Just want to run this past you....what I feed my clydesdale.

[cblover]

Scrappy my Clyde has never been easy to maintain weight and of course she’s been growing. I’m fairly happy with what she’s fed but always open to recommendations to improve and increase her weight slightly.

She has ad-lib hay 24/7, turnout with choice of accessing her stable, no grass to talk of, then twice a day I give her a bucket feed.

She’s on - morning ....Agrobs Alpengrun Mash (2 full yellow top spec big mug/scoop, 200g micronised linseed, handful of baileys super fibre nuggets, nettex vip ulsa shield, salt and equimins advance complete (just changed from forageplus recently).

Night - 1 scoop of Alpengrun mash, 200g linseed and handful of baileys nuggets.

Cost wise, the mash is expensive and I’d be happy to change but I need something that’s kind to her guts. Plus would you say forage plus is as good as equimins?
Thanks, much appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Leo Walker]

The spec on forage plus is slightly better but the cost is significantly more. For a horse with no major issues I would go for Equimins every time. Mine looks amazing on it and the different in her feet has been quite dramatic.

Theres a couple of things that could replace the Agrobs that would be significantly cheaper. Pink Mash and Rowan Barberry do one similar that I've just discovered today. I dont know alot of about the RB. The pink mash would replace the ulsa shield and some but not all of the linseed. The other option is grass nuts. I finally managed to get some of the lower sugar and starch ones locally and my fussy horse loves them. I'm going to phase out her re-leve and see if I can phase the pink mash back in, but she is the fussiest and most annoying pony known to man!

Does she need the nuggets?

 

[Leo Walker]

If she needs calories I'd be tempted to go for a rice bran pellet. They are expensive but have been significantly better for weight gain than linseed, and you only need a tiny amount.

 

[cblover]

I got some pink mash and yes she ate it, but wasn’t keen. Not compared to Alpengrun mash. It is cheaper and easier to get hold of, plus from what you’re saying I could do away with nettex ulsa shield. Did I understand that right?

 

[Follysmum]

My big shire x thrives on grass nuts, linseed and grass chaff
3/4 bale hay at night
out during the day

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I feed my own mash of beet pulp pellets, grassnuts and alfalfa nuts all Mixed together in a big bin and I put a big scoop in a tall bucket to soak over night and it usually Lasts me a few days. Cheap all
Fibre and good Calories

 

[cblover]

Do you always have to soak grass nuts?

 

[SEL]

The Ardennes gets kwik beet, copra and linseed with hay. I wouldn't bother with the copra if it was just him, but the other one needs it and he likes the stuff. Beet is pretty cheap so he can have a lot

He's hard to keep weight on in winter but if he goes into spring a bit ribby his feet manage spring grass.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

My big shire x thrives on grass nuts, linseed and grass chaff
3/4 bale hay at night
out during the day

That is almost exactly what I fed both my Clydesdales. If the oldie needed a bit more I added soaked Speedibeet.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Do you always have to soak grass nuts?

I prefer to as they soak up water and swell quite a lot

 

[cblover]

Grass chaff? Which company makes this? I’ll do a bit of reading on it. Thanks

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Grass chaff? Which company makes this? I’ll do a bit of reading on it. Thanks

There are several. One of the best is Emerald Green, unless you want to pay a fortune for Agrobs/Thunderbrooks. EG do very good quality grassnuts too.

 

[Leo Walker]

I got some pink mash and yes she ate it, but wasn’t keen. Not compared to Alpengrun mash. It is cheaper and easier to get hold of, plus from what you’re saying I could do away with nettex ulsa shield. Did I understand that right?

Yup, so long as you are ok with protexin replacing the ulsa shield. Although to be fair its not just the protexin that makes it suitable for ulcer suffers/ulcer prone horses.

 

[cblover]

I believe protexin is in the vip ulsa shield, so it should be fine to feed the pink mash and leave out the shield....just wish she liked it more.

 

[indie1282]

Do you always have to soak grass nuts?

You must always soak grass nuts. They expand massively and should never be fed dry.

 

[windand rain]

Second Emerald Green nuts and chaff brilliant affordable and well liked.
All mine young and old have grass nuts, sugarbeet and linseed in varying amounts. Oldies have pink mash everything is soaked overniight then add a handful of grass chaff just before feeding

 

[Follysmum]

Emerald green or simple systems for grass chaff/nuts

also dengie or graze on do grass chaffs at most feed merchants

 

[cblover]

What quantity do you all feed this in? My horse is 16.2 and growing and approx 650kg.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Grass chaff? Which company makes this? I’ll do a bit of reading on it. Thanks

Dengie do one now it's on offer at the moment £11.99 I switched over to it as they stocked stocking the usual one.

