Any owners out there who do not feed hard feed at all?

I tend not too in the summer as my pony is a good doer. Even now he only gets a small amount of soggy fast fiber to add his vits too as well as hay. Does this count as hard feed? Being a hay replacer/base I would say not?

It also makes me feel better to give him something, he would be fine without it! xx
 
Almost. Because my mare used to be in hard work nearly all her life, she got in the routine of a bucket feed 2x a day. She now doesn't need any, but she gets a token gesture of half a scoop hi-fi lite am & pm. I'm sure it does sweet fa physically, but it keeps her happy. Daughters pony gets a supplement scoopful at the same time so she isn't left out.
 
basilbrush2009 said:
Just wondered if there are any owners out there who do not feed hard feed at all? literally. Just Hay/Haylage/ good old fashioned grass :o
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:) Me - i have 26yr old 13.2hh and a 3yr old, both currently get no hard feed, just hay/haylage and whatever grass they can find. Both are doing very well on it at the moment.
 
Me! my welsh sec a literally lives off fresh air!! he gets a bit of hay when the grass runs out or is covered in snow, other than that he pretty much lives out 24/7 and lives of the grass. hes a tubby little monster who needs nothing else.

hes my daughters pony and has enough energy to work 3 or 4 times a week for schooling and hacking and thrives off it :)
 
2 of my TB's are on Simple System feeds (so 'soft' rather than 'hard' feed, lol!).

However, my 3rd one refuses to eat a bucket feed, he'll have it for a week or two, then starts leaving it. He is only on grass and hay,(but has been mainly hay this winter as in a lot and there's no grass!) but is in work, competing, and looks healthy, happy and shiny :D I do sometimes worry he's not getting all the vits and mins he needs but he has a lick in his stable and is bright and energetic, so can't be lacking in too much :)
 
I used to just keep my ponies on hay/grass and they looked fab.

However, they all went on to develop muscle problems with raised muscle enzymes (CK especially). Symptoms like small-scale tying-up or EPSM.

At that point I read up on forage analysis and nutrient requirements and when my hay/grass was analysed it was found to only contain 40% of the required minimum amount of selenium.

The ponies muscle problems have improved since adding a good vit/min powder, but it is taking many months to get to this stage.

I would never ever revert to missing out vits/mins again. The overall look of the horse can be very different from its internal health. And the more I read, the more I realise that mineral deficiencies (particularly selenium, copper and zinc) are common across the UK so that most equines in the UK really will need a mineral supplement.

I suspect it came to light in my ponies because I have had them all from a very young age or bred them myself, and was able to spot a pattern between them all, whereas if I'd just had one pony I probably wouldn't have investigated this as a possiblity,

Sarah
 
flintfootfilly said:
I used to just keep my ponies on hay/grass and they looked fab.

However, they all went on to develop muscle problems with raised muscle enzymes (CK especially). Symptoms like small-scale tying-up or EPSM.

At that point I read up on forage analysis and nutrient requirements and when my hay/grass was analysed it was found to only contain 40% of the required minimum amount of selenium.

The ponies muscle problems have improved since adding a good vit/min powder, but it is taking many months to get to this stage.

I would never ever revert to missing out vits/mins again. The overall look of the horse can be very different from its internal health. And the more I read, the more I realise that mineral deficiencies (particularly selenium, copper and zinc) are common across the UK so that most equines in the UK really will need a mineral supplement.

I suspect it came to light in my ponies because I have had them all from a very young age or bred them myself, and was able to spot a pattern between them all, whereas if I'd just had one pony I probably wouldn't have investigated this as a possiblity,

Sarah
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Just out of interest, which supplement are you using? My mares just on hay and I wanted to add some thing to her so shes getting every thing she needs, esp with like you said the cooper deficiencies! Also how are you feeding it, with chaff? x
 
No hard feed for my lot.

Two youngsters on site currently being fed but nothing else. My mare was previously for SI supplements but fine since moving.

