Feeding minerals - the results.....

Oberon

Oberon

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I've been feeding my 25 year old Arab balanced minerals every day since August now. I also ditched alfalfa.

1) His hooves are beautiful and his white line is tighter than it's been for 20 years (and he is not even grass sensitive)

2) He has resisted mud fever so far.

3) His rider says he has much more 'joie de vivre' than he's had for at least a year.

Now just to explain - he WAS on a good, 'barefoot friendly,' diet before this.

If I am seeing such amazing results with a previously well fed, healthy, horse....imagine what results could be found with a unhealthy horse, or one on a posh but 'nutritionally dubious', commercial mix?

It's cheaper but it's MAGICAL
 
I'm getting my bespoke minerals in a few months. I had my forage analysed not so long ago, weve changed fields and theyre on haylage now so the minerals wont be balanced so havent done it yet. I have high manganese and low copper and zinc.
I hope my mare gets as good as yours this time next year
 
Congratulations Oberon.:)
Tammytoo, we stopped analysing about 10 years ago and now feed adlib mixed minerals in the field. We have found that the horses are very good at self-dosing. However, we are lucky in that we have an awful lot of space and a big variety in plant species and soil types.
 
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Tammytoo said:
Oberon, who does the mineral analysis? My local farmer grows hay on 3 different farms, so how accurate does the analysis have to be?
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I'm no expert so I'm not sure how you'd need to work it with your farmer. My yard produces it's haylage from different fields so I just grabbed samples from different bales.

I had mine done by Dodson and Horrell (who tried to flog me their mixes alongside the analysis - even though it negates them
notallthere.gif
) and then Mel from Progressive Horse did the balancing for a small fee.

Nowadays you have ForagePlus who do the whole thing in one shot.
 
rosie-ellie said:
I'm getting my bespoke minerals in a few months. I had my forage analysed not so long ago, weve changed fields and theyre on haylage now so the minerals wont be balanced so havent done it yet. I have high manganese and low copper and zinc.
I hope my mare gets as good as yours this time next year
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Ours was similar.

What blows my mind is that Obi WAS healthy. He was fed a barefoot friendly diet that I considered to be very good.

If I can see such changes in a healthy, well fed horse - imagine what it would do for an unhealthy horse?
 
Oberon said:
Ours was similar.
If I can see such changes in a healthy, well fed horse - imagine what it would do for an unhealthy horse?
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I agree..........

Just changing onto haylage has made my mare footsore so i'm not best impressed, im soaking the haylage at the moment. How much copper and zinc do you feed at the moment if you dont mind me asking.:o
 
can i just ask - if i a bit skint and wanted to have analysis done - do i go for grass OR Haylage? as prob cant afford right now to get both done as its about £50 a pop isnt it. Also how much for the decifering and balancing??

Which would be more cost efficient.

Really think would help my girl but Xmas is coming too :(
 
kezimac said:
can i just ask - if i a bit skint and wanted to have analysis done - do i go for grass OR Haylage? as prob cant afford right now to get both done as its about £50 a pop isnt it. Also how much for the decifering and balancing??

Which would be more cost efficient.

Really think would help my girl but Xmas is coming too :(
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I only had haylage done and it seems to be doing the trick. I used Progressive Horse for the decifering and it cost me £45 - I paid for them at different times, so not all expense in one month.

It's a larger outlay, but more cost efficient later on.

My horse and forage require a half teaspoon copper and zinc each day so a £12 tub lasts a year!
 
classicalfan said:
Congratulations Oberon.:)
Tammytoo, we stopped analysing about 10 years ago and now feed adlib mixed minerals in the field. We have found that the horses are very good at self-dosing. However, we are lucky in that we have an awful lot of space and a big variety in plant species and soil types.
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Classicalfan that sounds very interesting. Mine too have a lot of space, they roam over about 15 acres with natural hedges plus a large area of woodland and they also have a river from which they graze the river weed. I'd love to give them the mixed minerals you mention, can I ask where you buy them from please?
 
Another question........

Oberon do you feed any vitamins in addition to your minerals?

