Alternatives to Dengie Hi Fi

[lynz88]

Horse is on livery so may be limited in terms of what I can sway them to get...but....

Tldr: does anyone have any cheap recommendations for a replacement feed for dengie hi fi? He's currently on Fibre pellets, linseed, oily herbs, dengie hi fi, and a balancer and have finally had the yard agree to remove the hi fi so I can determine whether a few issues could be the alfalfa.

Longer Story: about a month ago horse was pounding around the field and really hurt himself to the point it clinically looked like laminitis. Horse was taken off everything except hi Fibre pellets and his balancer and treated as a lami case until bloods said any different. Thankfully it was not. I was away but by the time I came back, horse was feeling fine and started hand walking him. He was walking on anything and everything without a care in the world. Popped him back on his normal feed (fibre pellets, linseed and alfa A oil though turns out yard changed the alfa A oil to dengie hi fi and didn't tell me...another story and another rant for another day) and horse seemed footsore again.

Asked many times to remove the alfalfa as wanted to see if it could be related to his feet and also realized that his grumpiness to be groomed (we've ruled everything out and have tried what feels like everything) and extreme itchiness that he gets under/by his girth when he sweats could all be related to the alfalfa chaff. I figure by removing 1 thing at a time it should help to narrow down the issue.

I'm not sure how this will go. Horse has put on a ton of weight on the hi fi so looking for something similar.

 

[FieldOrnaments]

Plain grass chop?

 

[HappyHollyDays]

My ex laminitic and EMS ponies are on the Dengie Meadow Lite with herbs. It’s low cal, low starch and has no Alfa in it. I add Spillers Senior mash to it and they both clean their bowls up.

 

[daffy44]

Dengie Meadow Grass that is Alfalfa free, I tries it when I wanted to to rule out Alfalfa for one of mine that was itchy.

 

[blodwyn1]

I use honey chop lite and healthy.

 

[criso]

Dengie meadow grass with herbs, emerald green Grasstastic, any of the Agrobs chops but they're more expensive and more difficult to get.

I feed Grasstastic as it's really cost effective and palatable but mix it with Agrobs musli.

 

[Jenko109]

I know it's basically swearing, but I dont think Molichaff has any alfalfa.

Or you could just do soaked grass nuts instead.

 

[lynz88]

Thank you for the suggestions! Was looking at the emerald green line (and is cheaper than dengie) but if yard wants to stick with dengie, then looks like the grass nuts, meadow grass, and/or meadow lite might all be options

 

[BSL2]

Top spec pure grass chop

 

[Zoeypxo]

Molichaff now do a mollasses free version, no alfalfa either, and cheap

 

[Jambarissa]

Mine are alfalfa, mollasses and soya free.

Thunderbrooks healthy herbal chaff
Simple systems Timothy chaff
Honeychop lite
Any grass only chaff eg top chop grass

Could your issue be grass (sugar) sensitivity? One of mine appears to have this, gets itchy and footsore but vet says not sweetitch or lami. Reducing sugar by bringing in during the day on soaked hay has made all the difference.

When you say fibre pellets are they the baileys ones? They're 18% sugar and starch AND CONTAIN ALFALFA. If you're going low sugar baileys meadow cobs, simple systems hay care or thunderbrooks hay cobs are <10%

 

[lynz88]

Don't think it's sugar/grass sensitivity. He hasn't got much grass in his field but had started soaking hay a few months ago regardless. He started becoming a jerk to groom about 4 months after starting the alfa A oil but never put it all together until now. I am not sure when his extreme itchiness started at the girth area but it is ssooo bad that he absolutely can't walk more than 2 steps and it is very intense. Will be interesting to see if any changes.

It's the saracens fibre pellets/nuts. I don't have any other choices. Thanks for these suggestions. All added to my list to look into!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Emerald grass tastic

 

[Roxylola]

Do you need the chop? Could you try just not adding that - to start at least, I've fed chop and Alfa previously but this year fed soaked grass nuts for the most part instead they enjoyed their feeds just as much

 

[humblepie]

Mine had been in the hi fi for years then he went off it. I moved to the meadow lite.

