barefoot diet -help please

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Following on from my post "worn hoove's- advice needed!" has made me want to re-evaluate my horses diet.

She is 16.3hh tb mare, 15yo, in light work.
Currently being fed:
BREAKFAST:
handful of Hifi original apple chaff

DINNER:
1 x dry scoop of speedi beet (obviously soaked)
half a mug of spillers orignal balancer
1 x scoop of Hifi original apple chaff
& supplements.

Have written to Dengi, but the list they have written me for 1: equals about a £70 a month food bill, and for two: pretty obvious they are just trying to sell their products :rolleyes:

So can any of you barefoot guru's please give me some advice on what I can change to make my horses diet a bit more "barefoot friendly"?

Thanks i advance :D
 
I'm not an expert at all but I changed my horse's diet when she had her shoes of. Before doing so I spoke to a few of the barefooters on here and on phoenix forum, oberon is particularly helpful and what I do is mainly based upon her advice.

My mare has a soaked scoop of speedibeet in each feed (2 a day), then I add micronised linseed (currently 3 50ml scoops in each feed) a teaspoon of salt in each feed and then she has pro-hoof suppliment in her breakfast.

She is doing really well on that both in terms of her feet and her weight. I was worried that dropping her conditioning chaff would cause her to drop weight but the linseed is good for keeping it on.

I would ditch the apple chaff, I think it is quite high sugar. If your horse will eat it then just use the speedibeet as a base you don't need a chaff. I know a lot of barefooters use fast fibre but I was already using speedibeet so stuck with it. Then swap your suppliments and balancer for a good barefoot friendly suppliment, there are a few different ones but I use pro-hoof from progressive earth, they also make a cheaper one called pro-balance.
 
I feed my underweight 16'3" TB
1 double handful hifi molasses free
1 scoop soaked unmollassed speedibeet
1 heaped mug micronised linseed
Twice daily,
Plus supplements;Pro hoof & Glucosamine
And ad lib hay - he seems to be doing well on it and am hoping feet will improve as its low sugar/starch & no cereals. He has been on this 2 weeks now and already he has put on weight & his coat is very shiny.
 
I'm no BF guru and certainly not a diet expert but I feed my TB, low sugar hay (soaked) restricted grazing (none atm), enough speedibeet to carry a high spec balancer, 10 gms extra salt and a mug of micronised linseed daily. She only gets one feed. She holds her weight very well these days.

I've just switched to this balancer. Pricey but has a similar spec to the previous one I was feeding. http://shop.forageplus.com/epages/e...ctPath=/Shops/es137718/Products/"Hoof Health"
 
I ahve the opposite problem with my mare, she is a good doer (when she feels like it ;))
I have just had a look online and from what I can see I think a good option to go with would be:
750g Hifi mollasses free
500g Hifi balancer
1 dry scoop of speedi beet

one meal a day but just a little handfull of the chaff in the morning as the others get fed and I feel its unfair that she doesn't if she's watching them eat :o

The options seem to be good for good doers, low in sugar, and the balancer has linseed in it. My supplements are glucosamine and corn oil (vet advised due to leg problems)

Would this be ok and worth trying? :cool:
 
If she is a good doer then I would drop as much as possible. So get rid of the hi fi and the balancer, stick with the speedibeet or swap to fast fibre which I think is lower calorie. Use the smallest amount you need to get her to eat her suppliments.

Swap the corn oil for micronised linseed (it is high in veg oil still but has other benefits too) and use a good vitamin and mineral suppliment that is aimed at balancing forage for barefoot horses. The forage plus one mentioned above was recommended to me and looks good, pro-hoof or pro-balance are worth looking at and I have heard people say that there is one called 365 which is good too.

Stick with the glucosamine.

It will be more economical to buy the linseed by the bag from charnwood than to get it via a balancer I would have thought.
 
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If she's a good doer you may not need that much speedibeet?

I would drop the Dengie chaff and feed something molasses and alfalfa free (halleys to a hay chaff which looks good), and swap the spillers balancer for something like pro hoof/pro balance.
 
I am sure apple chaff has a lot of sugar/molasses in, so I'd kick that out straight away. Change the balancer to a low calorie one too ? :)
 
Yes, for a good doer I'd halve the speedibeet or even stop it. Mine gets less than half a scoop dried daily. Second the pro hoof or balance. Don't forget about calories (sugars and starch) in forage.
Second switching the oil to micronised linseed as well. It contains omegas 3 & 6 in a similar ratio to growing grass as well as oil. A mug daily shouldn't put weight on.
 
the corn oil is staying, it is vet advised for her legs hence using that and not Linseed.
With her weight, I should probable reiterate- she was skinny and not in good conditiong when I got her 3 years ago. spent a year getting the weight on, then she became a good doer an was impossilbe the keept he weight off. moved yards and is no fine, been the same weight since march on the same feed and even dropped a little at one point which is why the balancer was added.

