Do we over complicate our horses feeds?

[ester]

Frank has very occasionally sniffed a salt lick in his life.

Most of the people I know off the forum feed hay first, and add to it if necessary but maybe I only know sensible people

I think there are a lot of posts about hot/nappy difficult horses because there is no need to post about the ones being all sweet and light so it's a very skewed sample really.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

That's interesting. When I had a crazy vet look at my horse for headshaking one of the first things he asked was was whether I was giving him supplements.

I have learned over the last 40 years of keeping horses, not to add things to feed. We have had problems with just about every supplement we have ever used, with either one horse, or in some cases every horse.
Seaweed -turned every horse crazy - vet suspected poisoning by mould
NAF PinkPowder/Haylage Balancer - both riding horses became footy very quickly

Brewer's Yeast, caused one horse to have skin lesions/scabs
Magnesium - made one horse very lethargic
Several were found to have alfalfa/sugar base.
Nowadays if we think that anyone needs something added, we simply use a single ingredient and monitor carefully.

 

[supsup]

Sorry, still not getting it.....I don't put anything in a bucket, they seem to live happy lives without There are salt licks available, hay and the odd carrot. They all look well, if they didn't I would feed something extra, but that hasn't been necessary in the last 15 or so years.

Several years ago when I was dealing with some rescues we did feed some bucket stuff of course, and when I had broodmares and youngstock, but even then it wasn't as much or as many different things as people seem to feed nowadays. The competition horses got a small formulated feed or oats, nothing like the complexity people are listing here and on all the other feed-y threads.

I think you're missing part of the picture if you think people spend so much time formulating "the perfect" diet for their horse because they *need* to (or their horse needs it). For most people, horses and everything horse related is simply a hobby, and they enjoy spending time, effort and money on this hobby. Some focus on matchy-matchy or blingy tack, others on specific training strategies, or diet. I happen to enjoy learning about equine nutrition, which IMO has the side benefit of seeing through a lot of the marketing stuff. I actually like that there is so much choice about these days, meaning I can really pick and choose my products. Doesn't necessarily mean my horse cares one whit whether I end up with brand X or Y (or possibly nothing).

What's not so great is that those who don't want to spend extra time/money/effort on their horses' diet end up totally confused or guilty about not shelling out for dubious supplements and wanting to keep it simple. I still think there's an easy way out of that situation: start with forage, and see how you go. If in doubt, spend some money on an independent nutritionist, who will be quite happy to tell you what's worth spending money on (and what isn't). Simple.

 

[TGM]

Most of the people I know off the forum feed hay first, and add to it if necessary but maybe I only know sensible people

The people you know are obviously far more sensible than some of the ones I know! I know one man, who was actually quite intelligent in other ways, who was feeding his excitable mare 'competition mix' because he thought he had to as she was 'competing', even if she didn't need the extra calories in terms of condition or energy levels. People who automatically put their veterans on high cereal 'veteran mixes' just because they had reached a certain age, even if they were actually very good doers (and got laminitis as a result). Or the lady who told me a fellow livery was a bad owner because their very well-covered, non-working Shetland didn't get any bucket feed, only hay and grass.

I think a bit of common sense is needed though. Although lots of horses and ponies can do well on grass and hay as the mainstay of the diet, some horses who have fairly high workloads and/or low appetites, will simply not eat enough calories in the form of hay (particularly) and grass, so will need fairly decent quantities of bucket feeds to maintain condition. Just because some horses in some circumstances will do well on a mainly hay/grass diet doesn't mean it is right for all horses in all circumstances. But it is a good place to start, and then add bucket feed if necessary, rather than assuming the animal needs buckets of mix right from the start!

 

[nikkimariet]

I've fallen prey to micro-managed feeds in the past...

It is very easy when you have a fussy eater. It makes my heart sink seeing feed left as I know it signals weight loss and spooky ridden work etc. Let alone the wasted feed/money/time/effort.

Fig has 2.5 scoops slobbermash, 2.5 scoops oats, 3 mugs of linseed and a trug of readigrass (some days he eats all some days he eats none). Double dose suppleaze gold, maintenance dose lubrysin.

Nova has 2.5 scoops slobbermash, 3 mugs of linseed and any leftover oats from the king of fuss (some days a handful some days half a scoop etc). Double dose suppleaze.

I'm lucky I don't need to feed for feet, and that our grass and haylage is good quality.

Envious of anyone that can keep a horse in good condition with just grass/hay or 'a bucket of nuts'.

As long as the horse is happy and healthy it's all good. Did teach someone a while ago on a seriously excitable horse that has 3 scoops of feed with flaked peas, maize and alfa in but they don't feed hay in the stable... Only gets ridden twice a week. Almost facepalmed.