Fibre based diet?

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I got a Dengie leaflet with my BRC magazine today, and was interested to read that I could feed just alfa a oil, alfabeet and Dengie natural vitality performance vits and mins supplement.

According to their website I can feed 2.5kg a day of Alfa A and 0.5 kg alfabeet a day and nothing else, no hard feed or anything, and this would give him 2% of starch compared to up to 20% of starch in 'cool mixes'.

I'm seriously considering this as Axel is very fizzy and excitable and I want to explore all options.

My only question is, will he eat just a bucket of fibre? With no mix or anything in?
Does anyone else feed this and did it make a difference?

Thanks x
 
I feed a fibre based diet. Mine are on unmolassed beet pulp and grass nuts. A few get oats if needed. I add my own vit an min supp.

I don't feed by the bucket load.

Terri
 
I would swap. fibre based diets are so much better, especially for fizzy horses. Yes they do eat it! Mixes would be my last choice for a horse that is excitable. Alfalfa contains the same amount of energy as a cool mix but is slow release and no cereals so much better for the horse.
 
Mine all have a fibre based diet and do absolutely fine on it - they have plenty of energy and keep their weight on, coats are shiny and eyes are bright. They have Happy Hoof chaff and speedibeet (mare has Formula 4 feet for lammi and WB has some A&P quiet cubes which are 20% fibre but have some added oil).

If the cob has any kind of pasture mix she goes mental!
 
I also feed fibre based. I fed my older mare on Alfa-A with Oil, Alfabeet and Top Spec Balancer last winter and she looked very well on it - normally she's a bit of a hat rack when she's clipped but she really maintained her weight well.

This year she just gets a couple of small scoops of Alfabeet (with the balancer) as she's not clipped and again looks very well. My younger gelding also has a fibre based diet - he just gets lots of HiFi Original (with balancer) and soon a little Speedibeet.

Fibre is healthy for their digestion and doesn't seem to risk the same issues with fizzy behaviour.

x
 
both of my welshies are on fibre. young one is not a good doer but looks good on TopSpec balancer, TopSpec CoolCondition Cubes (fibre based, not cereal based like most cubes), Bailey's Outshine, Alfa-A Oil, soaked alfalfa pellets and speedibeet. my old boy is on Good Doer and TopSpec Lite - he's a very good doer.
 
Governor is on 2 scoops of HiFi cubes (yes they are a form of hard feed but fibre based) and 2 scoops of HiFi Lite per day and he is positively thriving.

I've never seen him look this good over winter (will take some photos at the weekend) - infact i'm a bit miffed as we moved to a new yard where feed is included in the price and he is suddenly capable of blooming on the cheapest feed availible. In previous years i've stuffed him full of conditioning mixes and he's just about held his weight.

In terms of energy, he's lively but it's all 'useful' energy.

The only way to tell if he's going to eat a bucket of it is to try...you can always mix it in with hard feed if it doesn't work.
 
My warmblood filly currently has Alfa A, Suregrow and sugar beet twice per day and looks fantastic - she's been on this since she was weaned and never looked poor on it.

My 4 yr old is currently on winergy condition which is also essentially alfa a based and again looks fab.

My stressage horse is on Alfa A, Top Spec and sugar beet as is the welshie and they all do just fine on it.

The only thing I find with the alfa A is that while 2.5kg doesn't sound a lot it does equate to approx 4 - 5 scoops!! I tend to make up a larger dose at night and they munch on it then - it's too much hassle to wait for them in the morning.
 
H is fed a high fibre diet - she's on Alpha A, Spillers High Fibre cubes and our own Liqiud Feed Balancer, she's been on this diet for a long time and looks super - I would never feed a mix - if she needed more umph I would swap her to Alpha Oil and add additional oil to her feeds!
I'd definitely try it!
smile.gif

Kate x
 
Thanks for all your replies I've decided to try this, the only problem being I stocked up on a load of conditioning cubes the other day! I suppose I could just sprinkle a few on the top?
Would you suggest just normal Alfa A or Alfa A Oil? I already have speedibeet that I've just bought would that be ok?
 
Mine is on Alfa A oil, Speedi beet and the only "concentrate" is Calm and COndition, but it is a high fibre high oil low starch feed anyway. He is on about 2kg of Alfa Oil a day, and looks fab
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does your horse eat hay?? and grass???? yes!! of course it does!! so therefore a bucket of fibre will be no different, horses evolved to eat fibre, not cereals, cereal mixes are pleasing to us humans, and horse's certainley get a taste for them, but they can cope without. I have a broodmare on a fibre only diet who is doing brilliant!
 
