Is my Mares Diet Right?

[EJ87]

Ok so my mare took colic a few weeks ago but now completely recovered and back to her little cheeky self but as with most colic they dont know what caused it and as she had it twice within one week im not supper obsessed with her diet and trying to get something that works best for her and me. So when she took the colic and recovered I was told to feed her a bran mash every morning to help keep her clear (impaction colic) so have been doing this since sat past and she absolutly loves its but after reading a bot more into bran mashes apparently they may not be as good an idea as i first thought. So her diet routine is as follows:

7am - Bran Mash made with 2 tea mugs (i dont have a proper scoop) of bran mixed with 1litre of warm water and 1 tea spoon of salt

7.30am-4.30pm - Turned out onto farm lane that has a mixture of rough grazing and grass.

4.30 - 6pm - Brought in groomed and ridden

6pm - 7am - I normally give her a handful of cool mix meal and water then after an hour she gets a full net of haylage for the night.

She also has a salt lick and a multi vitamin horselyx tub in her stable and on her lane which she has free access to at all times. She also gets an apple treat when I go to catch her,

In the winter time she will also get a hay net out with her and some more hay mixed with her haylage at night to add bulk as she will be brought in from 4pm instead of 6pm.

Is she missing any vital vitamins that I need to supply her with? plus she can also get a bit fizzy with too much sugary food and she dosnt do alot of work something she just gets a 20min hack in walk/trot and it winter time im luckly if i can ride her 3 times a week. so dont want to give her anything thats going to make her go loopy as she can even get a bit loopy on winter just with the haylage and reduced turn out.

Any comments appreciated as she is my first horse and trying to get the right balance of diet is quite a mindfield as im finding out.

P.s welcome to any human food suggestions as some horse feed supplements can be very expensive and lets face tesco homebrand isnt as bad as it looks!

 

[meesha]

unless underweight I would cut out all feed apart from good quality hay or haylage along with a supplement - not sure on the bran mash as I know nothing about it but obv. if vet has suggested it dont stop it without talking to them first. Make sure there is clean fresh water at all times and double net the haylage to stop her eating too quickly.

My 2 are on grass, topspec lite and in winter ad lib haylage - weirdly both of mine have had a colicky episode this year which passed quickly - vet said that lots of it about this year due to weird weather. May be worth seeing about more turnout to keep horse moving as it was walking in hand (at vets advice) that helped my 2 (although they were gassy not impacted)

I would ring a couple of feed helplines - Topspec were great and there are others like baileys etc and see what they advise.

 

[EJ87]

unless underweight I would cut out all feed apart from good quality hay or haylage along with a supplement - not sure on the bran mash as I know nothing about it but obv. if vet has suggested it dont stop it without talking to them first. Make sure there is clean fresh water at all times and double net the haylage to stop her eating too quickly.

My 2 are on grass, topspec lite and in winter ad lib haylage - weirdly both of mine have had a colicky episode this year which passed quickly - vet said that lots of it about this year due to weird weather. May be worth seeing about more turnout to keep horse moving as it was walking in hand (at vets advice) that helped my 2 (although they were gassy not impacted)

I would ring a couple of feed helplines - Topspec were great and there are others like baileys etc and see what they advise.

She is definately not underwight would put on weight with the smell of food. Was told though there was not really any benefit to the bran mash apart from its fibre content and and ability to get the bowel moving. The turn out she has is a lane which is approximately 400yrd long so she does have quite a bit to walk about on just not so much lush grazing enough to graze but not much of a substance to it.

 

[jvm100]

I have been advised to feed good quality providesoaked high fibre cubes - i used balanced. As it keeps the fibre content high but also provides all the micronutrients needed.

 

[Queenbee]

I would always remember that nowadays with the way they treat bran it had a tendency to inhibit calcium uptake. IMO calcium is far more important than bran. I would and have only fed bran on days of hard work and stress not every day