Feed suitable for ponies that don't need feed...

[muckypony]

I'm after a feed that can be given to my little shetties at dinner time.

Before anyone jumps on me! They are only having it because when I feed my other boy his tea, they look longingly at me for something. They know its dinner time and as babies they got dinner too, so they still expect something. They don't get breakfast - a bucket of hay is apparently suitable! I would give them half a carrot each but actually I think that will be worse for them than a bit of feed. They are not overweight, but I don't want them to be due to feed.

They have only just come in from being out 24/7 and the last few nights I've given them a pinch of my other boys' top chop but there's an amount of sugar in it and I don't want to feed it continually. I used to feed them a handful of suregrow but now they're too old!

They get such a minimal amount (I'm talking half a handful of chaff!) that I'd rather it not be a type of chaff as the bags are so big, it goes off before I get to finish it.

I have a few ideas - fast fibre? 'L' mix? I like speedi-beet but I'm not sure it would be that nice on its own?

Any ideas?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

My mini has a dessert spoonful of hi-fi lite, 6 high fibre nuts (honestly!) with a drop of water on it twice a day. Keeps her very happy & I can easily feed both in the field together

Can you 'buy' a small tub of hi-fi from someone local? I did this last summer & it lasted mini a month!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

just get some Halleys plain timothy chop, bit of salt and Bob's your uncle my Exmoors get this and maybe some high fibre nuggets. The chop is plain so doesn't go off and I just damp it down.

 

[supsup]

I would have thought that half a carrot is a very good option. Carrots are mostly water, in the grand scheme of things, so the amount of actual feed (fibre, sugars) is going to be very small in half a carrot. And you have the added bonus of a few vitamins in there. Just think of a shrivelled up dried carrot and how little it weighs. You'd probably end up feeding more if you went with chaff or some other bagged feed. Unless you count individual nuts, of course ;-)

 

[PonyclubmumZ]

I use this for a little pony that does not need feeding but thinks he does! http://www.dengie.com/horse-feeds/hi-fi-range/hi-fi-molasses-free/

 

[LHIS]

My pony is like this - on a little yard with eventers and gets jealous around dinner time. When they're being fed and my pony is around he gets a bit of speedi-beet, a tiny handful of opti-grow balancer, and a glug of water. It keeps him occupied and happy, doesn't make him gain any weight that I've noticed, and has no effect on his behaviour.

 

[Enfys]

If they are literally only getting a handful I would feed what ever you give your other horse.

My minis used to get a tiny handful of oats, never harmed them or turned them into raving lunatics, just kept them from climbing through the fence when everything else got fed.

Other than that, just chop up an apple or bit of carrot for them maybe.

 

[Equi]

I give a handful of a lite balancer. Does them good and they always look better on it.

 

[muckypony]

Thanks all, some very helpful ideas

A lot of you have mentioned balancers which I've always wondered about. As they just get grass (minimal, being shetlands!) I imagine it wouldn't be a bad idea to give them a balancer to ensure they're getting the correct vitamins etc.

Enfys - I would, and used to when he had pony nuts, but now he's on A&P power & performance I daren't think what even a small amount of it would do to them! Plus, it's pricey stuff!!

 

[Annagain]

I'd give them some grass chaff (something like Graze-On) with a sprinkling of high fibre nuts if they won't eat the chaff on its own. If you want to give them some veg, some swede cut into batons is tasty for them and has less sugar than carrots. One Swede would last them a week.

I give my two (not littl'uns but need a low sugar diet) Sunday dinner peelings (when I'm there to cook it!) so they also get some cabbage/ cauli leaves, broccoli stalks and parsnip swede and carrot peelings when I have them. They love them but in reality they're getting very little. There's probably less than a 1/4 of each individual vegetable in each batch of peelings and they last 3 or 4 days sprinkled over their 'feeds'.

 

[Kezzabell2]

mine just clears up after my mare when she is out of the way! I feed her at the gate while I take her rug off, then move her away! she's old and chucks loads on the floor so he gets a little bit! but during the winter he will get a small amount in his own bucket, just scoop a bit out of the mares for him

fast fibre with a bit of molasses free hi fi mixed in!