 

[windand rain]

Mine are much smaller than yours the biggest is about 450kg the ones that need to keep weight have a mug of each grass nuts, linseed, sugar beet, pink mash and a scoop of grass chaff per day I would do twice that for yours in as many meals as you can manage. You could cut it down or feed more if you find which way the horses weight goes. Mine live out 24/7 with grass or hay as their forage depending on the weather

 

[holeymoley]

Don’t know what’s in the Alpen mash but could you swap for linseed?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

What quantity do you all feed this in? My horse is 16.2 and growing and approx 650kg.

Each horse is an individual, so it is difficult to prescribe amounts. I am afraid that it is just trial and error.
Neither of my Clydies were good doers, so rather than one big meal, split it into either 2 or 3. Having said that 1 was elderly (we had her for the last 10 yrs of her life) and the other proved to have an internal tumour aged 11, so she was unwell for a good part of the time she was with us. Yours may be a better doer, when she has stopped growing.

 

[Goldenstar]

I would feed the horse oats linseed and grass nuts if it where here I would use dried grass as a chaff .
It is a cheaper way to feed them and I prefer it to buying mixes and cubes where you don’t know exactly what’s in there .
i do have one who I give some mole valley conditioning cubes to he’s an older horse and has not got a large appetite he always been tricky in winter he likes those so I forget my principles .
I use micronised rolled oats easy to buy and keep .
Its good she’s slim while she’s growing you will get a better individual at maturity .

 

[Leo Walker]

I believe protexin is in the vip ulsa shield, so it should be fine to feed the pink mash and leave out the shield....just wish she liked it more.

Its so bland not many are really keen. I'd mix it with grass nuts or chaff for extra calories, and to make it more palatable. This is what I'm hoping will get mine to eat it, seeing as grass nuts are currently such a bit hit!

 

[cblover]

I’ve got a few more questions.....sorry!
Firstly...in my head I think of her feed as the soaked stuff being the carrier for all her dried food to mix into. Currently it’s alpengrun mash, I’ve tried pink mash too. What if I replaced the Alpengrun mash with soaked grass nuts? Would that work? Readily available and cheaper....but I want them to be kind to her guts.

Then I could add linseed, salt, ulsa shield and equimins advance complete. This would mean doing away with the Alpengrun and the baileys nuggets.

I’m trying to use feed I can easily buy (local feed store), cost effective and filling for her.
How long do I soak grass nuts for? Can I soak of a morning or night then use them for the two feeds in the next 24 hours?
Dodson and horrell nuts perhaps?

Should I use chaff too?

 

[be positive]

I use grassnuts as the base for all of mine, currently all good doers but in the past have used for some less good and in harder work, in winter I soak for 24 hours but in summer I try to just do one feed at a time as it can go off in hot weather.
I have never had one refuse to eat them, I try to soak so not too sloppy and add various extras as required.

 

[Hack4fun]

I keep it simple. My Clydesdale lives outside 24/7/365 unrugged. Ad lib haylage. I also feed a balancer twice a day, and a handful of micronised linseed in winter. To be honest, the haylage is enough on its own. She is fit and well.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Copra might be useful for Scrappy to keep a bit of condition on.
Grass nuts are a super base feed and a horse doesn't need to be a veteran to benefit from A&P's Veteran and Vitality.

 

[Annagain]

My boy is on very meagre rations at the moment as he's way too fat (he had nearly all summer off with lameness) but as all the others get something when they come in he was having a handful (literally a handful, after it's been soaked so nothing really) of his friend's Fast Fibre to makle him think he's having something. He's always eaten this in the past with no problems but mixed with stuff. He won't touch it on its own. Then I opened a feed bin I thought was empty and found 1/4 of a bag of grass nuts in there left over from last winter (from about April). They smell fine so he's having them and wolfing them down even on their own. It's probably about 50 pellets soaked but he's happy! I've never known a horse refuse grass nuts.

 

[SEL]

Grass nuts are great but because the PSSM horse struggled on them the Ardennes gets her beet and copra. No room for another feed bin.

He gets a pretty full tub of beet so I wouldn't bother with chaff except the other horse has it to bulk out her feed. It's handy for mixing in with tiny amounts of soaked beet.