Feeding Straights

Persephone

Persephone

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My lovely 9 y/o ISH mare has been diagnosed with a wheat and soya allergy among several other things!

She is in light work and is a good doer, although drops off from about Christmas. At present she is eating a handful of Alfa A with a vit/min supplement.

The only forage type product she can eat is Alfa A lite, Alfa A and Alfa A Oil.

So those will be the basis of her feed. Just a little bit unsure with what straights I should add in as and when needed.

Any advice welcome, except people who are going to say Simple Systems....don't!

Thanks :)
 
Have used barley before for maintenance over winter, soaked or not. Done with warm water smells lovely. Only need a small amount so a bag lasts ages. Horse looked well and didn't hot up at all. No experience of other straights though.
 
Ah....that's what I want to hear :) She was on Tiger oats last year, but she can't have that because the balancer pellet has wheat in it.

Am I right in thinking it's oats and/or barley for energy and condition?

Would I pick one or the other?

Oh I can add speedibeet too.

Does Alfa A, Speedibeet and oats make a balanced diet?
 
Oats are less heating than barley. I've tried ALLSORTS over the years, and this last winter I fed crushed oats, alfa with no sugar /molasses added, a few horse & pony nuts and sugar beet. They all (mares and youngstock plus fit hunter) came through in spring looking very well. I always feed really good quality seeds haylage, but give them the option of some sweet meadow hay too.
Do you think feed manufacturers con us into thinking horses can't survive unless on a complete balanced feed? And how can it be balanced if you don't analyse the hay/haylage too?
 
Lol, very much so irish only! Our horses WILL die if we don't buy their feeds :p

I can't use the horse and pony nuts but I can add in a vit and mins if I can find a safe one ;)

Otherwise Propell is a possibility.
 
You might look for a suitable vit/min supplement to be sure. He was on barley, chaff, sugar beet and succulents though with no other supplement and had good coat, hooves, plenty of energy etc, so seemed enough for him.
 
My mare has similar problems and is also a fussy eater just to be a pain. She has been living on crushed oats, alpha a and speedi beet for years now. She gets barley in the winter if she starts to drop off a bit too. The beet is important as straight oats/barley have a low calcium to phosphorus balance whereas sugar beet is very high in calcium.
 
Oats are much better for horses than Barley because they contain a greater percentage of oil and protein. I would try Equijewel with the Oats,(being rice bran). I wouldnt worry too much about ballancers. Generations of racehorses have lived on Oats and bran with a dash of a suplement like convital(do they still make it??). Good quality hay will make up for any shortfall .In fact personaly I think good quality hay is probably the most important thing. There will be a lot of good hay this year and I think you will find you have to cut back on hard feed a bit.
 
P I would start with the alfa.... of whichever variety...

then add sugar beet

then if you need to add either barley/oats..... for some reason I have only ever had contact with barley!, though you might not need that at all if she does ok on the rest :)
 
I wouldnt add the sugar beet to the Alpha,?, because you are merely adding more fibre. The danger is that this would tend to become very low in protein.You need a reasonable ballance betwean fore gut and hind gut digestion. ( a ballance betwean simple and complex carbohydrates).There must also be adequate nutrients to support the gut flora to enable their breakdown of the complex carbohydrates.
 
Mike007 said:
I wouldnt add the sugar beet to the Alpha,?, because you are merely adding more fibre. The danger is that this would tend to become very low in protein.You need a reasonable ballance betwean fore gut and hind gut digestion. ( a ballance betwean simple and complex carbohydrates).There must also be adequate nutrients to support the gut flora to enable their breakdown of the complex carbohydrates.
Click to expand...

So are you saying just oats and alfa would be ok?
 
Well, the thing is that the alpha oil etc are aimed at hind gut digestion , and are a very good thing in that respect but if you need more energy, oats give a good ballance of simple carbohydrates for the fore gut, and oils and protein. In itself this could be a bit unballanced ,but good hay should even things up.Its a bit of a juggling act ,keeping all sections of the gut working at their optimum. And basicly this is the reason for compounds rather than straights. If you need to feed straights, you need to understand where and how they are digested and what are their limitations.I dont hold with all the "paranoia " about ratio,s ok ,in an ideal world,but the horses metabolism can deal with this to a large extent.
 
I'm just trying to avoid paying thru the nose for compounds, but I do want my horses to be well in themselves and not lacking anything important. As I said previously, they get cracking good seeds haylage, and balance this with good quality meadow hay as I think it important that they get a) the choice and b) the herbs and grasses variation that they would if grazing. But - what is wrong with old fashioned oat diet?
 
Not a lot wrong with it in my book, in fact the thinner and less plump the oat, the better.(higher ratio of protein and oils, to carbohydrates). However we are learning through solid research, about the importance of hind gut digestion.In particular with reference to Azoturia,so the alfalfa/oil mixes or rice bran (eqijewel)also have their part to play.Irish_only I think we are probably in agreement on feeding.
 
Its all about what the gut flora do to cellulose ,which a horse cannot ,of itself digest.The resulting broth is digested by the horse,and he can obtain some usefull protein from the bugs themselves.The important thing to realise is that you are not just feeding the horse but also the gut flora.
 
Wow, loads of interesting stiff there, thanks everyone.

Looks like I am going to have to do some reading!

Mike 007 the reason I add Speedibeet at present is that the mare has had ulcers in the past and I like to keep the fibre content of her feed high, whilst keeping the cereal part as low as possible.

Does that change your thoughts on feeding it?

If I can feed her fibre and just add oats as and when that is so much better that feeding a compound IMO :)

She always has adlib hay or haylage so she isn't short on fibre anyway.
 
Persephone said:
Wow, loads of interesting stiff there, thanks everyone.

Looks like I am going to have to do some reading!

Mike 007 the reason I add Speedibeet at present is that the mare has had ulcers in the past and I like to keep the fibre content of her feed high, whilst keeping the cereal part as low as possible.

Does that change your thoughts on feeding it?

If I can feed her fibre and just add oats as and when that is so much better that feeding a compound IMO :)

She always has adlib hay or haylage so she isn't short on fibre anyway.
Click to expand...

Ive been speaking to Ellen Collinson recently who believes that my pony has had ulcers in the past. She has recommended her Soaked Oats Diet or The Pure Feed Company (have emailed them).

Lots of info on here regarding the Soaked Oats Diet.

I am wondering whether to try it. Would certainly be cheaper!
 
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