Help me find a low starch, low sugar, high fibre feed!!

Holly Hocks

Holly Hocks

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My mare is having her shoes taken off in a couple of weeks and we are going down the barefoot route. She has been on a low starch and sugar and high fibre diet for the past couple of months, ready for the transition. Unfortunately, she is a very picky eater and quickly goes off feeds,
We have tried Allen and Page Fast fibre - she ate it for about three weeks then just wouldn't touch it anymore
Speedibeet - ate it for about a fortnight and has now stopped again...
She has brewers yeast, magox and micronised linseed added.

She will eat Spillers high fibre cubes quite happily - in fact she loves them, but I'm not sure they're the best thing for her.
I was thinking of trying spillers Cool Fibre - I've e-mailed them for a list of the ingredients, but not heard anything yet.
Any barefooters got any other advice. She's a 9 year old TB, currently out of work until Spring. Out during the day and in at night.. She is eating loads of haylage - and in fact will eat it over and above any of the feed I give her. I have tried taking the supplements out but she still doesn't want to eat. I take her haynets out at feed time, but she still only has a few mouthfuls of feed. If I put a couple of handfuls of the high fibre cubes in with the speedibeet or the fast fibre, she will spend 45 minutes picking every cube out of it!! HELP!!
 
Badminton high fibre nuggets are worth a look, smell very herby and most horses like them. D&H ERS pellets are very low starch but fibre isn't that great. Also look at the winergy equilibrium range.
 
Alfiem said:
Badminton high fibre nuggets are worth a look, smell very herby and most horses like them. D&H ERS pellets are very low starch but fibre isn't that great. Also look at the winergy equilibrium range.
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Thanks for that. I've e-mailed Winergy to get a breakdown of the ingredients in the their low energy feed today. I'll hopefully get a reply next week.

I had a look at the ERS pellets, but I think there will be too much energy in there for her - her brains will blow! She's got plenty of weight on her with the haylage, so I don't really need condition

Will have a look at the badminton nuggets - that's one company I've not yet looked at!
Thanks
 
I love Spillers cool fibre! Am on it for diff reasons to you though - my MW cob is a very good doer who loves his food. Because this is a chaff based feed it stops him from bolting down the small ration he gets. Also it has magnesium in it which I think is often defcient in many soils and keeps him nice and level too. I think if she likes the hi fibre cubes she will like this as they are mixed in with the chaff in small amounts. Hope this helps.
 
I mix veteran vitality with readigrass for my guys along with beetpulp and will be adding alfalfa buts if they drop off.

I also add linseed meal to their dinners for extra calories :)

Hi fibre low starch and the VV gives them everything they need and the readigrass is simple and palatable even for my fussy cereal intolerant gelding :)
 
My very fussy horse loves spillers fibres- the cool one & the conditioning one. He also wolfs down top spec conditioning cubes & spillers slow release cubes. These are all low/ no starch, sugar,cereal but high fibre. Just started on ERS pellets which are going down well so far....
 
Add a bit of mint or veg peelings.

Mine got a bit fussy with feed.

Diet now which has dutifully been scoffed for months now and had the seal of approval - the leg swing!

Soaked speedibeet and lucie nuts (Alfalfa nuts is low sugar, high fibre, low starch) I add in some Apple Cider Vinegar and herbs to soak with it. Rosemary is a good one.

Then, I just add hifi lite, linseed and brewers yeast. It smells yummylicious and tastes ok!!!! (Yes, I do try my horses feed sometimes.. )

Ditto the magox, did not like it in feed, so I bought a laminshield lick and popped it in field. He licks it after a drink so that solved the magnesium problem. I then bough a copper lick and he likes that too.
 
Allen & Page Fast Fibre. If you look up the starch/sugar levels (you can do it on line) they are very low and the fibre v high. Try adding a little bit of Fenugreek if you want to make it more palatable.
 
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Holly Hocks said:
No Cortez - she's up to weight - probably perfect weight.
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Then why not just up the forage (contrary to a lot of people's thinking, haylage is actually LOWER in sugars than most hay) and leave out the hard feeds? Keep it simple: feed companies love to make you think you have to feed all sorts of stuff that simply isn't necessary.
 
Cortez said:
Then why not just up the forage (contrary to a lot of people's thinking, haylage is actually LOWER in sugars than most hay) and leave out the hard feeds? Keep it simple: feed companies love to make you think you have to feed all sorts of stuff that simply isn't necessary.
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Whilst I agree with your sentiments in general, I think this poster is looking for a feed to be fed in small amounts just to be able to mix some supplements with.
 
Cortez said:
Then why not just up the forage (contrary to a lot of people's thinking, haylage is actually LOWER in sugars than most hay) and leave out the hard feeds? Keep it simple: feed companies love to make you think you have to feed all sorts of stuff that simply isn't necessary.
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True, I think its way better to keep it simple. Some of the posters make it sound like a 'black art'; with some of the concoctions. What about hay or barley straw. Or that old favorite..........grass. There seems to be a lot of failing to see the wood for the trees. A lot of the feed companies and suppliers will tell you what you want to hear as long as you'll buy their products, it's their business after all.
 
Allen and page have brought out a new soak feed i think called cool with confidence or something and my mare ate it. a bit like fast fibre but looked nice.
 
lazybee said:
True, I think its way better to keep it simple. Some of the posters make it sound like a 'black art'; with some of the concoctions. What about hay or barley straw. Or that old favorite..........grass. There seems to be a lot of failing to see the wood for the trees. A lot of the feed companies and suppliers will tell you what you want to hear as long as you'll buy their products, it's their business after all.
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Why not use a handful of readigrass or similar to mix a powder supplement with?
 
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