| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| flosskins |
Posted - 22 Oct 2012 : 08:34:31 AM
What does everybody feed their horses? There are so many options out there that it can become so confusing and I'm starting to feel my grasp on it slipping away. I always used to feed alpha A Oil and baileys endurance mix to my arab in work, and then alpha a oil and baileys stud cubes when she was in foal but I haven't fed her or the yearling anything all summer as they were on good grass and have done really well but I think they need to go back onto some hard food and I don't know what. I want to feed the youngster correctly for growth etc but there appear to be many different opinions on this! |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| tamila |
Posted - 26 Oct 2012 : 9:20:42 PM
That's right Minhe. The feed is still the same as it was with Badminton but not quite as good as when it was produced by Triple Crown. You have to feed a little bit more than before but it is still a wonderful feed. |
| MinHe |
Posted - 26 Oct 2012 : 6:08:06 PM
Originally posted by tamila
I have been feeding horses for thirty years and have always used Triple Crown Equipower. I have never fed a supplement as it is perfectly balanced. My 28 1/2 years old brood and ridden mare looks fantastic on it and has 2lb per day plus sugarbeet. My 20 year old has 1lb per day plus sugarbeet. They both look and are very well and energetic. When doing endurance I added Extruform and Golden Meal (obtainable from Roger Hatch at Trinioth Consultants).
There are so many feeds on the market so one has to be careful not to mix up vitamins and minerals as the wrong balance can lead to problems.
I tried looking up the Triple Crown Equipower, but it is apparently made by Badminton, who have been taken over by Baileys?
Keren |
| tamila |
Posted - 26 Oct 2012 : 5:18:02 PM
I have been feeding horses for thirty years and have always used Triple Crown Equipower. I have never fed a supplement as it is perfectly balanced. My 28 1/2 years old brood and ridden mare looks fantastic on it and has 2lb per day plus sugarbeet. My 20 year old has 1lb per day plus sugarbeet. They both look and are very well and energetic. When doing endurance I added Extruform and Golden Meal (obtainable from Roger Hatch at Trinioth Consultants).
There are so many feeds on the market so one has to be careful not to mix up vitamins and minerals as the wrong balance can lead to problems. |
| ella |
Posted - 25 Oct 2012 : 7:55:44 PM
Pasha - I recently started feeding Ready Fibre Mash (soya hulls) as it's the only low-iron fibre I've been able to find for Arro who has hepatic iron overload. I was finding it impossible to keep iron intake levels below the NRC of 400mg/day until I found this.
All our horses love it. They prefer it to Equibeet (not that Arro can have Equibeet at 750mg/kg iron!) but we haven't used it for long enough to make much comment yet. |
| jackiedo |
Posted - 25 Oct 2012 : 2:18:38 PM
You can have your pasture tested Judith, if it is deficient then you can add accordingly. Luckily my 2 girls can also browze rosehips, blackberry cammomile, thistle etc if they want to. I am on a good yard. The YO is a qualified nutritionist, written many articles for the racing industry and an all round good egg |
| Judith S |
Posted - 24 Oct 2012 : 7:20:17 PM
Originally posted by jackiedo
bear in mind that a horse is designed to get most of it's calories by grazing and trickle feeding I reevaluated my feeding a couple of years ago. My horses are not in work at the moment (I have a 27 year old Arab and a rising 4 TB) and they are outside 24/7 unrugged on decent pasture and have access to hayledge. I feed (when necessary) fibre cubes. They are both well up to weight with thick glossy coats and have lots of energy. They have natural shelter at the moment, but there is a stable if needed. I concentrate on getting teeth and worming right, and they sometimes browze the bushes. Naturally horses would not eat many grains, nor oils. If your pasture is deficient in anything then you can supplement it. but my mares look fantastic, and I feel that nature does know best.
