Horse feeds......

You Wont Forget Me

You Wont Forget Me

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Basically want to know what you feed your horse and why you give them the feeds they get???
Also do you give your horse any supplements????
And does anyone soak their feeds???? I have seen a few people at the yard do this but what is the actual purpose of it???
 
I soak my Barley rings as it says I can on the packet and my youngster doesn't like them crunchy, speedi/ fiberbeet I soak for obvious reasons - It is my understanding that ALL feeds should be served damp / wet to help prevent impaction colic

I have a thread running at the moment to establish a new feed for my aging mare. othere peoples experiance and opinions are very helpful although each horse is different.
 
Both mine get horse and pony cubes, and chaff, electrolytes (in summer or if theyve worked hard in winter), glucosamine, garlic, and my warmblood gets a calmer and linseed oil. They both compete,lessons,schooling and hacking and are worked 6times a week. I wet there feed as believe you should never give it dry as more at risk of choke plus it takes them longer to eat if you wet it. In the winter they get barley rings. Some people feed soaked sugabeet to add water to the horse and to bulk out the feed and for some extra calories. Always feed acording to work as its far too easy to over feed (and over bit because there too forwarding going!) What type of horse do you have? How big is it and what work are you doing should be taken on board when looking at feed, people seem to think 'hard work' is being ridden 5days aweek, its not!! So be truthfull about what work your horse is doing.
 
16.3hh shire x, ok weight at the moment but don't want him putting any on......

Am - 1 scoop of hifi lite, 1/4 scoop high fibre cubes (either spillers or dodson + horrell)

Pm - as am but with 1 scoop of equivite and 25ml superflex

I feed him only fibre based feeds as a) he doesn't need mix and b) I think it's far more natural for horses gut to process.

He is out 24hrs a day in summer, fairly bare paddock but has electric fence moved twice a week all of six inches!!
 
MrsD123 said:
My background is in racing, we don't feed wet or damp, so I don't think colic is related, never had a case of colic in 1000 TB's, just lucky , I guess, but they get the same thing every day.
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What in 1000 horses not one of them has EVER had colic ?? that is moor than lucky as they say!
 
MrsD123 said:
My background is in racing, we don't feed wet or damp, so I don't think colic is related, never had a case of colic in 1000 TB's, just lucky , I guess, but they get the same thing every day.
Click to expand...

I'm the same, 12 years in the same yard, 70 horses in training each year, can count on one hand how many had colic in all that time. So no I don't think it is luck. I think routine goes along way with a horse to be honest.
 
My cushings shettie has unmollased chop, and nuts wetted down, my veteren cob mare has the same, and my 10 month old filly has alfalfa, small amount of stud mix and sugerbeet. The veteren has a joint supplement, and they all have a small glug of codliver oil, Oh and the shettie has a tiny bit of dried spearmint to disguise his pergolide tablet sprinkled over his feed. In the winter I will add speedibeet to the veteren, depending on wether she drops weight.
 
I usually use unmolassed sugar beet as a base "hard" feed. I'm not a fan of cereals by and large. Too much sugar and unnecessary rubbish. On top of the beet base they have different additions depending on requirements. E.g. TB used to have sunflower oil, magnesium and a handful of ordinary nuts for interest. My oldie pony is currently on a handful of Happy Hoof, a handful of veteran cubes, 15ml NoBute, 50 ml apple cider vinegar and 2 tbs linseed oil. As you can tell she is arthritic and prone to laminitis.

When the weanling arrives in October I will introduce him to unmolassed beet, maybe with a handful of cubes, with Surelimb as a supplement, but that'll be it for the time being unless his needs change. Keep it simple (and low sugar)!
 
I have a 7 year old small riding horse who is a good doer! Also can be quite lazy to ride so she is fed handful of happy hoof along with winergy high energy (only during the showing season). She also has vetroflex joint supplement. I always wet feeds a little ever since reading some research years ago about the possibility of choking but I do think it has just become a habit! :)
 
hifi original and lo cal balancer for my sensitive mare but changing this gradually to suit her current workload, I like to keep things as simple as I can

I always dampen feeds
 
A small handful of Happy Hoof and one scoop of Garlic.

She is worked 5-6 times a week, a mixture of schooling, lungeing and hacking. I'm actually thinking of stopping her feed altogether as she seems to get enough just from the grass and hay.
 