 

[lynz88]

I am removing the dengie hi fi to start altogether but he loses weight very easily (damn TB!) so am expecting him to lose weight. I don't think he can survive on just grass nuts either. He's also extra lazy by nature (apart from when he is with his friends ) so will more than likely need the extra bit of energy. Especially during the winter.

I am going to make a list of all of these today and have a deeper look and will speak to yard. I have a feeling they are partial to Dengie but at least there looks to be some comparable options

 

[Equi]

Chaff is a bulking agent, I doubt there is many calories in it unless it’s the super molasses covered ones.

Tell not ask the yard to remove it, it’s your horse.

I personally use thunderbrooks herbal chaff, horse loves it and will eat it with alone.

 

[TPO]

Original Hi Fi is only 8mJ/kg. Its unlikely that it will be affecting condition tbh.

Dengie meadow grass is 11.5 mJ/kg.

If condition becomes and issue can you increase the linseed?

If that's not enough what to the yard offer as a step up from a fibre nut?

Most importantly, and what you should have done from post 1, where are the pictures of your lovely boy?

 

[Fieldlife]

I am removing the dengie hi fi to start altogether but he loses weight very easily (damn TB!) so am expecting him to lose weight. I don't think he can survive on just grass nuts either. He's also extra lazy by nature (apart from when he is with his friends ) so will more than likely need the extra bit of energy. Especially during the winter.

I am going to make a list of all of these today and have a deeper look and will speak to yard. I have a feeling they are partial to Dengie but at least there looks to be some comparable options

Hi fi - is pretty low calorie.

I think the yard are contracted to Saracens, but as Saracens dont supply chaff they deliver Dengie chaffs with the Saracen's order. So you might be able to get any chaff in the Dengie range as a special request.

I really like Dengie Meadow Grass chaff - mix of grasses and herbs, and small cubes and my horse really likes it. https://dengie.com/horse-feeds/grass-range/meadow-grass-with-herbs/

The very local feedshop sells it if you wanted to get a bag to try. Or I have some open.

 

[I'm Dun]

A bit left field and not what you asked, but did they check AST levels? Sometimes tying up can present like laminitis type symptoms, and with the issues being groomed it just made me wonder. It probably wasn't, but worth checking if they did or not.

 

[WestCoast]

You could just cut out the bucket feed altogether for a while if he’s fat. My warmblood went first 6 months of owning her without, as she turned her nose up at everything as she had nice grass.

But if it’s a case that he gets upset when the others are fed just get some chopped dried grass and just give that.

 

[lynz88]

Hi fi - is pretty low calorie.

I think the yard are contracted to Saracens, but as Saracens dont supply chaff they deliver Dengie chaffs with the Saracen's order. So you might be able to get any chaff in the Dengie range as a special request.

I really like Dengie Meadow Grass chaff - mix of grasses and herbs, and small cubes and my horse really likes it. https://dengie.com/horse-feeds/grass-range/meadow-grass-with-herbs/

The very local feedshop sells it if you wanted to get a bag to try. Or I have some open.

That makes sense then. I knew about Saracens but didn't realize that about the chaffs. I saw a few bags of the dengie grass chaff when I was having a sneaky rummage in the feed room that I've not noticed before so they better be open to getting other chaffs....I know that they have brought in other ones for other horses.

That sounds very similar to the haycubes we get at home and is defo on my list. Will see what the yard says and maybe will be in contact - I feel better about him having at least a few extra calories shoved in him.

 

[lynz88]

A bit left field and not what you asked, but did they check AST levels? Sometimes tying up can present like laminitis type symptoms, and with the issues being groomed it just made me wonder. It probably wasn't, but worth checking if they did or not.

Yes they did and although elevated, not anywhere in or even near the tying up range. So we suspect pounding around which would absolutely not be unusual. One of his fieldmates had an incident in the same time period (not sure if the day before or day after but it was very close together) and was put on box rest with a cankle.

 

[lynz88]

You could just cut out the bucket feed altogether for a while if he’s fat. My warmblood went first 6 months of owning her without, as she turned her nose up at everything as she had nice grass.

But if it’s a case that he gets upset when the others are fed just get some chopped dried grass and just give that.

I wish he was fat but alas, we have "the TB problem" of eating everything and hardly gaining an ounce. Forage/Fibre based works well for him though along with a good balancer (as I've recently discovered)