bran-wheat or oat?brain ache....feed dilemma

[Hallo2012]

I have a VERY fussy pony, also quite food reactive and i dont need any more ping!

chaffy or wet mash type feeds just get chucked around or ignored, currently looks very well on linseed and grass cubes but I bet as much ends up in the bin or his bed as down his neck if i soak them, and he will only eat them up well if the grass cubes are more or less dry(just a drop of water to stick the linseed) which isn't ideal (worry about choke or impaction as he will also only drink in the stable and not in the field unless I fill him with recovery mash water which being full of soya and sugar brings its own worries)

before i turn my world upside down getting samples of cubes to try him on-would a very small amount of bran tempt him to eat without blowing his mind, or potentially making him footy as I am aware its high starch. I suspect I would only need a small handful of bran soaked and he would eat the semi soggy grass nuts and linseed in with it as it smells so nice!

or do I splurge for thunderbrooks oat bran?

or do i try ERS cubes which are the least crap filled none soak higher DE cube i can find?!

or are nearly dry grass cubes actually ok and i am stressing abut nowt?(simple systems blue bag) as i cant see how they can be MUCH worse than say dry ERS cubes?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

My Arabi just goes off feed all the time I was constantly switching every few months to something different he also can't have alot of feeds, no molasses, alfalfa high starch make him silly.

I've started adding oily herbs to his feed and he doesn't leave any and his not left anything for months now Louis loves them as well and they are good for gut health.

The only other thing most horses love is the saracen recovery mash could you not add a little bit of that to his feed?

Although too much of that would hot my 2 up so maybe not a good idea

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

If your wanting condition what about Equijewel ?

 

[cauda equina]

I've got two who hate mashy/mushy grass nuts (they have SS Hay Care)
I feed it only just wet enough to stick the supplements to the cubes, roughly 1 big serving spoon (probably a bit bigger than a tablespoon) full of water per single handful of nuts.
We've never had any problems
They are tiny feeds though; one gets 2 handfuls of nuts, the other 3

 

[Hallo2012]

If your wanting condition what about Equijewel ?

made him a bit spooky and silly the linseed seems to suit much better, i do have recovery mash to hand but worry about the sugar and soya (but then is that any worse than bran....)

 

[Hallo2012]

I've got two who hate mashy/mushy grass nuts (they have SS Hay Care)
I feed it only just wet enough to stick the supplements to the cubes, roughly 1 big serving spoon (probably a bit bigger than a tablespoon) full of water per single handful of nuts.
We've never had any problems
They are tiny feeds though; one gets 2 handfuls of nuts, the other 3

he probably getting 2 coffee mugs of nuts per feed so a bit more, he does seem ok and he doesn't bolt it down if anything he eats super slowly (teeth are good)

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

made him a bit spooky and silly the linseed seems to suit much better, i do have recovery mash to hand but worry about the sugar and soya (but then is that any worse than bran....)

I really don't know I haven't fed bran for years I do always have a bag of spillers fibre nuts I use them for stretches and treats mainly, but often just put half a handful in the feed if I try a new supplement and they always eat it.

Both of mine can't eat loads of molasses and they have it added in the fibre nuts but the small amount they get doesn't affect them badly, they are cheap and do a job as mine don't need condition feeds as such.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

what about grass chaff mine love it I buy the emerald grass tastic, I won't feed grass or hay nuts as the first time I bought a bag Arabi got an impaction colic not long after i started feeding them, his never had colic in his life and it scared the crap out of me so I won't buy them now, I just feed grass chaff unmolassed sugar beet and linseed and he doesn't eat really wet feed but he eats that fine.

 

[tda]

From the other angle.....does he actually need feeding at all this time of the year?
People have, and still do feed nuts/pellets/cobs of all types without soaking them
If you were worried about choke then yes mix with a grass chop, or you could find a few big smooth stones and put them in the feed bucket to slow him down even more
Have you tried good old unmollassed beet mixed with linseed

 

[expanding_horizon]

My 17hh horse isn’t that fussed about bucket feed when has decent grass. I’ve a number of expensive supplements I want him to eat. Including micronised linseed. I feed 500gms of Saracens recovery mash and 250gms of micronised linseed twice a day. Mine is also barefoot. I don’t think the starch / sugar in the recovery mash is terrible in small amounts. 6% sugar, 10% starch. Not when you work out the proportion of total input in the diet. I don’t love the ingredients list. It’s probably not full of soya as think ingredients have to be listed in size order and that’s number four.

In winter I go back to agrobs mash and copra.

I also used recovery mash in water / extra mash in extreme heat / travelling and competing in heat.

 

[SEL]

I used ERS pellets a few years back for the PSSM mare - she's pretty reactive to a lot of stuff but they were ok.

 

[Hallo2012]

From the other angle.....does he actually need feeding at all this time of the year?
People have, and still do feed nuts/pellets/cobs of all types without soaking them
If you were worried about choke then yes mix with a grass chop, or you could find a few big smooth stones and put them in the feed bucket to slow him down even more
Have you tried good old unmollassed beet mixed with linseed

he does need feeding yes, competing and covering mares so will run himself a bit light.

not a fan of beet, but i do have loads of granite blocks to hand so maybe one of those and just let him have his mostly dry nuts!

 

[SpotsandBays]

I’m sure the grass pellets from Northern Crop Driers don’t need to be soaked prior to feeding

 

[Hallo2012]

I used ERS pellets a few years back for the PSSM mare - she's pretty reactive to a lot of stuff but they were ok.

thats good to know thanks