Feeding straights, where to start?

[little_critter]

Sorry, I’m sure this has been discussed 100 times already, but I couldn’t find anything on quantities / ratios.

I’m thinking of switching to feeding straights.
The pony is simple, she’ll just get a blob of sugar beet or grass nuts to put a vit & min supplement in.
Other horse will need a bit more and I was thinking beet or grass nuts plus oats (he’s having oats at the moment anyway) and a vit & min supplement. Then add linseed in the winter if he needs more.
What quantities / ratios of each should I start off with?
And are there any benefits of grass nuts over sugar beet? Or does it not really matter which I go with?

 

[little_critter]

I’ve googled like crazy and can’t find an answer. Can anyone advise what ratio of oats to beet I should use. And specify whether that beet is measured dry or soaked.
I wish I hadn’t given away my old Manual of Horsemanship!

eta, or if I’m adding a powdered balancer like Forage Plus does the oat / beet ratio not matter so much?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I don't think it really matters mine get unmolassed beet and grass chaff and pro balance no oats I just adjust it to how they look, they don't get loads even in winter as they hold weight well and I only tend to give 1 feed a day unless it's freezing cold and they are in more.

 

[dominobrown]

I feed straights, currently feeding 5 horses, but at one point when I was running a livery yard had 15 horses in to feed so I would keep in stock....

Grass nuts- base for most horses
Alfalfa nuts- base or partial base for horses needing for condition, high in calcium...
Sugar beet- I feed this to everyone, also high calcium
micronised linseed- for anything needing more condition or a small amount for the omega 3's in working horses
rice bran- high fat, given to poor doers, though be aware of omegas 6's, maybe inflammatory
Oats- given to working horses, play with quantities depending on how fresh/ workload etc. I will feed a tiny amount everyday, and increase when needed.
Bran- used as a filler and to balance those with high calcium diets
Chaff- Sugar free, used to bulk feed, slow eating but I believe that we need to remember that horses find feed value in fibre and I don't want to feed cereals where possible, or at least not large amounts.

So in general I use a 'cup' measurement, specifically the top specs ones.

So for example...
17hh ISH 17 year old gelding, good doer, light to medium work...
1 cup grass pellets (soaked obvs), 1 bran, 1/2 oats (less if fresh!), 1/4 Stubbs scoop sugar beet and chaff, 1/4 linseed as well as supplements.
Hope that helps, I originally used feedXL to work out quantities etc and did a lot of research. Obviously you wouldn't need to keep all of these in your feed room but I found I could create a feed to suit most horses from the above, with supplements if needed.

 

[little_critter]

Thank you. Just checking, is the measurement you’ve given of grass nuts and sugar beet before or after soaking?
ie is that 1/4 Stubbs scoop dry beet which you then soak? Or 1/4 Stubbs scoop already soaked beet?

 

[dominobrown]

sorry... grass nuts before soaking (cup measurement), sugar beet after soaking (Stubbs scoop)
If you are really concerned a programme like feedXL is useful though expensive. There are some free ones about but found them more difficult to use and feedXL has people that will help you. Also I don't like feed companies for advice due to bias and most horse feed is full of useless, if not slightly harmful, fillers.

However having said that, its a little trial and error as well. The horses digestive system uses bacteria in the gut to digest food. If you randomly change a feed the gut cannot cope as the bacteria is specific to feed (probably massively over simplifying here!), which I why I feed a 'little of this and that' so the gut still carries the bacteria needed, for instance the oats... the actual quantities don't matter too much and I can play around with them. I would keep an eye on ratios of calcium/ phosphorous though.

 

[Shoei]

I echo domino, with concerns re bias of feed companies nutritionists, but I have had some very good advice of an independent. I use Equinutrition, who does virtual consultations so useful if not local.

I feed grass nuts or sugar beet. I actually switched to sugarbeet earlier in the year when I couldn't source grass nuts and will keep them on it as I can stock up easily enough and I do think its a bit more economical as a fibre feed.

This is the base for their feed as they aren't fast eaters, they then get a balancer and linseed for weight gain/ energy although one of mine is sharp and the other 2 so we don't need much energy.

 

[little_critter]

I'm not too worried. It's just that I keep seeing things saying you need to be careful to balance the Ca: P (lol, when I type Ca the normal way it puts a smiley in!) when feeding Oats and Sugarbeet, but then I'm finding it very hard to find a simple ratio of oats:sugarbeet to feed in order to do this (or at least I'm struggling to find one that specifies whether the weight/volume measured is dry or soaked)
Or, as I say, if I'm also feeding a supplement like Forageplus or Pro Earth, does that ratio not matter so much?
The horse is a fairly good doer so won't be getting big feeds.

I know what you mean about feeding little bits. My horse is currently on a reduced workload temporarily but I'm still feeding a little bit of oats so that once he's back in work I can easily increase the amount.

I've used an independent nutritionalist in the past but I'm loathe to pay a consultation fee in order to answer my pretty simple ratio question (which I'd hoped would be easily answered by google )

 

[P.forpony]

Spot on your Ca : P ratio is often overlooked when feeding straights. For the maths
sugarbeet is always done on dry weight, soaked is too variable, some people add more or less water so the weight of one person's soaked beet could be much more water than the other person's etc.
For ease and peace of mind there are balancers specifically designed for feeding straights which have adjusted ca levels and might be worth having a look at

 

[little_critter]

Thank you, that was the last piece in the puzzle.