Kali (9-year-old, 16.2hh Polish sport-horse in medium work) gets 1/4 scoop each Alfa A Molasses Free and Blue Chip Original twice a day, ad lib hay, 3 hours of grazing on FAB grass and in the winter I also give him some Speedibeet (and he is turned out for longer). I don't dampen his feed unless I've put something in it (bute or danilon, for example) although I obviously soak the Speedibeet. I don't give him any supplements because he gets everything he needs from the Blue Chip - which is why he gets that particular balancer. I give him the Alfa A Molasses Free b/c I like him to have something with some "chop" in it to slow his eating down a little (plus the fibre is good for him) but he can't handle high doses of sugar - he LOVES the Alfa A (it contains fenugreek and mint to make it tasty).

When we move to new yard, he'll go out for alot longer (grass isn't anywhere near as good) and he'll go onto haylage, but other than that I won't change a thing.

P
 
My TB is on a scoop of fast fibre (dry weight) a day with a handful of ride and relax mix when he's been ridden.
He's out 24/7 on very good grass so he doesn't need much. He's worked 6 days a week.
 
ATM mine have a couple of handfuls of Hifi lite and a handful of Highlight high fibre cubes with a carrot and any other available veg peelings/trimmings plus calmag and brewer's yeast and salt or electrolytes when needed. They don't really need feeding but I want them to have the calmag and brewer's yeast and I do believe they deserve a 'reward' after being ridden.

In winter I feed Alfa A, sugar beet, oats and high fibre cubes. They will still get the calmag and brewer's yeast plus some micronised linseed. I am thinking about switching to Alfa A molasses free.
 
My 4 year old over-grown Connemara just lives on hay and grass at the mo! He's not in hard work being only a baby, and in the winter might be put on a bit of hard feed if he needs something more to keep his weight on (can't imagine he will though :rolleyes) and might get some when we start doing harder work, but for now it's not needed! He gets regular meadow hay, ad-lib and has a himalayan salt-lick for anything he's missing and to stock up on electrolytes after riding. He also gets carrots to munch on.. weirdly enough he doesn't like apples! xx
 
our boys only get feed balancer in the summer - they don't need calories, so it's just to top up the vits and mins and keep them sweet.

in the winter they both get speedi-beet and alfa A oil, with a balancer. easy to feed, simple to adjust if they need more or less energy without affecting the vits and mins they get.

Tom gets a joint supplement and Ron gets no supplements unless he gets a bit run down towards the end of hunting when he gets blood liquid, red cell or similar for a few weeks.
 
In the process of changing my feed because my barefoot mare has gone very footie and it was said on another thread that she may have early lami signs. Shes worked 5 days p/w and i am feeding:
hi fi lite - dampened down
equimins adavance balancer
Flax oil - for energy
Rosehips - picked last year and dried out (good for hooves)
Biotin (will be taking her of this when runs out)
 
1) What do I feed?

All of my horses are fed Baileys Lo-Cal Balancer (either 1 or 2 mugs of it daily depending on their size) they all do very well on this as they are all good doers and I add chaff to this (HiFi Lite) depending on the time of year and how much grass there is, etc. They also get something succulent daily as part of their diet (e.g a couple of carrots or an apple) When my boy is working hard, especially during hunting, I will give him 1/2 a scoop of Spillers Horse and Pony Cubes on the evening of the day he has been hunting to help him to maintain his condition. Two of the ponies who live out also get some Pony Cubes during the Winter to help them to maintain their condition. The three ponies who live out are fed hay to supplement the grass (e.g in summer and winter) My mum's horse is fed haylage as we found that the hay tends to make him cough, and my Appy is fed mostly hay, with a little bit of haylage mixed in.

2) Do I feed any supplements?

My Appy has 1/2 a scoop of Cortaflex per day during the Winter when he is stabled overnight as he tends to get a bit stiff when he is kept in.

3) Do I soak feeds?
No, but I do dampen them to get rid of any dust and to make it less dry. We do tend to make our older pony's feed a little bit wetter as her teeth aren't very good anymore and she finds it easier to eat like this. Also, there is a pony at the yard where I work who has her feed completely soaked as she is prone to choke.
 
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