Grass nuts and oats?

Captain Bridget

Captain Bridget

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I'll start with info of my boy, he's a 16.1hh 7 year old TB ex racer. He's tricky to keep weight on and is also a picky eater.

He's currently being fed about half a scoop of soaked whole oats, half a scoop Alfa A, 3/4 scoop Speedibeet, 2 cups linseed, a general supplement and biotin.

I will be switching the general supp and biotin to Pro Hoof from Pro Earth on ebay shortly.

I've also ordered a bag of grass nuts as he does well on grass during the summer and thought they might be worth a try.

Now my question is, would I lower the amount of oats and add in grass nuts? Or remove oats? Or decrease chaff or speedibeet?

I only go to the yard once a day so he's only fed once a day, I'm on assisted DIY and he's turned out 24/7 at the moment and I don't want the yard owner having to stand around waiting for him to finish eating in the morning, he eats so slowly!

I'm also thinking I might get some carrot bits you soak and mix into the feed to try and get him to eat up a bit better as at the moment I'm having to borrow a handful of pasture mix to make it a bit more interesting!
 
If you are feeding the round stubbs scoop, that's quite a lot in one feed, I'd probably reduce the sugar beet slightly and see if that encourages him to eat more.

I used to feed soaked oats and grass nuts to my OAP.

TBH I wouldn't bother the the carrot bits, they don't seem very appetising when my horse tried them.

When I've fed grass nuts (soaked) on their own my current horse won't eat them, I have to mix in some high fibre cubes, so I don't think they're very appealing on their own.

You could also try fibre beet, as that is grass nuts and unmollassed sugar beet, so could make it a bit easier for you?

I'll probably get shot down for this, but Bailey's endurance mix is 18% starch, so much lower than most conditioning feeds, and had a high oil content, its also appetising as well, I had my arab on this over winter when he needed more weight on him.
 
Yes, that was my worry, I didn't want to give him too much or have too many things going into it.

I gave him a handful of unsoaked grass nuts the other day which he seemed to like but think I'll just have to try and see. And if he doesn't eat it he'll just get the handful of pasture mix added!

I'd not thought of fibre beet before, that would certainly kill two birds with one stone!

I'm trying to avoid anything too high in starch as I don't want to risk sending him loopy, he's sharp enough as it is!
 
Fibre beet is alfalfa and speedi-beet.

Personally, I'd add in a high calorie, concentrated, feed topping, such as Equi-Jewel. And then reduce the speed-beet. You'll add calories without adding much more bulk. When grass nuts are soaked they swell hugely, your bucket feed would be enormous. You won't really be adding to the diet anyway if he's already turned out on grass. I'd only use them in winter when they're not on grass at all.
 
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