Large haylage bales out with them in field, was previously a mix of hay and haylage.
 
Some of mine get hard feed but many of them don't. Our hay and pasture is good quality and they always have mineral blocks in their fields. The broodmares and youngsters get fed all year round, some of the horses get fed only in the winter and some don't ever get fed at any time of the year.
 
Me :) My Sec D x Trad Cob seems to live very well on what grass we have and hay all winter. How she fares once in proper work remains to be seen but I don't think even then she will need much in the way of hard feed
 
It has been found that much grass and hay in uK is deficient or high in some minerals, so feeding a decent balancer in the absence of feeding minerals needed from doing forage analysis is prudent imo.
The nutrition course running atm has mentioned feeding a balancer (along with forage) as part of a base diet for all horses.

ps.I don't class a balancer as hard feed. To me hard feed is cereal mixes or cereal based pellets. I don't feed any cereals at all as I've no horses in very hard work.
 
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3 out of 4 of mine have only adlib hay and a rocky mineral block. The forth one needs more calories (still all fibre based tho) but as she has lived out clipped and in full work all winter, I can live with that!
 
I have two Section D mares. They have as much hay and straw as they can eat overnight and are turned out in the day. They also have access to a mineral lick at night.

One only does a bit of schooling 3 times a week, the other hacks out 1-3 hours about 5 times a week.

Both unrugged. Both look in excellent condition.

We are gradually increasing workload and will wait and see if we need to start feeding more when we do.
 
In the summer they are just on grass out 24/7 in 12 acres (there is just 2 of them). In the winter they are in all the time, turned out in a paddock for a few hours. They have huge stables though (renovated an old outbuilding). They are both TB like (French trotter & Selle Français) they both get a handful of pony nuts morning and night as I have always done this for years and don't want to change their habits and they are 10 and 23.
 
I don't feed my lot, I've tried lots of different things with my haffy but any food of any sort - other than hay/grass turns him in to a total nutter :eek:
 
my 2 cobs have survived winter on adlib hay in the field and stable, 1/4 scoop hifi and top spec lite balancer twice a day

Will probably have the same diet over summer (except for hay in the field) depending on their workload :)
 
Me, ad lib haylage and half a cup lite balancer for vits/mins, both retired 19 year old and my ten yest old hack/hunter look brilliant on it.
 
My friend does - she's got a wee pone for her daughter and a 16.1 id/tb grey mare - no hard feed, no rugs (not clipped obviously) with ad lib haylege and in at night - and they look amazing!
 
Mine only get a cup of fast fibre to hide minerals in as my lands v low in copper/magnesium (off the scale for selenium so a good job I dont hard feed else they'd be od'ing!)

If they didnt need the minerals theyd get nowt but hay :D
 
I had a cob who was on full loan and we only fed her a full haynet of haylage every night and she was turned out every day with good grass. In winter i gave her chaff and mix.

She was a good doer like with most cobs and she wasn't a fancy competition horse so never needed more than that. She was perfectly fine :)
 
My little one just lives on grass and haylage and my big horse just gets a handful of chaff so he can get his supplements. I feel lots of people over feed these days. Mine aren't in hard work and are a good weight so I feel this is plenty for them and much healthier for their digestive systems being all fibre.
 
from the age of 16-24/25 my connie x tb mare wasn't fed anything at all! now she's older she is fed, and we are on a smaller yard with less grass she needs a feed! but she just had faster fibre and molasses free hifi once a day! she is looking really good even at 28 :)
 
Yes me! One of my horses is fed good old fashioned good quality nuts from the feed merchant - own brand, plus haylage and grass. She competes at Novice BE on this no problem.

My cob is fed on nothing but grass and haylage. He gets a hanful of chaff twice a day when he is in purely because my other horse is fed and he gets stroppy if he isnt fed at the same time, plus he gets glucosamine and biotin in his feed as he is 20 and just gone barefoot. As far as I am concerned chaff is not really much different from grass/haylage, so no hard feed for him. He looks and feels great as well.
 
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