Healthy but tasty chaff or other base feed for fussy good doers

[Caol Ila]

If Hermosa was a human, she would be in the cue for the MacDonald's drive-through. Every. Night. I guess she is from Barrhead.

My horses get a handful of grass chaff from Thunderbrooks (I know!) as a vehicle for Progressive Earth mineral supplements and oil herbs.

No alfafa, because it makes them hot. Can't be a*rsed with sugar beet because Fin won't touch it with a barge pole (I want them on the same stuff, ideally) and I'd rather not have to extensively soak things.

Hermosa is equally as unimpressed by grass nuts. Both Dengie and Emerald Green. Fin loves the Dengie but also turns up his nose at Emerald Green.

Is there a healthy chaff or some other kind of straight which will hide the mineral supplement and taste good?

 

[chaps89]

I use Pure Easy for F for that reason (though I mix it in with honeychop lite and healthy which is a tiny bit better for them - and used to be cheaper) I’ve not bought a bag since the recipe changed but it might be worth a punt if you can get hold of it.

 

[Sossigpoker]

Allen and Page Fast Fibre seems to be liked by all horses I know despite being very low in sugar and starch. No alfalfa or molasses.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Honeychop lite and healthy and veteran light, all good feeds without the extra bollocks lol

 

[Fjord]

I use Mollichaff Molasses Free and the hairy yellow one will eat it without anything mixed in.

 

[dottylottie]

i saw a good mention for pure feed’s new chaff - it’s just chopped timothy hay. not sure how new it is and therefore not sure how reliable the good mention can be though!

 

[ester]

having tried a few the agrobs musli seemed the nicest but it's not really a 'straight' anymore!
The guinea pigs really like simple systems timothy but the pony wasn't so bothered (which he told me after I'd shipped about 6 bags down to somerset in my car as there weren't any local stockists down there and here I can get it in the village).

He did prefer agrobs to any of the bigger name grass chaffs, not fussed by FF (and also not really a straight) but he did also really like pure feeds but that mgiht have been the novelty as I used to steal some for antibiotic feeding although he did very much enjoy the morning the feeds got handed out wrong and he had the pure working for the eventing TB nextdoor and said TB felt very short changed. . .

 

[AandK]

I use Dengie Meadowgrass with herbs and oil, just a bit more than plain grass so should be more appealing. Could be worth looking into?

 

[Widgeon]

i saw a good mention for pure feed’s new chaff - it’s just chopped timothy hay. not sure how new it is and therefore not sure how reliable the good mention can be though!

I'm pretty sure that's what we've just switched to - cobbo is not terribly impressed, and he's a hoover (although he gobbles down his morning bucket, so it can't be that bad - I think he just feels it's Boring)

ETA - Cruel mummy does not care that it's Boring - it's good for his waistline so it's that or nothing.

 

[webble]

Not sure if it's basic enough but my fussy eater loves baileys no 8

 

[LadyGascoyne]

I use Dengie Meadowgrass with herbs and oil, just a bit more than plain grass so should be more appealing. Could be worth looking into?

Mine love the Dengie meadow grass with herbs and oil.

 

[splashgirl45]

I used to feed baileys light chaff to my cushings mare, it smells minty and she would always eat it, I also used fast fibre in the winter, does need to have water added but not a long time soaking so you could use either to hide supplements

 

[RHM]

Depends on if your wedded to the idea of “straights” I feed GWF no starch as a mash. Soaks I’m literally a couple of mins and my fussy fatty thinks it’s the bees knees. Only way I can get minerals in him!

 

[Caol Ila]

What’s GWF?

 

[Surbie]

What’s GWF?

GWF is the brand, No Starch Fibregest is I think what is meant?
I buy their joint supplement & (I hope correctly) recognised it from their webpage.

Honeychop lite and healthy and veteran light, all good feeds without the extra bollocks lol

snap - veteran lite is a very quick soak

 

[tristar]

we use agrobs musli as a chaff part of the feed, dampened.

not cheap but, but diverse nutrients

i could eat it myself! it looks that good, and anyway if you spend on feed why not buy something a few quid more and get nutritional value

 

[maya2008]

Mine like Mollichaff Lite - but they are not fussy. A slightly less sugary version of applechaff maybe? I know there are similar products with less molasses.

