Feeding for feet

D

Daytona

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 August 2008
Messages
3,200
Visit site
Wanted a couple of the experience guys on here with feeding for healthy feet to tell me what they think of my lads diet. (Oberon maybe ;-))

He needs weight gain type food as very gangly and needs some weight on though its getting there slowly

8am & 4pm feed

1 Stubbs scoop pure condition
2 cups micronised linseed
1 teaspoon brewers yeast

10pm feed

1 Stubbs scoop pure condition
2 cups Equijewel

What do you think if that, he appears to be doing well on it , weight starting to go on and coat looking shiny.

I want to feed him the best I can to avoid ulcers and poor feet

He gets a mix of hay and haylage at night as much as he can eat.

He also gets one of those unmoalssed fibre block things by green gold soaked and left for him to nibble at its normally all gone by morning.
 
The combined sugar and starch content of Pure Condition is 12.1%, so a little over the recommended 10% for barefooters (and therefore optimal hoof health ;)), but not a recipe for disaster. I don't know anyone using this feed, so have no idea how other horses tend to do on it. If it's working for him at the moment, then great! If not, consider swapping to something tried and tested.

I'd also add a balancer such as Pro Balance+.
 
TwoStroke said:
The combined sugar and starch content of Pure Condition is 12.1%, so a little over the recommended 10% for barefooters (and therefore optimal hoof health ;)), but not a recipe for disaster. I don't know anyone using this feed, so have no idea how other horses tend to do on it. If it's working for him at the moment, then great! If not, consider swapping to something tried and tested.

I'd also add a balancer such as Pro Balance+.
Click to expand...

Why would you add a balancer to the diet, the horse is getting all he needs from his feed, what would you be balancing???
 
TwoS - I'm lead to believe by the company so I guess it might be incorrect if you feed the correct recommended amount of pure condition he should be getting his daily amounts of vit and mins as it contains a balancer within it.

He actually gets the maximum amount they recommend for full weight gain benefits.

So I hope he is getting what he needs.

What other feeds do you get that would bring that level below 10% that you could feed the likes if him that does not hold weight to easily..??
 
be positive said:
Why would you add a balancer to the diet, the horse is getting all he needs from his feed, what would you be balancing???
Click to expand...

From casting a quick eye over the analysis of PC, the levels of magnesium, copper and zinc are below that which I would feed for optimum hoof health. I suggested Pro Balance as their levels are lower than, for eg. the Forage Plus balancers, which would probably over supply some minerals when combined with the PC.

Ludoctro said:
TwoS - I'm lead to believe by the company so I guess it might be incorrect if you feed the correct recommended amount of pure condition he should be getting his daily amounts of vit and mins as it contains a balancer within it.

He actually gets the maximum amount they recommend for full weight gain benefits.

So I hope he is getting what he needs.

What other feeds do you get that would bring that level below 10% that you could feed the likes if him that does not hold weight to easily..??
Click to expand...

See above re the minerals - PC doesn't contain sufficient levels of the key minerals imo. If you're worried about over supplementation, you could add the lacking minerals separately

Re other feeds, unmolassed sugar beet contains nearly as much energy per kg as PC. I use molassed sugar beet & rinse the molasses off (shh, don't tell the others), as it improves palatability for my fussy TB. Oats are also useful for skinny horses.
 
How does that company know what the correct amount is for him? Unless you have your grass analysed you cant know what the correct levels are as they've nothing to balance to.

Horses dont need added vitamins, unless they have an underlying medical condition, so its just the minerals we need to worry about.

Pro hoof and Forage Plus contain the highest levels of minerals for your money with the least amount of fillers and binders which are not only gut irritants but also a waste of money.

Id rather feed straights than a mix so id use bran and oats with the linseed and pro hoof :)
 
Not sure tiger tail that's just what they told me, I'm not clued up on all the feeding malarkey apart from the obvious complete foods you get. That's why I'm asking advice. My vet told me not to feed concentrates as they can contribute towards ulcers - so I assume that would mean things like oats ..?? But correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Ludoctro said:
Not sure tiger tail that's just what they told me, I'm not clued up on all the feeding malarkey apart from the obvious complete foods you get. That's why I'm asking advice. My vet told me not to feed concentrates as they can contribute towards ulcers - so I assume that would mean things like oats ..?? But correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

Oats are actually a good feed for gut health, and form the basis of two popular supplements for the treatment of ulcers - Succeed and Egusin ;). Straights are not the same as concentrates, though, so maybe you're vet was referring to high starch mixes etc?
 
