How do to decide on the best feed?

Sarah W

Sarah W

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 August 2010
Messages
309
Location
Tomar, Portugal
Visit site
As a first time horse owner I'm probably looking for the impossible; a simple guide to the pros and cons of different feed manufacturers!

A quick bit of background; I have an elderly TB (27) and a section D (11 and a very good doer) at a livery yard who are fed Pure Feed Easy (not surprising, the yard is owned by the founders of PF!) and they do very well on it. Very happy with that.

However..my friend has given me a foal and she only uses Cavalor - checked it out and it has good reviews. My friend is a vet so I'm guessing she should know!

Other friends, long time breeders and trainers, swear by Blue Chip which also seems to have a good reputation.

Having had dogs for many years I'm skeptical of following brands - and paying the premium - for the sake of it; my pack of five mutts do very well on Lidl's finest.

So (finally!) the questions! Are there real quality differences between brands? Is there a basic standard mix I should be looking for? Are the nutritional requirements for a veteran and a foal so different as to not be covered by one brand?

Help!!
 
Blue chip and calm and contion I swear by!
The better the brand like blue chip and allen and page they make the feed with purpose grown crops for horse feed and they can assure the quality and levels of stuff in their feeds, wheres as the cheaper brands are made out of the by products of other things being made and arent as good quality.
Also most cheaper mixes, eg build up mix, contain cereals (like barley) which just send some horses loopy, and also steer clear of the sugary cheap chaff as it is just pure sugar! Anymore info just PM me , im abit of a geek when it goes to feed and rbands and what to feed for what horse!
 
Foals are growing and their bones developing so they have different nutritional needs to an adult horse. The larger feed manufacturers do feeds specifically for horses at different stages of life - foal, yearling, adult, veteran, just as major dog feed brands do different feeds for puppy, adult, senior dogs.

Baileys do a good range of youngstock feeds and dodson & horrell also do a foal mix and yearling cubes, etc. There may be lesser known brands that also do mixes specifically for youngstock.

Baileys - http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/whatproduct/stud.htm

Dodson & Horrell - http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/products/horse-ranges/breeding.html

I would certainly recommend feeding a foal mix, stud balancer, yearling cubes as the foal grows then move onto a "general" leisure feed as they mature.
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't recommend a single big manufacturer as trhe best - they all have the odd good feed, but many have lots that is way too high in starch and sugars. Even Blue Chip and Allen & Page C&C are both really high in starch for what they are. I have done a lot of reading over the years and there are all sorts of feed sthat are good, but for your own horse you need to find out what works. I will always stick to very low starch and sugar (10% combined) because even those horses that appear to do well on it are just "coping" with unnatural feed, and would probably do even better (and cost less to feed!) on a more natural regime.

The companies I like most - Top Spec, Pure Feeds, Simple System. If you're a member of Saddle Up I did a sticky on there about low starch feeding.
 
could you simplify it by feeding pure easy as a base mix and adding Dodson and Horrell suregrow for the foal. It provides all the foal needs without forcing it to grow too quickly.
 
Since we're on the subject of feeds. What are people's opinions of Spillers??? I was brought up in Spain where Spillers was the be all and end all, yet over here I always find it tucked away at the back of the feed stores.... My horses do very well on it, but I would like to know what other people think since there is a much larger selection of feeds over here!!

Thanks

Bea
 
I have jsut changed to pure feeds as far better ingrediant wise.
Spillers - dont have chelated minerals and so are not absorbed as well
Alot of the other big brands tend to have mollasses in them

Depends on your needs - I like high fibre, no mollasses, no cereals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top