That is great if you can be sure that your grazing is not deficient in any necessary vitamins and minerals, and although horses will browse in their natural environment there are not many of us that can offer all the variety that they need in their diet and even haylage puts different demands on their digestive system. I would look at at least having a mineral lick available and preferably feed a supplement with a probiotic. Nature undoubtedly knows best but we cannot mimic nature whilst confining horses to our unnatural small fields. |
| Triskar |
Posted - 24 Oct 2012 : 5:09:18 PM
My 4 are on 50/50 turnout, they come in to (literally) a handful of Happy Hoof so that they think they've been fed, and in which my 25 year old has his joint supplement. They are fed hay, with the amount restricted since they are all tubs, and have a 15kg Horslyx in their stables - a Mobility lick for the 2 16 year olds, a Respiratory lick for my oldie, and a standard lick for my 4 year old. These last them about a month. They all have plenty of energy for the hacking, schooling and dressage competitions that we do, and all look really well on it. |
| jackiedo |
Posted - 24 Oct 2012 : 3:48:49 PM
bear in mind that a horse is designed to get most of it's calories by grazing and trickle feeding I reevaluated my feeding a couple of years ago. My horses are not in work at the moment (I have a 27 year old Arab and a rising 4 TB) and they are outside 24/7 unrugged on decent pasture and have access to hayledge. I feed (when necessary) fibre cubes. They are both well up to weight with thick glossy coats and have lots of energy. They have natural shelter at the moment, but there is a stable if needed. I concentrate on getting teeth and worming right, and they sometimes browze the bushes. Naturally horses would not eat many grains, nor oils. If your pasture is deficient in anything then you can supplement it. but my mares look fantastic, and I feel that nature does know best. |
| Pasha |
Posted - 23 Oct 2012 : 2:35:52 PM
.... right i've done a bit of googling and yes the ECIR Group are right in so much as a study was conducted and horses fed a high dose of Garlic developed Heinz Bodies (Amemia). I also found another study where horses fed a large dose of onion tops (I assume this means garlic) developed anemia within 11 days.
Both of these studies were high doses within a short period of time (I think the studies were concluded early due to the results), but there is anecdotal evidence that horses fed garlic at low doseages over a long period of time developed mild anemia - whether or not this was soley due to the Garlic it doesn't say.
So the message seems to be that's it's great for short periods of time to help boost the immune system, for respiratory health etc but should not be fed long term on a constant basis. |
| Pasha |
Posted - 23 Oct 2012 : 1:43:50 PM
Originally posted by Arachnid
Why not garlic Sarah-Pasha?
According to the ECIR Yahoo Horse Group it causes Heinz Body Anemia - I googled it very quickly but could only see that onions caused Heinz Body's in dogs and cats
Will investigate further, but I tend to steer clear of anything the ECIR Group don't like just to be safe x |
| Judith S |
Posted - 23 Oct 2012 : 12:57:29 PM
Garlic is one of those things where a study was carried out feeding high levels of processed garlic to horses and finding there were issues, then concluding that horses should not be fed garlic in any form. |
| Arachnid |
Posted - 23 Oct 2012 : 12:42:43 PM
Why not garlic Sarah-Pasha? |
| MinHe |
Posted - 23 Oct 2012 : 12:36:34 PM
No suggestions as to what to go with beet and Cool Stance for 2 18 yo boys who don't carry much weight?
Keren |
| Judith S |
Posted - 23 Oct 2012 : 11:32:41 AM
From what I have heard the Thunderbrook feeds were strongly promoted for barefoot horses, but a lot of barefoot people have come of it due to footy horses.
When I looked at the website it seemed another of theses systems where you buy the base mix then have to keep adding bits to make up the minimum order for delivery and end up with loads of stuff you don't really need.
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| Pasha |
Posted - 23 Oct 2012 : 10:38:50 AM
I stopped feeding Thunderbrook Base Mix a few months ago as I had to keep adding to it for Shesky (on their recommendation) and it was getting too expensive and felt like I was mixing a potion, without seeing any benefits.
I noticed a huge change for the better switching to his current diet (above), but have down such a good job he now needs a bit more lol! |
| Eeyore |
Posted - 23 Oct 2012 : 10:25:53 AM
Are many people still feeding the Thunderbrook feeds? I know they were popular with people on here a while back?
I feed mine Just Chop (unmollased hay/straw chop with nothing added), Readigrass (in winter), Grass Nuts (not many!) and the Thunderbrook base mix. I was feeding linseed, brewers yeast and vits/mins separately but the Thunderbrook mix has it all in. They also get carrots and various herbs along with lots of meadow hay.
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| Pasha |
Posted - 23 Oct 2012 : 09:45:58 AM
Originally posted by Mrs Vlacq
Trouble is, most '1-bag-does-all' feeds are people pleasers and expensive ways to feed a simple mixture of basic ingredients...! for example fast fibre and alfabeet are basically beet and alfalfa smushed into a pellet to soak.
We feed beet, a mix we have made up for us (20% protein, oils, brewer's yeast) with a light chop to slow a few down. This is the basic ration for all - from foals to working ones.
The oldies also get HorseSource Alfala pellets - far nicer than dengie IMHO - to top them up. And a few slimmers get Happy Hoof with unmollassed beet. Yes that is my concession to 'easy feeding', mostly due to lack of space as we already buy beet, mix and alfalfa pellets a tonne at a time!
