Making barefoot diet more palatable?

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unicorndreams

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I'm currently transitioning my TB mare to barefoot and its going pretty well so far. (fingers crossed!) She's on a low sugar diet of 1 scoop non-molassed chaff, 1 scoop soaked non-molassed sugar beet, half a mug of micronised linseed, hoof supplement and mag-ox but she's really not that keen on it. Having previously been a good eater, she's now really picking at it and leaving a good half in her bucket. Her weight is currently OK but I don't want her dropping condition as the weather gets colder. Is there anything I can add to make it more palatable to her that fits with a low sugar diet? Any herbs or minerals that are good for them and tasty to eat? Anything I can swap the sugar beet for that might be more appealing?
 
If she has been used to sweeter, tastier stuff, this will be dead boring! Bless her cottons!

You could always try alfalfa pellets. Very tasty but low sugar. I soak mine with speedibeet.

I do add herbs. I've just harvested my mint and dried it so that will be going in. I have always fed ACV as it increases appetite and if soaked with the beet, it loses it's sharpness but retains all the "sweet" taste. Introduce it with sliced apples and remove over time. I add veg to add interest too.
 
Salt
Fennel
Spearmint
Simple systems mint grass nuts

Those are the ones that work with mine

There are 100's though, nettle, turmeric, hawthorn berries, rosehips etc etc :)

A Lot of us feed a bit of fast fibre to hide the minerals in which seems to do the trick.
 
Mine where like kids told that KFC was not on the menu any more it took about a month I suggest you add a few oats mine love them.
 
My cob hates magox and can sniff it out a mile away, don't know why he's so against it, I've tried it couldn't taste anything! Anyway, he loves cinnamon, so half a tsp usually does the trick. :)
 
It took frank a while ;) 19 years of sweeter stuff! :D

He is allowed a handful of pony nuts with his fast fibre just to encourage, although he absolutely won't touch it if you add any salt... :rolleyes: and doesn't like brewers yeast :p. using speedibeet instead made no difference.

We did use cider vinegar for a while which seemed to help a bit (even chopped up polos didn't help!) but now he eats it all up anyway.

The mare on the other hand (who has always been fussier with chaff etc) will eat any of it we put in front of her!
 
My TB mare went off speedibeet, then went off Fast Fibre. She is currently on Pure Easy by Pure Feeds and is clearing most of her bucket.....she looks great on it too and isn't getting fizzy.
 
Goldenstar said:
Mine where like kids told that KFC was not on the menu any more it took about a month I suggest you add a few oats mine love them.
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hahah - that's kinda like Mel's face when I dish her dinner up! Tonight she was picking the bucket up in her teeth to give iy a little shake and then nosing around in it in the vain effort to 'find' something nicer in it!
 
Chellebean said:
I found spillers fibre nuts to be amazing for issues with my fussy one :D
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Agree with this and despite being 'naughty', they seem well tolerated by even sensitive horses.

Strangely my old, Cushings boy has been happily munching on them all summer and then suddenly went off them and is going mad for Fast Fibre :confused: :D
 
Mine also decided he didn't fancy plain speedibeet (though he'll take it with apple juice as speedibeet tea at Endurance rides), and Fast Fibre isn't interesting enough by itself, either. I now use about 100g FF with 100g Meadow Herb (yes, he shouldn't get it, but it's a tiny amount and at least he will eat it!) as a base for his minerals and 3 tbsp salt.
 
My fussy eater TB was on a high sugar diet (i didnt realise...doh) and when i trans over to fast fibre and micronised linseed, minerals + handful of Just Grass...he now hoovers up his food....he loves the fast fibre, loves it, licks the bucket cleaner than clean :D

Probably going to regret saying that and will find he goes off it next week...:eek:
 
Oberon said:
Agree with this and despite being 'naughty', they seem well tolerated by even sensitive horses.

Strangely my old, Cushings boy has been happily munching on them all summer and then suddenly went off them and is going mad for Fast Fibre :confused: :D
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I give the useless shoeless TB a scoop of high fibre cubes with his feeds (barefoot diet of Speedibeet, Micronised linseed, Pro-Hoof) and he loves his grub. He is eating better than he ever has before...
 
My cob was happily eating ff untill the bute went in . I found that he will eat it with a double handful of denge good doer added which has a nice minty smell.
 
Oberon said:
Did I convert you? :D
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Yes you did. I never ever dismiss other people's advice. Especially when you never know it all. Listening to you was the best thing I could of done for him.

Now I am not a barefoot fanatic but without a doubt what you have to say about barefoot health is worth listening to - always.
 
Ah some cubes might be the way to go as I noticed she'd picking out the cubes that are in the HiFi. I've got some fennel seeds in the cupboard at home which I randomly bought for cooking and haven't used so I might try those too - how much is OK to feed of those?

I didn't go down the FF route as I thought it'd get a bit expensive with the amount it says to feed and chaff/beet seemed to work out more economical. Though I'm often surprised at how much these feed co's suggest as guideline amounts - do they assume its being fed as a total ration (ie no hay, grass?)
 
My boy has always excitedly slurped up his bucket of fastfibre, hay chop, linseed and the disgusting minerals, salt and turmeric (I always joke with my friends that NOBODY is to tell him about competition mix... he doesn't know mixes exist and I want it to stay that way!).

But he's been out on the long grass winter field since Sunday, and we have been getting polite "thanks so much for the lovely dinner, but maybe not just now..." behaviour. Today, I will be soaking Spillers cubes to get his minerals into him :D
 
I feed Dengie [ small handfull] non molassed chaff with my FF as it has herbs and spices, and is another source of fibre. I also think half FF and Half speedy beet is more palatable than FF alone, I have a few oats for fun which he loves, so just a wee treat for him.
I too am worried about magnox putting him off his grub as I mix all my ingredients together with my micronised linseed in one batch.
I feed less than a pet scoop of FF/SB per feed once a day when out, twice when stabled.
I think FF and Speedy beet/Quick beet cost about the same.
 
I found my girl took a while to come around. She hated the simple system stuff so I put her on the unmollassed Alfa a stuff mixed with a balancer which she liked for five mins. Then I put her on ff and she's loved it and has stuck with it for ages now. I mix it with linseed which she loves and will eat by itself anyway. I did find she didn't much like the salt. I also found thy she will eat her food with mag ox mixed in but only if it's the more expensive one on naturalhorsesupplies. I tried the cheaper one but she hated it. You could try mint?
 
Both my normally greedy hoover cobs hate magox, so on the trimmers advice I upped the magox very very carefully so they got used to it and mash up an apple and split it between the two of them into their speedibeet and magox and they don't complain one bit!
 
Over 3 yrs my previously sugar addicted horse's tastes have changed. For the weaning period I found she adored chamomile, lemon balm and rose petals. Now she likes her dinner warm (don't say anything!) And more of a savoury taste. She gets yea sacc for other reasons and she loves the taste of this. I know a couple of TBs that adore celery and another that like 'Placid'.
 
Even my greedy, eat anything pony wasn't too keen on his new healthy diet to start with. I found adding a sprinkle of fenugreek and dried mint worked for him :)
 
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