Feed ideas for 3yo

LadyGascoyne

LadyGascoyne

Still Fig-uring it out...
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My 3 year old isn’t overly keen on hay and I feel like she might need a bit of a boost over winter.

She’s nearly full arab, and (hopefully) still growing. She does exceptionally well on grass but I’ve noticed she drops as quickly as she gains. The grass is looking ok but she has lost a bit of weight and she tried to nurse from her companion gelding yesterday- something I have never seen her do.

I was thinking of something along the lines of chaff and a balance/ grass nuts and a balancer.

Any suggestions?
 
Grassnuts and a vit/ min supplement, if she needs a bit extra that is easier to eat than chop which is a lot of effort for very little gain, it is also good to take up any supplements or linseed if she requires even more later on.
I have had nothing turn their nose up at grassnuts whereas some have been picky about almost everything else I have used over the years.
 
Soaked Grass nuts and/or keyflow pink mash as a Cartier for a good vit/min supp like Equimmins advance with an unmolassed, straw and alfa free chaff.

ETA I'd probably throw in 50gm of micronised linseed too with the option to increase it further into winter if she needed a bit extra
 
Hack4fun said:
If she is hungry then she will eat. Add some micronised linseed to provide some calories - 100g per day perhaps.
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If only it was that simple, many horses are picky and will not eat what is offered, even if they are dropping weight and should be hungry they will only eat what they want to, at the moment mine that are living out are not interested in hay but will eat their token feed of soaked grassnuts as if they are starved they don't really need it as their weight is fine but they are not growing youngsters who may require a little more help to prevent weight loss.
 
Thanks everyone.

Hay and haylage get the same result - interesting for five minutes and then it’s much more fun to play with rugs, ropes, chains, fences and gates.

I’ll get some grass nuts and some linseed, and then look for a good vitamin supplement.
 
I used to boil linseed and I found if fed occasionally, it was well liked.

Then I found out that it doesn't need to be boiled; grinding will be fine, so now when I feel like doing so, I grind about a handful in a mortar and pestle.

I only buy whole linseed. I'm not keen on it being processed long before feeding it.
 
Lois Lame said:
I used to boil linseed and I found if fed occasionally, it was well liked.

Then I found out that it doesn't need to be boiled; grinding will be fine, so now when I feel like doing so, I grind about a handful in a mortar and pestle.

I only buy whole linseed. I'm not keen on it being processed long before feeding it.
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But your processing it by grinding and/or boiling?! Micronised linseed is just very lightly cooked.

Linseed, in its raw state, contains the enzyme Linase, which, in moist conditions, can trigger the release of hydrogen cyanide. Micronization not only enhances feed value and palatability, but also destroys Linase,
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Also

Micronising has been proven not to denature the omega oils, so you still have those present in micronised linseed, however boiling can affect the omega oils so be aware of that if that is your reason for feeding. ( http://www.scirp.org/Journal/PaperInformation.aspx?paperID=5216 )
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agree with LW, micronised linseed is barely processed, really it's about as processed as a jacket potato ;)

FWIW I have one horse who needed to learn to eat grass nuts, but she's a funny bunny. everything else has eaten them happily and they are a great base for pellets or powdered supplements.
 
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I feel that grinding the seed immediately before the horse eats it is preferable. I guess you could call that processing. I read somewhere some years ago that it is safe to feed raw if it is ground.

The following is from:

http://www.hoofbeats.com.au/articles/flaxseed.html

Tradition says that flaxseed must be boiled before feeding to a horse because of the risk of Prussic Acid (or hydrogen cyanide) poisoning. Anyone who has boiled flaxseed knows how messy it gets and for most, the effort is too much to continue persisting. Well good news ... flaxseed, it seems, can be fed safely without being boiled.


Flaxseed contains compounds called cyanogenic glycosides. When the seeds are chewed by a horse these cyanogenic glycosides come into contact with an enzyme (beta-glycosidase) that converts it to hydrogen cyanide, which can then lead to cyanide poisoning. HOWEVER, the beta-glycosidase enzyme is destroyed by the acidic environment of the horse’s gastric stomach, meaning the cyanide is never produced in quantities large enough to cause any problems.


A study published in the Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research in 2002 looking at the ability of flaxseed to reduce the inflammation associated with sweet itch or Queensland itch (culicoides hypersensitivity) reported that they fed 1 lb of flaxseed per 1000 lb of bodyweight to horses (or 0.5 kg per 500 kg bodyweight) over a period of 42 days with no negative side-effects being observed. With this dose rate being much higher than the normal 1 to 2 cups fed per day, it can be concluded that flaxseed is safe to feed to horses without cooking it first.

ETA:
Soaking
It is recommended flaxseed is not soaked before feeding as this may actually make it dangerous to horses. Soaking the seeds would, to some extent, allow the beta-glycosidase enzyme to come into contact with the cyanogenic glycosides and allow for the production of hydrogen cyanide.
 
I think LL is in Australia? I read somewhere that micronised linseed is not available there. is that true?
it's about the same price as whole linseed here, so really nothing to be gained by feeding the whole stuff.
 
My Arabs have grass chaff micronised linseed and unmolassed beet, I would be careful of a lot of conditioning feeds and balancers as they have molasses and mine react to it, top spec sent one of mine nuts so did Bailey's feeds, I tend to just feed straights and a basic vitamin mineral supplement if I think they need one.
 