 

[stencilface]

Our ponies get a handful of high fibre nuts as that what we feed the others. A bit of linseed for some goodness and some water to mix and thats it.

In the mornings they get baileys nuggets which are nice and big so I just chuck them on the floor and they sort themselves out, they're nice and tasty and what we use as treats too (our feed shop bags them into smaller bags to sell as treats lol) but they're high fibre and smell nice. Its like feeding time at the zoo though lol

http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/whatproduct/fibre/fibreplusnuggets.htm

 

[Shay]

You can chop ordinary hay up with a pair of scissors - the origin of the phrase "chop". Mixed with a bit of carrot or something it might suffice? Although the earlier suggestions of a balancer are good too. Alternatively - visit somewhere like your Horse Live and hoover up the feed samples. Should be enough to keep you going for a bit!

 

[Wagtail]

Pure feeds fibre balance has no molasses and is very low calorie yet rich in vitamins and minerals. Just a cup of it would make a nice feed for a mini without adding unwanted weight.

 

[Equi]

I have weighed out my nuts to the exact calculation on the bag. I am to give 70g to mine which are all under 8hh. 70g is about 50nuts lol. A cup would be a massive feed.

 

[budley95]

Could you give them a Lo cal balancer?

 

[JulesRules]

A handful of High fibre nuts, or a handful of speedibeet soaked? If you want a lo cal balancer Baileys is about the cheapest

If you want to feed only a few high fibre nuts why not buy them a treatball each as it will make them last longer and give them something to do.

 

[Leo Walker]

Honeychop do a chopped straw. Hi fibre, very low calorie but can still be a "bucket feed"

 

[peaceandquiet1]

Top Spec Antilam would be suitable also

 

[PorkChop]

Grass Nuts? A little goes a long way

 

[_HP_]

I have an old Shetland that can't eat hay so he gets a huge tub of soaked grass nuts, chaff and high fibre cubes. I just scoop out a blob each for the others to put their minerals in.

 

[SO1]

The top spec top chops do not have molasses in, I think everything is going have some natural sugars in.

Could you swap the chaff that you feed your other pony on to something like dengie molasses free so your shetlands could have some it. "Hi-Fi Molasses Free contains no added sugar and naturally provides 1.5% starch and 2.5% sugar which is approximately one fifth of the sugar found in average hay"

Fast fibre has a similar sugar level but more starch, not sure about sugar content in L mix but think it is very low but has more starch than the Hi Fi Molasses Free.

Fast Fibre and L mix feed in small amounts will last you for several months. Both my friend and I fed fast fibre when our horses needed to go on a weight gain diet and it did work well so I would be cautious about feeding that.

I am on part livery and fast fibre is the standard feed included, and they feed that to a wide range of horses and ponies including some that are not really good doers and they do well on it. As my pony is a very good doer he just has a bit of the dengie mollasses free which they have for the laminitics or anyone who needs dieting, so he can have something to mix his supplements in and have something when the others are being feed, as it is very light weight he can have a bit more off it than he could the fast fibre too and it is lower in starch.

I have tried some balancers such as blue chip lami lite and blue chip native but the DE in them is quite high around 10 so might be less fattening to feed a chaff and a vitamin & mineral supplement.

 

[Jericho]

I would go for handful of chaff (I recommend Thunderbrooks healthy herbal chaff ) and a balancer like top spec anti lami - they will only need a mug of it - if you aren't too money conscious. Helps ensure good vits and mins and other helpful stuff for good doers / lami prone. A balancer is a more expensive way of feeding vits and mins but mine wouldn't eat a powder supplement in chaff only so ended adding some kind of nut to make them eat it which kind of defeated the object so the balancer helps vits and mins and the crunch.

I feed this to our fatty and when he is working a bit harder he gets endurance cubes (slow release energy) or oats. Otherwise grass nuts are cheap and ok but have found they are inhaled rather quickly if have nothing mixed with them and could risk choke and they can be high in sugar and not good for lami prone although I am sure a handful a day isn't going to cause a problem. They won't add any vits or mins either.