TS do you mean I could just feed sugarbeet only with say one if those balancers you mentioned and that would almost be the same benefits as PC..?? Bet it would be a darn sight cheaper too :-)
 
Nope no problems as far as I am aware, tried a few difo feeds to get him where he is. Tried topspec first , never seen any weight gain, then blue chip again no real weight gain , he quite fussy if you offer to large a feed he won't eat it hence why he gets 3 smaller feeds. He nae a fan of too much chaff or Alfa a , just tends to leave it

I seen people on here talking about PC so moved him in to it 6 months ago , again no great weight increase then started on the micronised linseed and he in now starting to fill out so really I just want to see if that's a fine diet to leave him on.

It's quite dear but if its good for him I happy to pay for it. I'm paranoid about ulcers as my last horse had them , so want to feed the best I can to not create them anyway. Same goes for feet , want him to have nice feet.

So yeah just wanted some reassurance I'm doing good by him with regards to feeding
 
Ludoctro said:
TS do you mean I could just feed sugarbeet only with say one if those balancers you mentioned and that would almost be the same benefits as PC..?? Bet it would be a darn sight cheaper too :-)
Click to expand...

Yep :). For eg, I feed mine sugarbeet, oats, bran and linseed + minerals. It's SO much cheaper than when I used to feed bagged feeds, and my TB does just as well on it. Imo it's the linseed that makes the difference :D.

Ad lib fibre is best for ulcers. I'm pretty sure my TB developed some whilst he was on box rest, but a month out 24/7 and symptoms seemed to disappear.
 
Ludoctro said:
TS do you mean I could just feed sugarbeet only with say one if those balancers you mentioned and that would almost be the same benefits as PC..?? Bet it would be a darn sight cheaper too :-)
Click to expand...

Yup, it sure does! I have 2 barefoot Tb's at home, both need the same amount of feed to keep weight on and have the energy to work, plus I'm feeding for good feet. One gets speedibeet, chaff, linseed and minerals, great feet, fat, plenty of energy. However the other one wont eat beet so has to be fed differently (Winergy which is similar to Pure feeds) to maintain weight and energy. The one on beet costs me under half what the other one does, yet does just as well.
 
If he were having a problem, then there are things I could suggest.

But if he's doing OK on the current diet, then I would stick with it :).
 
o thanks, will keep as is i think , better the devil you know and all that..

Good to know abotu sugarbeet etc though as if things get tight i can consider that
 
I base my horses diet around oats ,micronised linseed , speedibeet, Alfafa , chopped straw amounts adjusted for each horse.
Then I think about two things horn growth and senestivity of the feet .
Here for extra horn growth I feed farriers formula if I need ,as experience has taught me that works for horses on this land ( oats and haylage are local too) .
Horses who have senestive feet I remove the Alfafa and one of mine does appear to be senestive to this ( interestingly he is an itchy horse) and i do restrict grass during the day during summer I feed a general purpose vit and min supplement that contains some cobalt ( this valley is short of it as well as magnesium and selenium ) and some mag ox and salt my general purpose supp contains some probiotics but I supplement on top for horses under stress , drugs worming that sort of thing .
I always divide growth and sensitively in my mind for hoof health when working out what to do .
I use carrots for doing stretches and treats and don't worry about it.
By the way at this time one shod three BF at the moment.
I have considered the whole analysis thing and discussed it with my vet and the trimmer who cares for the horses while they are BF who both advised while I'm having no issues to keep my money in my pocket .
 
Sorry silly but I should have said I feed small bale haylage 'lite ' as the bulk of my horses long forage and top it up with the companys ,which is local ,recreation one for horses in hard work ( have never got to needing their active one they must need to be in a lot of work to need that ) .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top