Feeding experts, help please!

[TarrSteps]

I'm trying to find a feed for a horse who has come from a much simpler part of the world, horse-feed wise. He has been eating something called "Hi Fat Hi Fibre", a pelleted feed with the following description and analysis:

High fat feed containing added vegetable oil.
Calories are derived from both fat & fibre.
Contains 22 added vitamins and minerals including Vitamin E.
Fortified with biotin.
Amino acid balanced.
Contains Purina Yeast Culture.
Chunk or pellet (Checker) form.

Crude Protein............................min..............................13.0%
Crude Fat..................................min................................6.0%
Crude Fibre...............................max..............................25.0%
Sodium (Na).............................actual............................0.45%
Calcium (Ca)............................actual............................0.85%
Phosphorus (P)........................actual............................0.55%
Copper (Cu).............................actual.......................35 mg/kg
Vitamin A...................................min...................6,500 I.U./kg
Vitamin D3................................min...................1,200 I.U./kg
Vitamin E...................................min......................220 I.U./kg
Selenium..................................added......................0.3 mg/kg

However, it's a Purina product and not available, as far as I can tell, in the UK. We've tried him on the two standard mixed feeds offered on the yard (a "stud" mix and, I believe, a leisure mix) and while he's eating them he's not keen.

So for all of you with encyclopaedic feeding knowledge, is there a similar product available? He's done very well on the above for a couple of years with no supplementation and I'd like to stay with something simple if possible.

 

[MrsMozart]

Have you tried contacting Purina directly?

 

[TarrSteps]

Apparently the don't sell horse feeds in the UK - have I got that wrong? I'd LOVE to have got that wrong . . .

 

[kerilli]

I think i'd call the feed manufacturers' advice lines and get the real experts to tell you which of their feeds comes closest.
hope he's settling in well!

 

[TarrSteps]

Quite frankly my head is spinning with the options and the little bit of chatting I've done to people in feed stores has left me more confused than ever. I've been feeding horses for 25 year, have yet to kill one, and the others all seemed to have flourished but apparently I've been not taking it AT ALL seriously enough!

I cannot believe the options for every conceivable situation . . . I just want a basic horse feed!!!

(Sorry, getting a bit frustrated!)

 

[nuffield]

Hi Tarrstepps , I sympathise with your frustration. Horse feed has become very complicated here in the UK in recent times. Too many companies, too many products IMO.
Your feed sounds like an Endurance Mix . ie High Fibre and Fat. If you look on manufacturers web sites and input "Endurance" I would think you will find something similar.

 

[MrsMozart]

Hm. Well, they do cat feed and dog feed in the UK, but not hoss feed. Don't get stressed

, if hte othrs are doing okay, can't you just go with the flow?

 

[nuffield]

Have just had a quick look round he web sites, Baileys do a Golden Chaff which is 25% fibre and an Endurance mix which had high oil and prrotein. A combination of these 2 products will , I think, fit the bill.

 

[TarrSteps]

Odd, but true. Apparently their license to make agricultural feeds does not extend to the UK.

That was my original plan before he came but the horse is definitely not keen on what's on offer and if I'm going to get something in specially for him, which I'm perfectly willing to do, then I'd like to get him something as close to what has been working as possible. Given how many changes and stresses he's having to put up with right now ideally I'd like to go with the proven and save an experimenting until he's more settled. I'm not much of a pamperer but I think he deserves a bit and I'd like to find a feed that's more what I'M used to so I can judge how he's doing more efficiently.

 

[TarrSteps]

Oooh, thank you. Toddling off to have a look now . . .

 

[TarrSteps]

Another question - when did oats become the enemy???

 

[Tia]

Lol!! Sorry for laughing TS

, but I know exactly where you are coming from - but I'm coming from the total opposite end of the spectrum! I moved to that simpler place and boy was I seriously disappointed and worried when I first moved out here

.

I don't really know what is comparable to hi-fat/hi-fibre in England - I suspect you may only get this with a mixture of feeds. Best of luck; you will get there with trial and error, just as I did when I moved here ... just took me a shorter time than it will you, as nowhere near the choice.

 

[Tia]

About 35/40 years ago, upon the arrivals of prepared feed mixes.

I've gone back to old fashioned feeding now, and oats are a big part of my horses feeding regime.

 

[ihatework]

Staypower cubes might be worth looking at


http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/products/horse/competition/staypower-cubes/

 

[TGM]

Have you looked at the Spillers Response Slow Release Cubes - they sound a bit similar in formulation:

http://www.spillers-feeds.com/en-gb/unit...e-energy-feeds/

You say you have tried him on mixes, but have you tried him on any cubes yet? It may be that if he is used to cubes or pellets, he may be suspicious of the texture of mix?

 

[TarrSteps]

Oh, I do think cubes or pellets are the answer. He definitely eats them more readily (I got some "on loan" from a friend.) and seems particularly put off by chaff - I think he wonders why there are lawn clippings in his feed. (He has had what you seem to call "straights" in the past but traditional mixed or "sweet" feeds are very different in NA.) As I said, my current goal is to as far as possible to replicate how he HAS been living and then, if I need to, adapt him as I can. If he was in a "normal" situation, as I said, I'd tell him to sort himself out and eat what he's given but, all things being equal, I don't think that's the route to go right now.