Feed/volumes/weight... confused...

Holzdweaver

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Probably a totally numpty question lol, so please bear with me! and forgive me if it is hehe :eek::eek:

Im currently feeding my TB on Speedibeet (2 scoops a meal) and Soaked Grass Nuts (1 scoop a meal) with a few hundred gram of micronised linseed (Brilliant stuff! :D) along with three big jugs of water and left to soak for 20 mins while i get on with other jobs.
Hes doing very well on this feed and so i am loathe to change it at all, but...

Ic been given the advice that horses stomachs can only take a rugby ball sized amount of food at a time and any more could cause problems such as colic etc.

When unsoaked it doesnt even look a lot, but when soaked each feed is roughly 3/4 of a bucket. (small tug trug type) which is a lot more than a rugby ball sized meal. It isnt wet as such, theres no water pooling at the bottom etc

I cant split it up even further as theres nobody to feed during the day

Does anyone know if it makes a difference that the feed obviously has a high water content?
should i be feeding a lot less regardless of the water content?
or shall i just carry on and ignore the advice as hes looking so well? :confused:
 

Sugar_and_Spice

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Grass nuts and Speedibeet are fibre food, same as chaff or hay is. Feed as much as you like at once and you'll do no damage. If you start adding in mix or cereals or conditioning nuts etc then feed that separately, last, with a little Speedibeet so horse doesn't choke on it. You may want to do that with the linseed, I'm not sure whether that's cereal or fibre. As long as cereal feed goes in last it won't get pushed through the stomach too quickly. Cereal needs to be digested before it reaches the intestines, to prevent colic or laminitis, whereas fibre is mostly digested in the intestines.
 

Holzdweaver

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Thank you for the wonderful explanation! :D

It all makes sense to me now, so il stop worrying lol.

Im hoping to keep him on a fibre based diet, id rather not fill him full of cereals if i can help it, but if i ever do need to to maintain him, i now understand how much to feed, when and why, thanks again x :)
 
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