magic barefoot powder v's forage balanced minerals

MBP or balanced minerals to forage??

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brokenleg

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As the title suggests really, just wondering how many people use/make up their own MBP or have you had your forage/grass tested and feed minerals in accordance with what's needed.

I'm currently feeding "pro hoof" from an ebay shop and im happy with the results, however it is quite expensive and i've not fed it to my youngster as i'm not sure if it will give him everything he needs.

Just to throw into the mix both my boys are fed speedi beet and alfa a pellets, plus ad lib hay when they are in.

So thoughts and opinions please all you barefooters and shod alike!!
 
Not sure what you mean... Is the MBP the stuff that Oberon (I think it's Oberon! Sorry if it's not) has posted about? If so that IS mineral balanced... I feed pre-made ones (Pro hoof/forage plus). Mineral balancing is the best way of going about it though, if you can. Pro hoof/meta balance/forageplus supp are all good alternatives, though.
 
just for further clarification i meant MBP (seaweed, brewers yeast, mag ox) maybe rosehips too.

with respect to balanced minerals what i mean by this is having your forage analysed and then supplementing to suit your forage i.e if your forage is low in copper then supplement this but if it isn't then dont supplement this. There are various companies such as forage plus which will do this for you rather than giving a broad spectrum vit and min supplement
 
Balanced minerals are always best but not always possible if your hay supply and grazing changes.

You said you were feeding pro hoof, that has alot more in it that the original MBP (copper and zinc for instance) and that or other versions like forage plus and equimins meta balance are a good compromise if you can't balance.

Seaweed isn't recommended these days as a general supplement as it's too high in iodine and iron. I feed it but only after a forage analysis identified deficiencies it would help with.
 
I am currently waiting for a feeding plan to come through from forrage plus having had my hay analysed as I had been supplementing my boy with Equivite, magnesium, biotin and brewers yeast with some but not total improvement in his feet / soundness.

From the sneak peak that I have already had from Sarah it seems his diet is going to change quite considerably from high fibre cubes and speedi beet to speedi beet, micronised linseed, wheat bran and fast fibre...

It is a real eye opener and I can't wait to get him on his new and hopefully improved diet :)
 
Mine get linseed, brewers yeast and black sunflower seeds - the latter has really given them hard strong feet.

They are fed Just Grass, Speedibeet and when working harder, Green Gold (alfa) and ad lib hay. Their grazing is nibble and not rich. In winter they also get Feedmark's benevit.

I have horses with great feet, no shoes and in regular work. I do in summer put Kevin Bacon on them daily to stop them drying out too much.
 
I am tempted to get an analysis done by sarah, she's supposed to be visiting our yard some time soon too.

In fact someone on our yard had an analysis done on the grass in my boys field which would be relevant soon, (more grass, more grass as his total forage intake)

god it's so complicated, i'm especially concerned that i get my rising 3yo right. Have to say that i recontly added alfa a cubes to his feed and im sure he's grown as a result!
 
CBFan said:
I am currently waiting for a feeding plan to come through from forrage plus having had my hay analysed as I had been supplementing my boy with Equivite, magnesium, biotin and brewers yeast with some but not total improvement in his feet / soundness.

From the sneak peak that I have already had from Sarah it seems his diet is going to change quite considerably from high fibre cubes and speedi beet to speedi beet, micronised linseed, wheat bran and fast fibre...

It is a real eye opener and I can't wait to get him on his new and hopefully improved diet :)
Click to expand...
I currently feed Fast Fibre, non molassedSB and micronised linseed plus a few extra minerals and vitamins.
I think the main thing is that you take control of the input and you know you are not being wasteful, but the horse is getting a balanced diet, balanced to his forage intake.
 
OH MY GOD! is all I can say to my feeding plan!!! So informative and it's clear to see that you really can't be sure of what you are feeding unless you get your forrage analysed!!

I really can't rate Sarah's service enough. She researches the content of all your feeding stuffs and calculates your diet based on that, your forrage analysis and your horse's stats, workload and any problems. It isn't at all straightforward and well worth the money spent. She will recomend alternative feedstuffs where necessary.

It turns out my boy needs supplementing with:

Magnesium, phosphorous, copper, zinc, selenium, iodine, lysine and omega 3, and vitamin E in winter!!

My hay is EXTREAMELY high in iron and lots of radios are WAY out which will impede the uptake of various minerals.

You can't possibly 'balance your minerals' unless you know what you are feeding in the first place. if you have success through trial and error, well done! But for others it is a bit more of a minefield!!
 
Just want to second Sarah's service and after you've done the first horse, second feed plans are much cheaper so if a few of you get together it would work out quite cost effective.

Plus recently my horse was injured so I emailed asking if I should make adjustments and got a reply with new quantities to take into account he was off work but needed support healing so some things went up but most went down.

I'm on a livery yard so I make up the mixes in little plastic bags and they tip one into his feeds each day.
 
'Magic Barefoot Powder' was basically Simple System's Total Eclipse (linseed, seaweed and BY) but mixed ourselves at a cheaper cost. It was affectionately called MBP.

That was a few years ago now and it worked well for some horses....but others were still uncomfortable on certain terrains or couldn't seem to cope with the smallest amount of grass without being uncomfortable. There were the horses who were labelled as 'unable to go barefoot'.

Then a few people dug a little deeper and started to look at what exactly was in the forage. And started trying to address the wonky mineral profiles they found.

Suddenly those horses who 'could never go barefoot' were comfortable. Suddenly some could have grass without incident.

It was the missing piece of the puzzle.

So we've moved on from MBP to forage analysis and bespoke mineral balancing.
This means we know exactly what the horse needs and we provide it.
Simple and cost effective.

I mix my own minerals in accordance to forage analysis and I still affectionately call my mix, Magic Powder.

For some people this isn't possible, so a couple of companies have brought out a supplement in respect of the trends of high iron and low copper and zinc often found in the analysis' we've seen.

So, even though the original Magic Barefoot Powder (seaweed, BY and linseed) is no longer considered the best......it never did any horse any harm.
 
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