This has been rattling round in my head & I can't work out if you would still need to feed a vitamin supplement :confused:
 
sonjafoers said:
Classicalfan that sounds very interesting. Mine too have a lot of space, they roam over about 15 acres with natural hedges plus a large area of woodland and they also have a river from which they graze the river weed. I'd love to give them the mixed minerals you mention, can I ask where you buy them from please?
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Try your local agricultural merchant. :) Don't use the bricks - they are only about 2% minerals, the rest is rubbish.
 
Ok, thank you.

The same thread is going in NL ( my fault!) and it's quite interesting. I also see you stopped analysing your forage, do you feel it's a worthwhile thing to do initially to get started but not something you feel necessary each year?
 
sonjafoers said:
Ok, thank you.

The same thread is going in NL ( my fault!) and it's quite interesting. I also see you stopped analysing your forage, do you feel it's a worthwhile thing to do initially to get started but not something you feel necessary each year?
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There are so many variables that one can risk disappearing into an analysis vortex! Soil analysis, Ok, gives you a broad overview of your soil, however, each species of grass, herb and weed take up different minerals at different rates from different depths and it can vary from week to week due to weather conditions, how hard it's been grazed, etc, etc. Forage analysis is OK too but then it's only part of the picture. Some minerals negate vitamins, some feeds negate some minerals and/or vitamins, ie block or reduce the body's ability to absorb them, so it can and up with some very complicated calculations going on with variables that you are unable to factor; confused:

So, after some time spent spiralling down this vortex, we decided to take a broad-base, common-sense approach. We provide a broad base of minerals, salts and forage. We worm regularly but that tends to be the only chemicals that the horses are exposed to - we don't use chemical fertilisers, insecticides or herbicides (again all of which can effect the take up of or block minerals, vitamins etc) If the horses look fit and healthy, then they probably are.
 
I am terrible at taking pictures and iPhone not helpful so it's quite difficult to see, but I am also surprised by the richness of his colour since feeding the minerals. Lack of copper is seen by a washed out coat.

Apologies for one being summer coat and one winter but I can't find any recents in decent lighting.
doh2.gif

Obviously his winter coat will be darker, but the richness is definitely there to my eye.

Last year
obifield2010.jpg


And today
obicoatschoolnov2011.jpg
 
Finding the same brilliant results with ours! Both on healthy, barefoot friendly diet before and were good healthy horses. Now they are better!! No mud fever, tight white, feeling very well all the time (not generally bubbling over, but a really 'lets get going' feeling of energy under you!), and such a glowing coat! OH mare is a gorgeous bay, and she is actually metallic now she shines and glimmers so much! I would like to say my mare has a brilliant shine too, but she wears most of the field so it is a bit hard to tell atm!
 
Oberon said:
My horse and forage require a half teaspoon copper and zinc each day so a £12 tub lasts a year!
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Can you tell me where you buy your tub from please. I buy equi-gold which has (30g per day):
Zinc 300mgs
Managanese 150mgs
Copper 75mgs
Biotin 30mgs

She doesnt need any manganese but thats all i could find with high copper/zinc until i get my bespoke minerals in spring.:o
 
Thankyou! I love your photo's the main difference i can see is the mane and all the colours coming through. Lovely!

Be nice to see other comparisons before and after there bespoke minerals!
 
After some correspondence with ForagePlus where I explained my grazing situation Sarah has come back to me to say that ( and this is my interpretation not her exact words ) the analysis will be pretty much a generalisation due to the acreage and variety of areas mine roam in.

In view of that do you think it is worth doing in my situation? She has suggested I walk Ws in grazing areas but not in the woods but mine spend a lot of time in the woods picking at leaves and moss and they also spend a lot of time grazing river weed & plants which grow on the banks - these also won't be analysed.

It is something I would like to do but I feel if I am going to do it it needs to be a fairly accurate representation of what they eat. I know there will always be variables but when do the variables become so many that it's a waste of time?

Is there a way of testing the horse rather than the grazing?? Just a thought :D
 
You can test the horse. It isn't necessarily as reliable because it's just a snapshot of how he is at that moment, depending on what he was eating that day. Also if he has a malabsorption issue it would skew the results.

I would be happy to do the W thing, but if you are unsure you could always just use a good, general mineral supplement and see if that works well for you.
 
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