I want to change her to a better barefoot diet but I also dont want to change he current diet too much as she does perfectly on it. She is already on chaff, balancer and speedi beet so figured the best thing to do would be to adjust the brands slightly so they suit her better. Hence the options I put above?
 
Might be worth asking the vet whether the linseed would do the same job, I suspect that it would.

The suggestions made include a better option for balancers, forage plus, pro-hoof and pro-balance will all act as balancers but don't contain unnecessary additives which can add unwanted calories and/or ingredients like many of the big name brand ones.

You don't need a chaff with the speedibeet, but if you want to use one then you ideally need a unmollassed one that doesn't contain alfalfa or lucerne - someone suggested Halley's above - I can't recommend one as I don't feed a chaff.

If your horse drops weight increase the quantity of linseed, you need about 200g a day to see a benefit but can go up to a total of 500g if needed to keep weight on.
 
baker190 said:
Following on from my post "worn hoove's- advice needed!" has made me want to re-evaluate my horses diet.

She is 16.3hh tb mare, 15yo, in light work.
Currently being fed:
BREAKFAST:
handful of Hifi original apple chaff

DINNER:
1 x dry scoop of speedi beet (obviously soaked)
half a mug of spillers orignal balancer
1 x scoop of Hifi original apple chaff
& supplements.

Have written to Dengi, but the list they have written me for 1: equals about a £70 a month food bill, and for two: pretty obvious they are just trying to sell their products :rolleyes:

So can any of you barefoot guru's please give me some advice on what I can change to make my horses diet a bit more "barefoot friendly"?

Thanks i advance :D
Click to expand...

To sumarise, she is getting quite a lot of sugar!! and a HELL of a lot of food in one sitting - particularly at dinner time... that is a LOT of speedi beet - my boy would have that split over two days!!

to compare, My 17.2 and still growing boy gets add lib hay,

1 heaped mug full of micronised linseed and two mugfulls (dry) of fast fibre, which is then soaked, and a mug full of oats, and his minerals split between two feeds a day...

Personally I don't like feeding alfa-a products - my boy is sensitive to it anyway - gets sore feet and scurfy skin so that rules out anything by dengie. also their original products are high in sugar so I would at least swap to their mollasses free hi-fi, if not look at something like fast fibre instead of hi-fi and the speedibeet too. I would add a mug full of micronised linseed to her feed which is high in omega 3 and 6 and great for hooves, coat, skin and joints. will help with the calories too if needed but not excessively if not. get her onto something like Pro-hoof and ditch the balancer - you aren't feeding the full ammount and it is only balanced to itself anyway so won't be giving her a 'balanced' ration anyway...
 
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baker190 said:
one meal a day but just a little handfull of the chaff in the morning as the others get fed and I feel its unfair that she doesn't if she's watching them eat :o
Click to expand...

You would be better splitting the feed into two equally sized feeds rather than giving a big tea and a token breakfast. She will digest it much easer. A horse has a very small stomach and if you try to feed too much in one go they don't process it and get all the goodness from it. Your feed sounds quite big to feed in one go.
 
CBFan said:
To sumarise, she is getting quite a lot of sugar!! and a HELL of a lot of food in one sitting - particularly at dinner time... that is a LOT of speedi beet - my boy would have that split over two days!!

to compare, My 17.2 and still growing boy gets add lib hay,

1 heaped mug full of micronised linseed and two mugfulls (dry) of fast fibre, which is then soaked, and a mug full of oats, and his minerals split between two feeds a day...

Personally I don't like feeding alfa-a products - my boy is sensitive to it anyway - gets sore feet and scurfy skin so that rules out anything by dengie. also their original products are high in sugar so I would at least swap to their mollasses free hi-fi, if not look at something like fast fibre instead of hi-fi and the speedibeet too. I would add a mug full of micronised linseed to her feed which is high in omega 3 and 6 and great for hooves, coat, skin and joints. will help with the calories too if needed but not excessively if not. get her onto something like Pro-hoof and ditch the balancer - you aren't feeding the full ammount and it is only balanced to itself anyway so won't be giving her a 'balanced' ration anyway...
Click to expand...

Thank you for explaining that!! :) So to sum up, keep the speedibeet, change the chaff to fast fibre (is it allen and page fast fibre? I have no clue as never fed it before :eek:) and ask the vet if linseed would have the same effect as the corn oil and just ad a mug a day fo that? and add in a supplement along the lines of pro hoof- I have just had a look online and hundres have come up! is there another brand name etc? :rolleyes:

This all boggles my brain :rolleyes:
 
CBFan said:
that is a LOT of speedi beet - my boy would have that split over two days!!
Click to expand...

One dry scoop of speedibeet does mine for four feeds/two days normally too!

At the height of our battles to get weight on her last winter she was still having a smaller volume of food per feed than yours OP. But she did better when we changed things so she was getting less. She went from having a scoop of soaked beet, plus a scoop of conditioning nuts, plus a scoop of chaff, plus sunflower oil to having a scoop of pure condition and half a scoop of beet and gained weight. Now she is on the feed I listed above and a better weight than ever.
 
