Low calorie palatable soaked feed?

khalswitz

khalswitz

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Hi all.

So, my mare (18yo 16.3hh ~620kg ISH) is one of those horses who needs feeding up or she becomes a hat rack over winter, but then turns into a hippo at a sniff of summer grass. Her usual feed is below.

Summer (split into 2 feeds):
  • TopSpec Senior Lite balancer (600g)
  • Dengie Hifi Senior Chaff (2x Stubbs scoops)
  • Salt (2 tsp)
Winter (split into 2 feeds):
  • TopSpec Senior balancer (600g)
  • Dengie Hifi Senior Chaff (1 Stubbs scoop)
  • Coolstance Copra (up to 4 pint glasses before soaking)
  • Micronised linseed (up to 2 pint glasses)
  • Frickers Formula TT Baseline cubes (up to 2 pint glasses)
  • Limestone flour (60g)
  • Salt
The only reason she gets as much chaff as she does in summer is because we feed all 4 together in the field twice a day, and it slows her down so she doesn’t try to help herself to someone else’s dinner.

Post recent hock injections for spavin, I’ve been recommended some supplements by my vet (and done a stupid amount of reading of papers too): Boswellia, resveratrol, glucosamine, MSM, chondroitin, etc. And it’s making a real difference, she’s feeling much better. However, adding the supplements coincided with me cutting her back to just chaff and balancer for the summer, and she’s decided she’d much rather abandon her bucket and go after the others’ feeds.

Any suggestions of something palatable but low calorie to add/partially replace her feed with? Her chaff is 8 MJ/kg, so ideally less than that. I see speedibeet is 11 MJ/kg, Fast Fibre is 8 MJ/kg and Baileys Meadow Cobs are 6 MJ/kg - how palatable do others find these? Enough to hide her supplements and get her scoffing her own feed again? The copra is 15 MJ/kg, so I’m not keen to keep feeding that through the summer.

Any suggestions appreciated!
 
Mine's on 2 different feeds for various reasons - Agrobs wiesencobs in the morning (soaked overnight) and Allan & Page Veteran Light in the evening. Both minimal amounts to mix in supplements and are bulked out wiht oat straw chaff but for both the bowls are licked clean.
 
Spillers speedy mash is 8mj/kg apple flavoured and apparently so delicious I had to stop feeding it to prevent one of mine coming over the stable door at dinner time!
I keep a bag on hand for hiding things in or getting a wet feed in if necessary. I've got some picky eaters and it's not failed me yet 😊
 
Bailey's Meadow Cobs are a fab option - my fussy retired 20 year old practically leapt over his stable door when he smelt them being soaked - they swell up really nicely, when made with warm water the aroma of the grasses is released even more and they're low in calories so a decent amount can be fed if needed :)

Spillers Speedy Mash is also another great option - the smell of the mash soaking and how well it swelled up again was great for hiding things x
 
Baileys senior soft and lite is great . My ponies have this after leaving fast fibre and chaff. Everything in it if you feed the amount needed for weight . Works out much cheaper for mine than adding a balancer .
 
Baileys meadow cobs, fast fibre, spillers lite & lean
Follysmum said:
Baileys senior soft and lite is great . My ponies have this after leaving fast fibre and chaff. Everything in it if you feed the amount needed for weight . Works out much cheaper for mine than adding a balancer .
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I looked at that but seem to recall that sugar and starch was too high for EMS (if that’s a worry)
 
Yes agree maybe too much for ems it’s 11% sugar and starch
I usually go for the under 10% option it was recommended and so far mine have trimmed up quite well considering they came out of winter a bit too well 🤣
 
Watching with interest as it's the time of year my weirdly fussy native refuses to eat anything other than grass and I'd quite like her to still have salt and her gut balancer 😅 she's a sensitive soul though I don't need to add any more oompf.

She's so funny yesterday she was tied up I offered her dinner and she just repeatedly pointed at the grass with her nose and looked at me 🤷
 
Well, I have managed to blag a bit of meadow cobs to try from a friend - fed her a small amount this morning mixed in with her usual feed and she practically licked the bucket after the first few mouthfuls. So that’s positive! Let’s see if that continues 🤞
 
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