Make sure your fodder is good quality and then feed simply. Don't ram protein into your youngster, but you do need him/her to have a covering and enough spare energy to grow, ward off cold, endure a long winter. So I'd go for unmollassed beet, a generic vit/min mix / balancer if you are concerned in any way, and a mix that contains brewer's yeast/yeasacc. The feed companies all offer good advice, so contact them. Good luck
Totally agree with you!
I did take a look at A&P Fast Fibre and I think that is a good alternative for those not wanting to buy a seperate vit/min supplement as it has some good stuff in it. It also contains some unnecesssary stuff too which I wont feed Shesky so that one is struck of the potentials!
Sent the spec for the soft n soak to the ECIR guru's and it's too high oil/fat and also contains garlic which is a bit no no for IR horses, so we will stick with what we've got and I will try and get Shesky to eat a bit more (never thought I would say that, but just goes to show how much IR effects them as he is not a greedy horse now and I struggle to get him to eat enough!) |
| NUTTER |
Posted - 22 Oct 2012 : 11:46:30 PM
Topspec, swear by it feed one pure and part bred. both have one cup a day so works out very cheap, one 16.3 other 15.3
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| Callisto |
Posted - 22 Oct 2012 : 10:14:53 PM
Another vote for Allen & Page, it's barley and molasses free, choosing between calm & condition up to power and performance depending on who is doing what.
I tried Lily on the Pure feed working, I really liked the whole concept, but she wasn't very keen, and when the new grass came she wouldn't eat it  , she's happy with the Allen and Page range which we feed with soaked beet and Alfa A. The two fatties have chaff instead of Alfa A.
All but the fat welshie get Charnwood Micronised Linseed as well. (Lily for her itchiness, the oldies for their joints and my sister's skinny gelding to help with condition).
They are now in at night and out for 9 hours a day and get hay at night, not particularly brilliant quality hay but the best we could get this year (better than last years). |
| MinHe |
Posted - 22 Oct 2012 : 9:57:43 PM
We are looking at Cool Stance and beet for our 2 18yos, but were wondering what else to go with it - any suggestions?
Keren |
| Foxtrot |
Posted - 22 Oct 2012 : 9:01:07 PM
We feed the Pure Feed companies feed, its all fibre based and the people who developed it had a large stud so should know a thing or too about feeding youngsters!
Our horses have looked great on it and they are always on hand if you have any questions. |
| Foxtrot |
Posted - 22 Oct 2012 : 9:01:07 PM
We feed the Pure Feed companies feed, its all fibre based and the people who developed it had a large stud so should know a thing or too about feeding youngsters!
Our horses have looked great on it and they are always on hand if you have any questions. |
| Etoile |
Posted - 22 Oct 2012 : 8:33:04 PM
We feed happy hoof and a small amount of wet cool stance to mix the supplements for their basic feed. We then increase the cool stance if needed weight wise, though we did just get a bag of micronized linseed to try as it comes highly recommended. We do feed baileys endurance mix when they're competing, but only because we found that as we got up to the gated endurance rides there wasn't enough gas in the tank and increasing the cool stance wasn't doing the trick. If they're not competing/training at that level then they don't get the mix, as it's high in starch. |
| Mrs Vlacq |
Posted - 22 Oct 2012 : 7:04:45 PM
Trouble is, most '1-bag-does-all' feeds are people pleasers and expensive ways to feed a simple mixture of basic ingredients...! for example fast fibre and alfabeet are basically beet and alfalfa smushed into a pellet to soak.
We feed beet, a mix we have made up for us (20% protein, oils, brewer's yeast) with a light chop to slow a few down. This is the basic ration for all - from foals to working ones.
The oldies also get HorseSource Alfala pellets - far nicer than dengie IMHO - to top them up. And a few slimmers get Happy Hoof with unmollassed beet. Yes that is my concession to 'easy feeding', mostly due to lack of space as we already buy beet, mix and alfalfa pellets a tonne at a time!
Make sure your fodder is good quality and then feed simply. Don't ram protein into your youngster, but you do need him/her to have a covering and enough spare energy to grow, ward off cold, endure a long winter. So I'd go for unmollassed beet, a generic vit/min mix / balancer if you are concerned in any way, and a mix that contains brewer's yeast/yeasacc. The feed companies all offer good advice, so contact them. Good luck |
| jillandlomond |
Posted - 22 Oct 2012 : 6:48:54 PM
Hi Pasha,
I've tried the Rowan Barbary feeds and none of mine would eat it. Don't know why, but glad it was only free samples I was trialing |
