yard but he needs to be played regularly to keep on top of his energy levels. He is holding his condition well so far this season, but if he drops any condition or needs less energy, we can increase the cubes (and reduce the balancer) or add Outshine (the high oil supplement). Alternatively
50
Polo Times, August 2021
if he has too much energy we can switch him onto No.24 Ease & Excel Cubes. Current Diet 2 level scoops of Conditioning Cubes per day 3 mugs of Balancer per day 1 scoop of soaked Fibre-Beet in each feed 2 measures of Digest Plus prebiotic per day
www.polotimes.co.uk
