Barefoot diet help please (& forage analysis)

[loz9]

I seem to be getting myself completely confused! Please help!

At the moment my horses are fed:
Spillers light balancer (at recommended amount, soaked for ease of mixing supps)
Plain oat straw (handful)
Salt
Charcoal

They are also fed 6hr soaked hay, produced on the fields that they graze (turnout atm = 16hrs).

I also add in Superfix freestep & Feedmark clarity for one, feedmark ulcercalm for another, & topspec cool condition cubes for the one who needs a bit more (changing to oats atm).

4 have never worn shoes (ages 6, 6, 6, 10) & one had them off 5yrs ago (now aged 18, has thin soles)

BUT...

I want to change this as I don't think the balancer is beneficial for their feet with the molasses/mineral balances, so would speedibeet/kwikbeet be a good carrier with the oat straw? What to keep sugar to bare minimum.

Is it possible to get the correct vits/mins without feeding something like probalance? What supplements would I need? I'm thinking linseed, brewers yeast, magox, salt, but what else do I need?

Would you feed any additional supplement to the awkward ones; thin soles, ulcers, & lami prone who also has summer copd/rao? Two of them are 'normal' horses with no ailments.


Also...
I'm planning on having my grazing analysed this year, once the grass has grown a bit. Would I be better getting the hay that is made from the grass analysed? Or the hay that is cut from it?


Sorry for the essay & million questions, I've got my head in such a muddle I don't seem to be able to figure it out!
Thank you!!!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I don't know what work they are doing so will give you a basic diet for a 15.00 hh horse maintenance/ very light work
Hay ad lib

one feed per day
non molassed sugar beet [quickbeet] 2 pet scoops when dry
100gm micronised linseed
Chaff non molassed
25gms minerals a handful of chaff
25gms salt
This can be made up in one batch if it is easier and split in to am and pm feed
add other supplement in pm feed

 

[Holly Hocks]

Have a look at Red Rufus feeds - very low sugar and starch and if you feed the muesli you shouldn't need any additional supplements. I feed my TB on the muesli and the native on their wiesencobs.

 

[criso]

Also...
I'm planning on having my grazing analysed this year, once the grass has grown a bit. Would I be better getting the hay that is made from the grass analysed? Or the hay that is cut from it?

If I had a choice of analysing as grass before you cut it or as hay, I might go for the grass. The only reason is that you can walk the field and get a good average from the field. If you get it from the hay once it is cut then even if you sample a dozen bales, they might all be from one corner rather than spread out.

However you can also get the hay analysed for nutritional content as well as minerals which tells you sugar though there is no reason why you can't do mineral on the grass and nutritional on the hay.

If your forage has a good range of minerals and they have access to a wide variety of plants and herbs, then you may get away without feeding a mineral balancer however that is quite rare and the one with thin soles suggests it's not ideal. Even if just one is more sensitive and shows it, the others may be even better with all the minerals they need.

Once you have your analysis, you can target better and just feed the ones you need.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I am not clear why you want to analyse the forage. One reason for doing so is to formulate their minerals, if so you might find it better to use a company which offers that as an option, to do it yourself it may be possible, but it is a very complex subject.
They will advise on what to analyse, one of the main things is to make sure that your original sample is representative, a whole subject in itself.

 

[laura_nash]

If you have decided to go down the route of getting your forage analysed, I would suggest you might want to go through something like Forage Plus and get a feed plan done for each horse. That way not only will you not have to figure out the results of the analysis, but you would be able to get advice on additional supplements etc. for each horse which sounds like it might be helpful since they have different problems. With Forage Plus you get a breakdown of the mineral requirements, so you aren't tied into using them as a supplier for your minerals afterwards.

I want to change this as I don't think the balancer is beneficial for their feet with the molasses/mineral balances, so would speedibeet/kwikbeet be a good carrier with the oat straw? What to keep sugar to bare minimum.

Unmollassed beet is a good carrier, I use fast fibre which also works well for mine.

Is it possible to get the correct vits/mins without feeding something like probalance? What supplements would I need? I'm thinking linseed, brewers yeast, magox, salt, but what else do I need?

Its not really possible to get the right minerals without feeding them, though you can mix your own rather than using a balancer like probalance (generally works out cheaper but a right faff). If you are getting your forage analysed you might find the standard balancers don't work out right anyway and it is better to mix your own, or you may need to "top-up" a balancer with additional minerals. In my case I was able to feed a premixed balancer at half dose to meet the requirements after getting my forage analysed.

Some horses do fine on a basic diet like you listed, but it isn't that they are getting the correct minerals it is just that horses seem to vary as to how sensitive they are to mineral imbalances.

Would you feed any additional supplement to the awkward ones; thin soles, ulcers, & lami prone who also has summer copd/rao? Two of them are 'normal' horses with no ailments.

Probably not the thin soles (I would give it time to see if the minerals helped) but yes I probably would add extras for ulcers and lami prone. I didn't find any supplements helped much with my boy's copd/rao, but minerals balanced to forage do seem to have made a difference.

 

[Tiaan]

Spillers light balancer (at recommended amount, soaked for ease of mixing supps)
Plain oat straw (handful)
Salt
Charcoal

I had a google to find the ingredients of the balancer and the price (£20?)

Wheatfeed, sunflower extract, oatfeed, grass nuts, rice bran, hipro soya, molasses, calcium carbonate, vit/min premix, sodium bicarbonate, salt, dicarbonate phosphate, lysine, calcined magnesite

and personally I wouldn't feed it to my horse, you may also be feeding too much salt as its in the balancer and your feeding it separately. Kwickbeet is high fibre but low starch and sugar 5% so would be a great carrier for a vitamin mineral supplement.

I use Equimins advance powder £22 for 2Kg which I chose specifically because it does not have any iron in it, I believe there are a couple of other companies that provide this.

Also, instead of using magox or similar, I use Magnesium chloride, as it is already in the form that is used by the horse, (Magnesium oxide reacts with the hydrochloric acid in the stomach to become magnesium chloride)

I feed kwickbeet, equimins, magnesium chloride, Micronised linseed and whole soaked oats

 

[Leg_end]

My horse is in medium work (eventing fit, jumping, fast work, 40-60min schooling 2/3 times a week, hacking 15 miles a week). He's an average doer (16.1 WB).

100ml Equivita hoof supplement
50ml cal mag
25-50ml salt
200g micronised linseed
500g oats
1kg copra (dry weight)
1kg um sugarbeet (soaked weight)
1kg Alfa pellets
200g omega rice

 

[Leo Walker]

I feed a mix from equivita which is tailored for me and works out at roughly £12 a month for a 600kg horse. I add salt, linseed and mag chloride. I add brewers yeast as well but thats mainly for sweet itch, not so much for feet. I find that the most economical and less faffy way to do it. Copper and zinc seem to make the biggest difference to my horses. I feed it in some copra, and add oats if they need energy.