Feeding Barley rings and condition..

[redmerl]

Is it a good plan to feed a fizzy a TB barley rings for condition? Does anyone feed it? Is it any good for condition as it seams to be the major ingredient in the major brands conditioning feeds.

Thanks!

 

[TGM]

Barley is a cost-effective form of calories, which is why it is used in so many conditoning feeds. It works extremely well putting weight on some horses, and I use micronised barley for my veteran mare with great results.

HOWEVER, some horses are sensitive to it and can come out in lumps when fed it and as it is a cereal and contains starch it can make some horses fizzy. It wouldn't be my first choice for a fizzy TB - instead I would make sure the horse had ad lib good quality hay and then opt for a combination of fibre and oil - fibre from feeds such as alfafa, grass products and/or beet and oil from straight veg oil, an oil-enriched chaff or one of the oil-rich supplements (Outshine, Equijewel).

 

[redmerl]

He currently as ad lib haylege, alfa A oli, Alpha beet and Pink powder. He also has a bit of lesure mix, which I'm not sure is of any particular bennifit but it encourages him to eat it all.

I did consider adding soya oil, but I'm abit worried about over oiling him!

 

[TGM]

You could try adding some micronised barley or barley rings then - but very gradually to see how it affects him. Some horses are fine on them, but some are not - I'm afraid you can only find out by trial and error!

Alternatively, you could ring Dengie as you are using their feeds at the moment, and get their advice on whether you could up the amounts of Alfa A Oil and/or AlfaBeet, and how much oil you can add. I feed 450ml of oil a day to my veteran mare, but I don't know how much your horse will be getting from the Alfa A Oil, so the manufacturers are probably best to advise on that.

 

[redmerl]

THanks!

 

[criso]

My TB was OK on the D and H Barley Rings but then he can't tolerate Easibeet so each horse is different,
If you are concerned about oil bear in mind they contain Linseed as well as Barley.

 

[jhoward]

you could try barley nuggerts, ive used them with sucsess, and they are NON heating http://www.horsehage.co.uk/MC-BarleyPlus.html

 

[Coffee_Bean]

I've got some barley rings in my garage and want to start feeding them this w/e. I don't think they are meant to be heating.

 

[redmerl]

Thanks Guys. The nuggets sound interesting.

Coffe Bean- Let me know how you get on pls?

 

[cloppy]

why not try micronized barley its excellent for weight gain.