 

[Caol Ila]

She has turned her nose down at Speedibeet and Honeychop Lite. It's the minerals. She was eating the Honeychop out of my hand, then as soon as I put the PE balancer in there, she was like, nope. It's like having a kid who won't eat her vegetables, but saying, "No iPad if you don't" does not work.

The only thing that has reliably worked was a cheapo mix (what we would call sweet feed in the US). I would much prefer her to have something healthy for good doers, but I am running out of ideas. Is there a mix that's less bad than the others? A compromise?

I once dated a guy who refused to eat vegetables or fruit. He was about 30 at the time. Lived on things like burgers and oven chips. Very healthy. I once talked him into trying a single leaf of lettuce and it felt like a huge accomplishment. Anyway, we stayed with his family over Christmas that year, and Jesus, the rows over food he got into with his mother were intense. I remember leaving the house to sit in the car while they screamed at each other about eating carrots.

I have empathy for his mum.

(my horse is a fan of carrots, but they're the horsey equivalent of oven chips, aren't they)

 

[stangs]

Not surprised that Honeychop Lite didn't work; there's nothing in it to hide the taste, as my boy made a point of demonstrating to me.

Kwikbeet is (I am told) tastier than Speedibeet.
Otherwise, Allen & Page's Fast Fibre or Veteran Light - not the healthiest option (decent nutritional profile though), but that's why they eat it and it doesn't take much to hide a supplement in it.

Could you try adding mint tea to the feed and seeing if that tempts her?

 

[Caol Ila]

The mint tea isn't a bad shout. It is challenging to try things without ending up with eight bags of feed my horse won't eat. At least the Speedibeet came from a fellow livery, who let me try some of hers.

If it doesn't work, I end up with some mint tea, which I'll drink.

 

[chaps89]

Happy to post you a scoop or two of pure easy up to try if you like? It’s the old version, not sure how much it’s changed since they were bought out but I can’t imagine too much.
It’s a good compromise for F - tasty enough to disguise bute and liver supplements, not so disgustingly bad for him that I feel bad for feeding it.
Saracens re-leve mixed in with a handful of lo-cal chaff would be my go to after that - enough to disguise the taste of the minerals, tasty, but not so much it does any real harm

 

[NinjaPony]

Dengie Meadow Grass chaff? Mine loved it and ate his PE minerals in it no problem.

 

[maya2008]

On the same theory as mint tea… apple juice/apple squash?

 

[Zoeypxo]

Im also struggling to get my horse to eat anything with the PE balancer in it . The only thing that works so far is sugarbeet which id rather not feed her.
ive just bought thunderbrooks muesli to try

 

[Bluewaves]

A healthy beet mash carrier for PE only works reliably for mine if I add in a tiny little handful of some grain horse mix that’s not good for him. It’s a trade off to get the PE into him.

 

[Roxylola]

Saracens releve? Persuaded a picky mare on my yard to eat a panacur wormer for 5 days with a sprinkle. Low sugar/starch etc

 

[Caol Ila]

Happy to post you a scoop or two of pure easy up to try if you like? It’s the old version, not sure how much it’s changed since they were bought out but I can’t imagine too much.
It’s a good compromise for F - tasty enough to disguise bute and liver supplements, not so disgustingly bad for him that I feel bad for feeding it.
Saracens re-leve mixed in with a handful of lo-cal chaff would be my go to after that - enough to disguise the taste of the minerals, tasty, but not so much it does any real harm

That's a lovely offer. I'll text you my address.

What's with the PE supplement? Why do they hate it so much?

 

[Zoeypxo]

Ugh, tried the thunderbrooks muesli this morning without the balancer in first, she wont touch it and screws her nose up at it.
Wondering about trying cool stance copra.. but cant seem to find any samples

 

[Sprout]

Dodson & Horrell Safe & Sound?

 

[ecb89]

Saracens releve? Persuaded a picky mare on my yard to eat a panacur wormer for 5 days with a sprinkle. Low sugar/starch etc

Adding this to my horse’s feed (the cube made into a mash not the mix) means completely eaten meals.