How to encourage my horse to eat Copra Cool Stance

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Baytor Sampson

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I have a 7 year old Welsh Section D gelding who is barefoot and lives out 24/7. He is not having a feed (as he was getting excitable) and is having his hay soaked for 24 hours.

I have recently been advised by my barefoot trimmer to give him magnesium and calcium. In order to get the magnesium/calcium into him I have started giving him a small handful of Copra Cool Stance, however he is not eating it.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I can encourage him to eat it. (Without adding any other 'feed' into his diet.

Many thanks
 
May I ask why you are feeding Copra? It's coconut and not a natural feed for a horse. It's extremely high in protein 21% and it sent my WB off his head - I would never feed it again. Why not use unmollassed sugar beet or fast fibre or Alpha A or Green Gold (all bf friendly) if you just want a carrier? As I understand it Copra is heavily used in the racing industry which is understandable with the high protein levels - it would provide a great energy source for a racehorse. Apart from all else it's really expensive to use as a carrier feed too - your horse is sensibly refusing it .
 
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A handful a day is hardly expensive !
I am about to try it too as I have heard a lot of good things about it as a conditioning feed, it is not particularly high in protein especially considering the amounts being fed but is high in fat and fibre .
As to how to get your horse to eat it? Can you not introduce it in feed it is used to then wean it off the additional feed?
 
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I'm not sure why you have chosen copra, I would have thought soaked alfalfa pellets would have been better however I have several on copra and none show any signs of excitability on it and they do really well on it.
I suspected there would be palatability problems so I mixed a bit up with water and hid it in different places for a couple of days. Once they thought they were "stealing" it they easily ate it up. We then just carried that on into the correct feed buckets.
 
I've never known a horse be fizzy from Copra, but I've also only known it be fed to horses (actually all ex-racers) that needed condition, as it's high in fibre and oil.

My mare doesn't wear back shoes and I add a tea spoon of magnesium oxide to her feed, I buy it from ebay and it's cheap and easy. I would rather add a powder supplement to a native than 'real' food. My mare is a good doer so she only has a handful of 'just grass' and a handful of lo-cal balancer and even then that's only as a 'treat' after she is ridden.
 
I found it very useful for my tb as it's oil based and slow release so doesn't hot him up. He couldn't cope with unmolassed sugarbeet or even a sniff of molasses.

Having said that it wouldn't necessarily be my first choice for a good doer so if your section d is prone to putting on weight then I would be very careful and stingy.

Your trimmer may have suggested it because many horses find it palatable and it is useful for hiding supplements in however if yours doesn't like it then it defeats the purpose. Ask if you can try a little unmolassed beet instead. This is higher in calcium than Coolstance ( so I have to avoid it together with alfalfa) but if you are trying to get extra calcium in the diet, this might be a better choice.
 
YasandCrystal said:
May I ask why you are feeding Copra? It's coconut and not a natural feed for a horse. It's extremely high in protein 21% and it sent my WB off his head - I would never feed it again. Why not use unmollassed sugar beet or fast fibre or Alpha A or Green Gold (all bf friendly) if you just want a carrier? As I understand it Copra is heavily used in the racing industry which is understandable with the high protein levels - it would provide a great energy source for a racehorse. Apart from all else it's really expensive to use as a carrier feed too - your horse is sensibly refusing it .
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While it may not be readily available - it is the staple food for horses in the Philippines where the majority of coconut grows. When it first became available in NZ I tried it on my school horses - they refused to eat it - mainly because I didn't know how to prepare it.

It does need to be soaked and initially you may need to add a little mollasses so that he gets to like the texture and taste, then reduce the mollasses. I'd be inclined to use and unmollased sugarbeet to act as a carrier.

I've used it since then and never had a problem with horses becoming excitable - it's more a source of fibre and a little oil as the majority of the oil has been extracted as Palm Oil
 
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Grass nuts can be high sugar, so not always ideal for barefoot ponies, similarly, some ponies have been known to go footy on alfalfa. Copra is actually fairly cheap and effective as a carrier.
As others have said, it does need soaking for at least an hour first.
All of mine thoroughly enjoy their copra!
However, as Criso said, could you use umolassed sugar beet if yours really doesn't like copra?
 
Everything I've fed it too has loved it and I've never had an issue. It's pretty much what fuels working horses in Australia.

However it wouldn't be my first choice for a good doer. From your post I'm presuming you are solely feeding coolstance and using it as a carrier for mag/cal supp? If so I can't see how to make it more palatable without adding other feed to it and this isn't what you want to do.

Personally I'd swap to Fast Fibre and chalk the copra down to experience (& try to sell it on). Allen & Page Fast Fibre is low calorie, under £10 a 20kg bag and lasts an incredibly long time when fed in small quantities to good doers.

Unless you've had you forage tested and there has been a deficiency found I'd feed a good supplement like Pro- Balance to cover all bases rather than individual minerals. If you search on here there are plenty of good reviews and it can be bought from eBay.
 
Copra needs to be soaked. It only takes a few minutes.
We feed it as a the basic feed to all horses on the yard and have done for 7 years. Sometimes with a fussy one it takes a couple of days for them to get used to it but once over the hump every one of them loves it. Add some carrots or some of the horses existing feed.
It is high in oil, slow release energy and zero starch.
We find to the contrary that we can give it to the fizziest of horses and it does not heat them up. Very helpful when hotter horses also need to retain condition.
It is the potatoes of horse food so we also add LexVet vits and mins in addition to Copra in the am. The horses condition speaks for itself, fabulous coats and in super condition even the oldies.
It is a formula that works for us and we would need a lot of convincing to change to something else.
 
I'm currently feeding my stallion top spec, conditioning nuts, soaked grass nuts and a handful of Alfa oil and he's not looking as filled out as I would like, he looks quite lean and needs some bulk, I've been thinking about using the copra but I'm not sure what to take out of his diet and have the copra instead
 
I tried it & had to introduce in teeny amounts with gradual build up to get him to accept it. However when I got it to a reasonable amount it didn't suit my horses temperament & it really hotted him up so had to stop feeding it.
 
lisa_dundee said:
I'm currently feeding my stallion top spec, conditioning nuts, soaked grass nuts and a handful of Alfa oil and he's not looking as filled out as I would like, he looks quite lean and needs some bulk, I've been thinking about using the copra but I'm not sure what to take out of his diet and have the copra instead
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Rather than take out feed, add the Copra. A horse that is not putting on condition is not receiving enough food. Adding Copra to his feed will certainly help to fatten him up and is not a heating feed at all. Just introduce it in small amounts and soak it first, doesn't take long. If you are feeding sugar beet you can add it to that to soak up the excess liquid.
 
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