TGM
Well-Known Member
I have posted this in here, as well as in Stable Yard, as a lot of the feeding queries appear in this forum as well, and I thought it would be helpful for people who are trying to assess different feeds:
I wonder how many of your read the labels on your horse's feeds? If you have a minute I would suggest you do as you can learn a lot from it and it can be very helpful as well if you are contemplating switching to a different feed.
First thing to check is the list of ingredients - some feeds make a big play of being 'oat-free' or 'barley-free' which can lead consumers to believe that they are free of all cereals, which is often not the case. If you want to ensure that a feed is really cereal-free, because your horse reacts to cereals in some way, then look out for the following on the ingredients list:
Barley
Oats
Wheat
Maize
Maize is one of the starchiest cereals, which means it has the tendency to fizz up susceptible horses, but is still included in a 'calming' condition feed that is marketed as 'barley and oat-free'!
You may see ingredients such as oatfeed and wheatfeed listed and wonder whether they are also cereals. They are actually the fibrous husk of the oat/wheat seeds and so contain very little or none of the starchy centre, so are often found in feeds like high fibre cubes.
High Fibre Cubes are a popular feed these days and one would assume they are cereal-free, which is generally the case. However, I have noticed that one manufacturer has rebranded their 'economy cubes' as 'high fibre cubes' and the feed actually contains micronised wheat, so is not cereal-free. It is a good feed and I use it myself sometimes, but I just feel the name is misleading for those who assume it could be an equivalent swap for something like Spiller's High Fibre Cubes which are cereal-free and Laminitis Trust approved.
Another important thing to check on the label is the digestible energy content - this is, in effect, the 'calorie count' of the feed, and is usually expressed as mega joules of digestible energy per kilogram - MJDE/kg.
What I would call 'diet foods' usually have around 8-9 MJDE/kg - things like HiFi Lite, Happy Hoof etc, whereas conditioning feeds tend to supply about 12 MJDE/kg. High fat supplements are even higher in calories - Bailey's Outshine is 24 MJDE/kg, for example. This is particularly useful information if your horse is a poor doer and has a small appetite - you may find it easier to get them to eat small feeds which are calorie dense, rather than larger feeds with a lower calorie level.
So get reading your feed labels to find out what your horse is really eating!
I wonder how many of your read the labels on your horse's feeds? If you have a minute I would suggest you do as you can learn a lot from it and it can be very helpful as well if you are contemplating switching to a different feed.
First thing to check is the list of ingredients - some feeds make a big play of being 'oat-free' or 'barley-free' which can lead consumers to believe that they are free of all cereals, which is often not the case. If you want to ensure that a feed is really cereal-free, because your horse reacts to cereals in some way, then look out for the following on the ingredients list:
Barley
Oats
Wheat
Maize
Maize is one of the starchiest cereals, which means it has the tendency to fizz up susceptible horses, but is still included in a 'calming' condition feed that is marketed as 'barley and oat-free'!
You may see ingredients such as oatfeed and wheatfeed listed and wonder whether they are also cereals. They are actually the fibrous husk of the oat/wheat seeds and so contain very little or none of the starchy centre, so are often found in feeds like high fibre cubes.
High Fibre Cubes are a popular feed these days and one would assume they are cereal-free, which is generally the case. However, I have noticed that one manufacturer has rebranded their 'economy cubes' as 'high fibre cubes' and the feed actually contains micronised wheat, so is not cereal-free. It is a good feed and I use it myself sometimes, but I just feel the name is misleading for those who assume it could be an equivalent swap for something like Spiller's High Fibre Cubes which are cereal-free and Laminitis Trust approved.
Another important thing to check on the label is the digestible energy content - this is, in effect, the 'calorie count' of the feed, and is usually expressed as mega joules of digestible energy per kilogram - MJDE/kg.
What I would call 'diet foods' usually have around 8-9 MJDE/kg - things like HiFi Lite, Happy Hoof etc, whereas conditioning feeds tend to supply about 12 MJDE/kg. High fat supplements are even higher in calories - Bailey's Outshine is 24 MJDE/kg, for example. This is particularly useful information if your horse is a poor doer and has a small appetite - you may find it easier to get them to eat small feeds which are calorie dense, rather than larger feeds with a lower calorie level.
So get reading your feed labels to find out what your horse is really eating!
