Does anyone feed whole oats to their horses?

I always did until the current horse who doesn't get fed. Soaked while oats are a brilliant feed for almost any horse, but a working knowledge of feeding straights is necessary if you decide to go that route.
 
Very interesting article, thanks for sharing OP.

Though I wish they could have included more information comparing whole oats and rolled etc. They say whole oats have the high fat content - so better to feed rolled etc for a horse in low work on the chubby side? (But I suppose you wouldn’t necessarily be feeding a horse like that oats.)
 
We used to give our Eriskay pony oats during the Winter, gave her a bit of extra oomph without making her silly. Worked so well we gave them to the Connie too, more due to the fat content as he's rather a poor doer; he went loopy.
 
We fed whole oats for a while, more because we only needed small quantities and they keep better than bruised oats. Trouble with the whole oats is that the husks pass through into the droppings which makes horse poo very attractive to other critters!
Scattered scratched up poo that took ages to clean up was a deal breaker for us and we went back to the bruised oats and accepted that sometimes they went off before the bag was finished and needed to be discarded, probably not a problem with more horses or bigger horses that eat more.
 
catkin said:
We fed whole oats for a while, more because we only needed small quantities and they keep better than bruised oats. Trouble with the whole oats is that the husks pass through into the droppings which makes horse poo very attractive to other critters!
Scattered scratched up poo that took ages to clean up was a deal breaker for us and we went back to the bruised oats and accepted that sometimes they went off before the bag was finished and needed to be discarded, probably not a problem with more horses or bigger horses that eat more.
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Yes! Clearing up after the crows was tripling my poo picking time every day. It was a nightmare. Will not be doing whole oats ever again.

Can I ask why soaked whole oats are so different to bruised or rolled oats?
 
a1icemat said:
I've been feeding whole oats to my horses for a while - I found this blog post really interesting

https://www.hiformequine.co.uk/why-are-whole-oats-the-most-ideal-grain-to-feed-your-horse/ prepaidgiftbalance

And just wondered if anyone else feeds whole oats?
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Oats should be fine as long as you introduce them gradually. Do they not let you bring in your own feed? Seems kind of unusual. I dont know what area you are from but here in WA state we are low in selenium so I gave my horse a salt lick with selenium and he did just fine. (Also TB) a good supplement might help as well...if you notice weight loss I would see if they would be willing to feed your grain of choice (some stables prefer you pre-measure the feed) the well being of the horse should be their first priority.
 
Where I ride in Spain feeds whole oats, and I would too except nothing on the farm here (Ireland) has had a hard feed since 2001. Laughing at "should" be fine: horses have been fed oats (whole, rolled, cracked, whatever) for thousands of years.
 
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