Lazy peoples guide to Barefoot feeding

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canteron

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As it says. Horse (cob) has excellent feet and is in relatively light work (ridden 4 times a week). On OKish grass and hay (when necessary) and he has a scoop of 'something' when he comes in.

What would you suggest (brand names please!!) for the 'scoop' to keep his feet in tip top condition.

Thanks
 
If he's a good doer I'd just stick to a chaff or something like Fast Fibre (I use and rate the stuff) and keep him cereal free; if he needs a bit of condition then use something like Speedibeet. I also add Benevit vit and min supplement and mag ox as mine has a restricted diet due to metabolic issues.

Keeping it simple is usually best. Eta - I always use a low sugar chaff not the molassed ones you can get :)
 
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My boy is a cob, good doer, on grass 24/7, barefoot, salt lick in field, and all he has is a scoop of black oil sunflower seeds and a few carrots.
Beta carrotene (carrots) is good for healthy hooves and the sunflower seeds give him healthy oils and fats that keep him super shiny all year round :-)

You could always add a scoop of Biotin is you think your pony needs something extra for his feet! And a Scoop of Hi-Fi light if you think he will bolt his food.
 
Safe and sound is good for good doers and is a complete feed - chaff with little lumps in it. It is also approved by lami trust and believe it has biotin and other vits in.
 
Big no to the Safe and Sound, even though it has a Laminitis Trust sticker. It costs about £5k to get one of these and very little else. There is no research done on the products by the Trust.

Fine if your horse isn't prone to LGL, lami or other metabolic/sugar related issues, not so much if they are. Shod horses are unlikely to 'show' the immediate problems (doesn't mean they are not there but the shoes mask them), but a 'metabolic' bare horse will.

If you are looking for a complete feed for a relatively straight forward horse try Thunderbrook base mix http://thunderbrook.co.uk/

You shouldn't need to add anything to it, so it will be really easy. But if your horse is very sensitive to sugar/starch then you are better off using Kwik Beet with added vit/min supplement.

I am adding a diet page to my blog, but it's not ready yet (sorry)
 
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Mine have Spillers Cool fibre.....low sugar/calorie complete bucket feed with magnesium. Plus a scoop of pink powder as a feed balancer as I feed less than the recommended amount.

Haynet in stable, grass in field. No cereals for any of them.
Job done.


....its not lazy hun....its just what your horse needs - no overfeeding, no unnecessary cerals/sugars etc.:)
 
I'd just add Biotin, so your just supplementing on the feed that already works for your horse, for example Gold Label do a high potency one.

I've been feeding biotin for the last couple of years and it certainly makes an improvement to their feet.
 
LucyPriory said:
Big no to the Safe and Sound, even though it has a Laminitis Trust sticker. It costs about £5k to get one of these and very little else. There is no research done on the products by the Trust.
Click to expand...

Sorry - that is rather misleading. Yes, the companies involved have to pay a fee to get LT approval, BUT it is not given out willy nilly to any old feed - the feeds have to meet quite strict criteria, particularly regarding the level of sugars and starches they contain.

However, although the level of sugars/starches is controlled in these feeds, which makes them quite 'safe' for the normal animal, if your horse is insulin resistant or has Cushings, for example, then it may be ultra sensitive to sugar/starch levels and then it makes sense to find the lowest levels of these that you can.

The lowest main stream commercial vit/min supplemented feed I have found is Fast Fibre which has 5% starch and 2% sugar. By comparison, Happy Hoof has 5% starch, 4% sugar and HiFi Good Doer has 1.5% starch, 8% sugar. Unmollassed beet is a really useful feed - Speedibeet, for example, has 5% sugar and a negligible starch level. If in any doubt, always ask the manufacturer for these levels as they are not usually listed on their websites. If customers become more persistant in asking for this information, they might actually start publishing these figures as a matter of course.
 
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