Has anyone's horse gone off Fast Fibre?

My horses traditionally start to pooh-pooh feeds at this time of year. Spring grass is much nicer.

I add turmeric, fenugreek and mint (all cheap while therapeutic) and they are more inclined to try it at the moment. But it won't last :p
 
`strangely enough ive just changed my mare onto a mix as exactly the same as you about 2 weeks ago she just stopped eating it !!

coincidence maybe ? very wierd as she is normally a piggy !
 
Mines been doing it for a while but in ups and downs! Interesting you say about the turmeric, how much do you feed? tried Fenugreek to little avail :(
I have just had my forageplus come back and Sarah has him on bran and fast fibre now but it's trying to tempt him to eat it, i'm having issues with
 
I have 2 that are not keen, the others are more than happy, I gave them some speedibeet instead and have gradually mixed the two feeds until they are now eating some again although not a full amount as they are still not overly enthusiastic .
 
We did a small test this evening and gave him 2 identical buckets. 1 with FF in and 1 with Ready fibre mash from Rowan barbery (sp) in it! He stuffed himself silly on the ready fibre mash, didn't even concider the ff after he smelt it :(
Only issue I have is Ready Fibre has molassess in, which send him loopy.
Sailor is your typical starving cob, this is driving me nuts lol
 
Chellebean said:
Mines been doing it for a while but in ups and downs! Interesting you say about the turmeric, how much do you feed? tried Fenugreek to little avail :(
I have just had my forageplus come back and Sarah has him on bran and fast fibre now but it's trying to tempt him to eat it, i'm having issues with
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You're so lucky to be able to feed bran. Mine LOVE bran...but our phosphorous is too high :(

I feed 15ml a day. It's my joint supplement at £5 per kg
lol.gif

http://www.cotsherb.co.uk/culinary-herbs-and-spices/ground-spices/turmeric/prod_647.html

The problem with Fast Fibre is that it's not molassed or made sweet in some artificial way. So the very reason it's wonderful is also the very reason why so many horses (who are used to sweet feeds) will reject it.

My horses would demolish a bucket full of molassed feeds and love every minute of it...but that doesn't mean it's good for them.

I would rather flavour a bland feed with herbs and spices myself.
I've used Tesco's Curry Powder before and my fussy lad loved that too.

Ready Mash now do Solution - an unmolassed feed.
 
Solution mash is unfortunatly too fattening for S, hence the ready fibre mash which is different to ready mash. I am wondering if it is the sweetness thing? Or my other theory is he has nothing to properly chew. When mixed together it all becomes a mushy mess, I gave him a handful this evening by hand and he gobbled it up but then struggled as though it was stuck to tongue (if that makes sense).
 
With my mare its the texture she doesn't like, she won't eat speedibeet or similar either after a few days either.

She'll eat any dry unmolassed feed (like unmolassed chaff) but nothing that needs soaking, she ate it ok to start with but after a few weeks I had to mix in lots of chaff with it and now even with more chaff than FF she refuses to even sniff it.

She wolfs down Lo-Cal and TopChop Lite and she'd sell her soul for a Badminton High Fibre Nugget (she only gets these when I have to do her stretches that the chiro recommended) :D
 
I make mine up like sugar beet, in a bucket then put into feed bowls and add the chop, it is less soggy that way and for doing lots of feeds much easier than putting the water in after everything else.
 
Chellebean said:
Solution mash is unfortunatly too fattening for S, hence the ready fibre mash which is different to ready mash. I am wondering if it is the sweetness thing? Or my other theory is he has nothing to properly chew. When mixed together it all becomes a mushy mess, I gave him a handful this evening by hand and he gobbled it up but then struggled as though it was stuck to tongue (if that makes sense).
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I feed it to my old boy with dodgy teeth with success.

You can play with different consistencies.

Some people have started experimenting with Stevia, now it's available in the UK.

Maybe just some unmolassed chaff instead?
 
Chellebean said:
Ooh not heard of Stevia before!

Issue with chaff is we have high level of calcium in our forage & chaffs normally are to high in calcium too
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Just hay or straw chaff - not alfalfa.

FF is basically straw and beet.

Stevia is a leaf that has been used for centuries in Japan as a natural alternative to sugar. It's been banned in the western world until recently (political issues).
 
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