Sorry I agree with the above, that's an awful lot of feed and a great deal of sugar which really won't help a barefoot horse. Have you considered swapping the chaff for fast fibre instead? Much better for her and foot friendly. I'd also suggest the micronised linseed would do the corn oil's job far better for her too. Change the balancer for something like pro hoof or pro balance, add in some magnesium oxide and salt and she'll be well equipped to handle barefoot. I find a handful of Spillers hi fibre nuts add some good tastes to it so all works well together.

Unfortunately with barefoot horses even slightly too much sugar can leave them footy and uncomfortable, so it really is worth sorting it out asap. Correct diet definitely seems to be key here. Good luck :)
 
baker190 said:
t

I want to change her to a better barefoot diet but I also dont want to change he current diet too much as she does perfectly on it. She is already on chaff, balancer and speedi beet so figured the best thing to do would be to adjust the brands slightly so they suit her better. Hence the options I put above?
Click to expand...
Then try your suggestion and see how she responds. :) Most recommended BF diets are as low in sugars as possible with a good intake of minerals and low sugar forage. Some horses manage fine on lots of lush grass and high calorie food it appears but many of us posting have learned the hard way that this isn't an option when you start to get problems.

ps. Mine are all on the same diet to also try and ward off any potential problems in the others.
 
baker190 said:
Thank you for explaining that!! :) So to sum up, keep the speedibeet, change the chaff to fast fibre (is it allen and page fast fibre? I have no clue as never fed it before :eek:) and ask the vet if linseed would have the same effect as the corn oil and just ad a mug a day fo that? and add in a supplement along the lines of pro hoof- I have just had a look online and hundres have come up! is there another brand name etc? :rolleyes:

This all boggles my brain :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

This is pro hoof http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRO-HOOF-1-8KG-HIGH-CONCENTRATED-EQUINE-SUPPLEMENT-/271132316257?. The trimmer who makes it also does pro balance, which is similar, and available from the same ebay seller.

I would question swapping chaff for fast fibre - that's also a feed which needs soaking, so combined with the speedibeet would result in quite a large feed.
 
baker190 said:
and add in a supplement along the lines of pro hoof- I have just had a look online and hundres have come up! is there another brand name etc? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

The seller is progressive earth and the name of the suppliment is pro-hoof. You buy it from their ebay shop.

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/pro-earth?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

Don't be nervous about buying from them via ebay they are legit and the service is excellent.

I have no connection with them, I'm just a very happy customer, I've ordered from them a few times and the service is great.
 
When I said a scoop of dry beet, I mean a small square scoop, not overflowed either.... thinking about it that did sounds awful as most epople think bit round scoop!! :D
she has the black rubber (old tyre) bowls and the complete feed doesn't come half way up the bowl when all together
 
baker190 said:
When I said a scoop of dry beet, I mean a small square scoop, not overflowed either.... thinking about it that did sounds awful as most epople think bit round scoop!! :D
she has the black rubber (old tyre) bowls and the complete feed doesn't come half way up the bowl when all together
Click to expand...

lol! :D

It sounded massive, and I'm used to massive feeds!
 
KristmasKat said:
lol! :D

It sounded massive, and I'm used to massive feeds!
Click to expand...

Haha, when people were saying "that is a HUGE feed" I was thinking "omg... how much do people feed their horses??" :eek:

I am getting really confused thought as to what to swap for what.... can someone please simplify exactly what I need to buy and feed as all this different suggestions are confusing me! Simple minds and all that... :rolleyes:
 
This is promising, I haven't changed my horses diet since taking his back shoes off, he gets twice daily (small square shovel scoops....)

1 sugarbeet (soaked, not dry!)
1 coarse mix
1 50g scoops (the ones you get given in supplement tubs) micronised linseed.

Aside from the coarse mix that seems pretty good - doesn't it?
 
baker190 said:
Haha, when people were saying "that is a HUGE feed" I was thinking "omg... how much do people feed their horses??" :eek:

I am getting really confused thought as to what to swap for what.... can someone please simplify exactly what I need to buy and feed as all this different suggestions are confusing me! Simple minds and all that... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

If I were you I would go for:

Fast fibre or Speedibeet - just enough to get her to eat everything else, maybe two thirds of a round scoop once soaked.
Micronised Linseed - subject to vet confirming use this instead of corn oil, start at 100g per feed and see if you need more to keep weight on.
Pro-hoof/pro-balance feed as directed (1 scoop a day for an average horse).
Salt
Your usual glucosamine suppliment.

See how you get on with that and take it from there. You can always add other stuff or change quantities, I'm planning to add magnesium for mine now and will increase the linseed when she is in more work.
 
Thanks KristmasKat, I feel a little weird feeding speedibeet on its own not too sure why! :rolleyes: But as she is on that already I may aswell stick to that.

And the salt, do you mean everyday table salt? and how much?
 
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