I fed my part Arab Dodson and Horrells suregrow then moved onto their ultimate balancer when he didn't need the calories and now doesn't even need that so gets d&h vitamin and mineral supplement which is a small pellet with a handful of chaff
 
Gloi said:
Have you had her teeth checked recently, hay being harder to chew than grass?
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That's an interesting thought.

milliepops said:
I think LL is in Australia? I read somewhere that micronised linseed is not available there. is that true?
it's about the same price as whole linseed here, so really nothing to be gained by feeding the whole stuff.
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I think micronised linseed is available here but I've never tried it. (And I don't feed the linseed whole -- I buy it whole. I feed it freshly crushed. I only have one horse and I only bother with giving it when in the mood to grind it. It's a zen thing :) )
 
She had her teeth checked about two months ago, but it may well be worth having another look as she is young and things change fast.

She isn’t losing condition in a worrying way, nor does she appear to struggle with hay or feed- she’s just so into everything that she moves onto something more entertaining. I honestly thought she was going to climb into my landy this evening.

I’ve bought her some fibre nuts, some unmolassed chaff and some micronised linseed and I’ll play with that for a while and work out the balance.
 
Back here for more thoughts.

She did very well on on fibre nuts, chaff and linseed, until this week.

In the last two weeks, the grazing has really started to look poor, and I’ve noticed she’s dropped weight over the last week.

She’s still not interested in hay. She eats it happily for ten minutes and then gets bored and wanders off.

The thing is that she does exceptionally well on grass and we are not a long way off ballon-animal-season. I’m not sure whether to continue with what she has, and maybe up quantity a bit, or add something.

She also looks like she has grown a bit again, so I’ll measure her this afternoon. She’s four at the end of March.

2548523C-828D-496B-A08B-3D018BBDADAA.jpeg

ETA exercise-wise, she does nothing except long walks in hand on the weekends. She is out 24/7 on a large hilly field.

And ETA again, sorry for awful angle photo- not flattering at all but she wanted to follow me so I couldn’t get her to stand still for a photo.
 
Looking at that pic, I think you may be over-worrying. She looks like a lanky youngster, but she is nowhere near underweight. If I remember correctly, she was very fat at one point last year, so I'd be delighted to see her looking like this before the grass starts coming back.
Also - my grass never stopped growing this winter, so they have been grazing a lot more than they usually would. SOme of my fields look like theres no grass, but that's because they are eating it! She may well be ignoring hay because she is grazing, and getting her needs met by the grass
 
Seasonal weight fluctuation is normal. As long as the weight loss isn't rapid or drastic thus suggesting an underlying issue I want my horses to be at their thinnest at this time of year to reduce the headache of dieting them off the Spring grass flush. This is the way their physiology is designed to work in a wild setting, maintaining a constant weight year round is not natural for them (even if it does help us with saddle fit!)
 
Marigold4 said:
I have one the same age as yours. He went off his hay when he had a loose cap. Back to eating again a couple of days after vet prised it off. Mine gets small amounts of chaff, sugar beet and a half scoop of youngstock cubes.
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Yes, loose baby teeth cause them to chew on random stuff due to the toothache i think they feel while the adult teeth push through.
My boy at 4 was very much like this. While grooming i had a handled brush and a body brush. He was mouthing the handle of one brush, while i was grooming. I did this as all he wanted to do was mouth the brush i was using. All of a sudden i hear a crunch, and one front tooth was bent 90 degrees out his mouth! Google saved me from having a heart attack! (My first youngster) Bit of blood, tooth fell off...he did better. But for a while that year afterwards i was finding caps on the floor everywhere!
Ive kept them to do a quirky horsey themed art piece ;-)

Has she got any trees around/fence to chew on to release caps if theyre causing issues?
Can you chop some meaty willow branches off a tree and leave them for her to gnaw on? The aspirin in the bark will help with toothache too.
Mine also for a month after dental rasp was chewing funny.
 
Have you condition scored her recently? She doesn't look underweight in the photo but of course the camera can add a few pounds. I'd keep an eye on it but I'd be reluctant to up the feed this time of year unless she keeps losing weight or the weather gets bad.
 
PurBee said:
Yes, loose baby teeth cause them to chew on random stuff due to the toothache i think they feel while the adult teeth push through.
My boy at 4 was very much like this. While grooming i had a handled brush and a body brush. He was mouthing the handle of one brush, while i was grooming. I did this as all he wanted to do was mouth the brush i was using. All of a sudden i hear a crunch, and one front tooth was bent 90 degrees out his mouth! Google saved me from having a heart attack! (My first youngster) Bit of blood, tooth fell off...he did better. But for a while that year afterwards i was finding caps on the floor everywhere!
Ive kept them to do a quirky horsey themed art piece ;-)

Has she got any trees around/fence to chew on to release caps if theyre causing issues?
Can you chop some meaty willow branches off a tree and leave them for her to gnaw on? The aspirin in the bark will help with toothache too.
Mine also for a month after dental rasp was chewing funny.
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I have a growing collection of caps - and a wolf tooth. I like the idea of artwork!
 
Thanks, everyone. I am probably worrying unnecessarily, you’re all right she isn’t skinny. I’ll keep her on what she’s having at the moment.

Auslander said:
Looking at that pic, I think you may be over-worrying. She looks like a lanky youngster, but she is nowhere near underweight. If I remember correctly, she was very fat at one point last year, so I'd be delighted to see her looking like this before the grass starts coming back.
Also - my grass never stopped growing this winter, so they have been grazing a lot more than they usually would. SOme of my fields look like theres no grass, but that's because they are eating it! She may well be ignoring hay because she is grazing, and getting her needs met by the grass
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Aus, you’re right she was extraordinarily fat when she was on the yard where the yard manager insisted on managing her herself.

68A34D7E-472C-40B2-90DF-7A3EC8EC6CF1.jpeg

I had to work so hard to get that weight off her when I got her out of there.
 
The baby highland arrived a bit skinny and gelding knocked him back a bit more. He was getting fed pink mash, grass nuts, oats and alfalfa. As he's gained condition I've slowly reduced the amounts down and stopped the oats.
 
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