neverlate
Well-Known Member
should a straight diet be supplemented with anything other than limestone flour?
if you feed starights, do you supplment with anything?
- Thread starter neverlate
- Start date
amycov
Well-Known Member
I would personally.
Storminateacup
Well-Known Member
Depends on how the horse was looking and behaving.
If he has access to good pasture in the day why would you need supplements?
Horses in my my childhood days in the 60s were fed crushed oats/barley/ maize/ boiled barley or linseed, etc etc and chaff or bran as a mixer and turned out on adequate pasture, with only the addition of a little salt after hard sweaty work or limestone flour with youngsters.
Personally I think there are too many expensive supplements available on the market that serve only to line the pockets of the manufacturers.
Good grass is rich in vitamins and minerals and is all a horse really needs. ( it is not just sugar as some seem to think)
The horses gut is designed to maximise the potentially available proteins sugars, starches etc in grasses!
Mineral shortages often relate to the soil types in specific areas in the country. So mineral licks seem to be a good idea and a generally fairly inexpensive.
If he has access to good pasture in the day why would you need supplements?
Horses in my my childhood days in the 60s were fed crushed oats/barley/ maize/ boiled barley or linseed, etc etc and chaff or bran as a mixer and turned out on adequate pasture, with only the addition of a little salt after hard sweaty work or limestone flour with youngsters.
Personally I think there are too many expensive supplements available on the market that serve only to line the pockets of the manufacturers.
Good grass is rich in vitamins and minerals and is all a horse really needs. ( it is not just sugar as some seem to think)
The horses gut is designed to maximise the potentially available proteins sugars, starches etc in grasses!
Mineral shortages often relate to the soil types in specific areas in the country. So mineral licks seem to be a good idea and a generally fairly inexpensive.
soloequestrian
Well-Known Member
I feed oats, sugar beet to wet them a bit (and because one of them gets sugar beet with about three oats in it) and haylage. I've done all the ration formulation sums countless times and as long as they get good quality forage, all the nutrients balance out with just oats and forage, assuming you are feeding the oats at a relatively low level.
kellyeaton
Well-Known Member
i would have a vit/min supp to be honest coz straights dont have them in them!
Chico Mio
Antedeluvian
[ QUOTE ]
I feed oats, sugar beet to wet them a bit (and because one of them gets sugar beet with about three oats in it) and haylage. I've done all the ration formulation sums countless times and as long as they get good quality forage, all the nutrients balance out with just oats and forage, assuming you are feeding the oats at a relatively low level.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ditto. I soak my oats as it changes their nutritional content (they go from being an inert seed to a living, growing plant) which allegedly gives condition and not 'heat' but tbh I have fed just dry oats and soaked sugar beet for months at a time! I actually feed 3kg of unsoaked oats a day (in two feeds) to one of mine, with no nutty effects whatsoever. They have a slop of corn or soya oil and a squirt of cider vinegar. They also have good quality hay (calculated to their body weights) and a mineral lick in their paddock. I have no grazing, the paddock is bald, so that's their lot. I occasionally shove some seaweed powder in their feed if I remember and FB has his Premierflex.
I feed oats, sugar beet to wet them a bit (and because one of them gets sugar beet with about three oats in it) and haylage. I've done all the ration formulation sums countless times and as long as they get good quality forage, all the nutrients balance out with just oats and forage, assuming you are feeding the oats at a relatively low level.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ditto. I soak my oats as it changes their nutritional content (they go from being an inert seed to a living, growing plant) which allegedly gives condition and not 'heat' but tbh I have fed just dry oats and soaked sugar beet for months at a time! I actually feed 3kg of unsoaked oats a day (in two feeds) to one of mine, with no nutty effects whatsoever. They have a slop of corn or soya oil and a squirt of cider vinegar. They also have good quality hay (calculated to their body weights) and a mineral lick in their paddock. I have no grazing, the paddock is bald, so that's their lot. I occasionally shove some seaweed powder in their feed if I remember and FB has his Premierflex.
Spyda
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Depends on how the horse was looking and behaving.
If he has access to good pasture in the day why would you need supplements?
[/ QUOTE ]
I agree with a lot of what you said about the number of supplements on the market being prohibitive these days, but even in the 60's and 70's I was feeding mine a vit/min supplement. Codlivine (came in a jute bag and was a brown crumbly powder) was one of the ones I remember using. That, plus salt and limestone flour.
But the comment about not feeding a supplement because a horse is on 'good grazing' concerns me a bit, since no one can really judge their pasture from just looking at it. What's in the soil and what's growing along side the grass, will have major effect on its nutritional and micronutrient levels. I expect few of us on livery have the soil in our paddocks tested nor the nutrient levels of the pasture analysed each year, and without that it's doubtful anyone could be 100% sure all micronutrient requirements were being met. I am sure on the short term this may not show any visible detrimental effects... but on the long term? Who knows.
When individuals are not receiving recommended levels of supplemented mix/cubes, or are on straights or full-time grazing, I personally like to feed a good all-round vitamin and mineral supplement (presently using NAF General Purpose which is fairly cheap and has a good spec) or a feed balancer.
I'd rather be safe than sorry
Depends on how the horse was looking and behaving.
If he has access to good pasture in the day why would you need supplements?
[/ QUOTE ]
I agree with a lot of what you said about the number of supplements on the market being prohibitive these days, but even in the 60's and 70's I was feeding mine a vit/min supplement. Codlivine (came in a jute bag and was a brown crumbly powder) was one of the ones I remember using. That, plus salt and limestone flour.
But the comment about not feeding a supplement because a horse is on 'good grazing' concerns me a bit, since no one can really judge their pasture from just looking at it. What's in the soil and what's growing along side the grass, will have major effect on its nutritional and micronutrient levels. I expect few of us on livery have the soil in our paddocks tested nor the nutrient levels of the pasture analysed each year, and without that it's doubtful anyone could be 100% sure all micronutrient requirements were being met. I am sure on the short term this may not show any visible detrimental effects... but on the long term? Who knows.
When individuals are not receiving recommended levels of supplemented mix/cubes, or are on straights or full-time grazing, I personally like to feed a good all-round vitamin and mineral supplement (presently using NAF General Purpose which is fairly cheap and has a good spec) or a feed balancer.
I'd rather be safe than sorry