Allen and Page or something else?

Nickles1973

Nickles1973

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Having read many many threads recently regarding diet and healthy horses and their hooves I am finding myself looking for a new way to feed my horse.
He is currently in straight bar shoes to address a lameness issue which results from a pedal bone imbalance and underrun heels. I am at present questionning how effective this being (whole other story) but in an effort to give him the best chance to grow healthy hooves I am looking at his diet.
He is currently fed on 1/2 scoop mollases free Alpha a, full measure of Spillers original balancer. 1/2 mug of linseed, magnesium, Maxaflex and Naf pro hoof plus T/O on nice grazing (but not lush) for about 20 hours a day.
He looks great on this but I feel that although he is getting lots of food I am not sure he is getting the best feed for him.
Having spoken to a couple of feed co's about his issues I am led to the conclusion that I should take him right back to basics and that Alpha a could also be contributing to some of his footiness as I changed to feeding this just before his lameness and sore sole issues arose.
So I have decided to feed him Allen and page Cool and Collected with his suppliments and nothing else.
Do you think this will be a suitable diet to hopefully address his issues or is there another type of feed I should be looking at?
I have thought about getting his grazing analysed etc but right now I am not in a position to do this (though I may be at some point later) So I am looking for the best compromise if that's possible.
Thank you N.
 
Personally if you're going to feed from the Allen and Page range, then I would feed their Fast Fibre. I would also feed Pro Hoof, which you can get from ebay (not pro feet from NAF) but that's because I've had fantastic results with the Fast Fibre and Pro Hoof. You could then drop the balancer. Linseed is also great - but make sure you get the micronised stuff, not the linseed oil.
 
Mine refused to eat Allen and Page after a while, I held out and held out but in the end went for Pure Feeds and she is on Pure easy. I was put off by the marketing hype but have to say it is worth it, very easy to feed, has everything I need and she LOVES it. It's the only feed she hasn't gone off within a month and we are now on month 6. She is barefoot and doing very well on it. I was struggling to find a feed that was mollasses and alfalfa free, I tried oat straw (honeychop brand) and get on well with that but needed something with it, she wouldn't eat "sloppy feeds" ie fast fibre etc and went right off the ride and relax so I had no other option but certainly do not regret for one minute trying pure feed.
 
My old boy had terrible feet when I got him, I had him on D&H safe and sound, Bailey's topline cubes and NAF pro feet and that combination did his feet the world of good, within 6 months up a shoe size and the quality of the hoof was so much vastly improved!! Went from struggling to hold shoes 5 weeks to lasting 8 weeks happily he never grew much foot even on the pro feet but the quality of what he did grow and the foot in general was so much better
 
Thank's for replies! I had thought that Fast Fibre was the best place to start but when discussing with the feed line it was mentioned that he might not hold weight with that without adding linseed. I had hoped to just feed one thing as a way to also cut costs and the cool and collected is little more conditioning than fast fibre but not as much as calm and condition. I will look into the pro hoof suppliment (just need to use up the tub of pro feet first)
I do worry a bit that he won't like the consistency of the allen and page feeds but he's not so far been a particularly fussy eater so we'll have to see.
I am quite interested in the pure feed suggestion but must admit to being a but put off by the ££££'s and how much I would need to feed. He only get's one feed a day at the mo because he is out overnight. I might give them a call later though to get some advice from them.
 
I thought that too, but I haven't fed anywhere near the recommended amounts because she is doing so well on it! You can always go for the conditioning and use half. I then have d&h daily vits and mins to add to it (half a cup a day works out very economical). I only feed 1 scoop of pure easy (it says to give 2) as I only feed once a day and even this is too much and have had to drop it to half a scoop! Has in the end worked out cheaper for me but like you I was very put off too. I think it's a try it and see type thing for a couple of bags and if no good start again. If you order it online it comes via parcel force and normally quickly!
 
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