[ QUOTE ]
does your horse eat hay?? and grass???? yes!! of course it does!! so therefore a bucket of fibre will be no different, horses evolved to eat fibre, not cereals, cereal mixes are pleasing to us humans, and horse's certainley get a taste for them, but they can cope without. I have a broodmare on a fibre only diet who is doing brilliant!

[/ QUOTE ]

I know but after feeding mixes and cubes all these years has made me worry that he would find it too boring!! Silly I know!
 
I would start with Alfa A Original and see how he goes. If he needs more you can always go onto Alfa A with Oil. Better to start with less and increase it than be paying loads out without knowing what is truly needed.

I was concerned about the boredom thing but I think we humans think they should have a lovely flapjacky, interesting dinner but they couldn't care less. Alfabeet is the only feed that Bianca has continued to tuck into happily on a morning when the better spring grass first starts coming through - normally that's it and she won't eat anything.

If you've got some conditioning cubes in I'd just use them by the handful to encourage him to tuck into the food. But like scotsmare said I tend to give the bulk of Rocco's Hi-Fi overnight in a tub trug- I work so have to put them out quickly on a morning and can't wait for them to eat big breakfasts. I may have to buy a big tub though as I think he finds this one rather frustrating but then he does shove his entire head into it.

I personally think it's the best feeding choice I made.

x
 
All the horses on our yard (15 boxes) apart from one feed a variation on the fibre based chaff/beet diets suggested above and none of them have a problem with over-excitement or weight loss.
Adding speedibeet or similar should tempt most horses into eating. I have read posts on here where peoples horses either wouldn't eat teh Degie products or found Alfalfa made them excitable.
 
Lots of horse live on good hay/grazing so what's the difference?
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On the boredom front, I would think a large amount of roughage (you don't call it that here, do you?) that takes ages to eat would actually be MORE entertaining from a horse's point of view. Not to mention better for the gut etc. I even saw a feeder tower recently designed to dispatch feed through little holes to make it even more of a long term project which is even more natural.

I do think there are situations where horses need concentrates because we make such unnatural demands on them and limit their ability to "self feed". (Even the largest pasture is usually smaller than the range a horse would choose.) But I suspect lots of times convenience is the largest factor these days and generally, the more fibre the better.
 
I fed my 2 yr old Stallion a fibre based diet last year ( simple systems ) he went completley docile and TBH i got fed up of people asking if id had him gelded. It completley ruined my showing as he had no presence at all but if you want quiet, he certainly was!! I will change this year as i want him to have abit of OOmph!!
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I have one with alfa alfa intolerance, comes up with lovely rashes, as I can't be bothered to stock more than one brand of chaff - everybody gets Hoss Nosh that is alfa alfa free, sugar beet and oil, if I need more energy I add Spillers slow release energy cubes and if I need more 'sparkle' I add a bit of oats.
 
Sprinkling would be a good idea - by the time you've swapped the feeds over (reducing his current feed whilst adding his new stuff) you should've got rid of a fair amount - could you not take a sack back to your stockist and explain you want to exchange it?
Good luck
Kate x
 
Got no problems just feeding fibre to my ID. His bucket feeds consist of Pure Grass, linseed lozenges, sliced carrot and a vit/min supplement.

He seems quite happy to eat it twice a day!
 
My mare is on Alfa Oil, TS feedbalancer and TS calmer. I've never known her be so laid back, look so well and be so cheap to run! Last year, we used Baileys Horse and Pony cubes (at £10 per sack which lasted just over a week!) as the main feed. Never again.
This year, the Alfa Oil is lasting 3-4 weeks! Brilliant discovery.
 
My boy lost weight last Autumn so I put him on Alfa A Oil (not full allowance as it was a massive feed and too much for him)and Lo Cal Balancer - he looked lots better on it. I added Outshine and Speedibeet over Xmas but have stopped them now as he was putting too much weight on. He has ad-lib hay or haylege.

So he is back to just the Alfa A Oil and Lo Cal Balancer with a bit of water to damp it and he loves it. When I ran out of Balancer for a few days he did turn his nose up a bit at just the Alfa A Oil so I'm guessing the Balancer is a bit tastier?

I'll change to Alfa A Original or Lite on my next bag as the Spring grass will be coming through - he needs a feed for all his supplements and I want to keep his energy levels up as he tends to be a dobbin in the summer - great for hacking but not so good for schooling..

Pony is not really fizzy so can't comment on that but he has plenty of energy.
 
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