Micronised linseed, TBs and fizzyness

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Billabongchick

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As above really; am thinking of trying our OTTB on Micronised Linseed just to help her fill out a bit as she has dropped off whilst in 24/7 (enforced due to skin condition) and now she is starting turnout again the grass is very poor due to snow and flooding.

I swopped her onto the local feed shops Cool Mix a while ago and it was like crack to her :eek: so I am nervous about trying new feeds as she is a lovely sensible girl on her current feed (A+P Calm and Condition, HiFi, Sunflower Oil, Brewers Yeast, Garlic and recently added ProHoof (I think that's the name) as was recommended adding Zinc to help her skin and this was all I could find that seemed Zinc based).

Anyone had any bad effects with their TBs using micronised linseed or am I pretty safe to try it? Thanks
 
I have a 18 yo Tb and a 31 yo Tb on micronised linseed and have had no negative effects at all. Just introduce it gradually and you should be fine :D
 
Mine both fine and look great on it.

A Tb x mare I had on loan last year was quieter on it when we swapped from pasture mix (PC Camp feed) and she was quite a lively character.
 
Mine is almost full TB and he's been fine. Has been having the linseed nearly three weeks now and no change at all with his temperament.
 
Ours must be the odd one out, he got decidedly bouncy on it, but I suppose it could just have been that he'd got a bit more weight on & was feeling a bit more well in himself. He didn't get stupid, just a bit more giddy than normal.
 
Im feeding it with great affect. TB is putting on weight but still chilled (unlike other feeds that send her loopy). So glad I took the advice of others on here, high fibre, low sugar/starch. Initially didn't think it would add condition but it really has, even in just 2 weeks.
 
Linseed is excellent for coat condition and VERY unlikely to have any detrimental effect on behaviour. You already feed C&C which contains Linseed Expeller (which is a by product left after the oil has been extracted) so all you be doing by feeding the micronised linseed would be adding the oil back (and oil is certainly non heating)
I would imagine it was the starch/sugar content of the cool mix that sent her doolally! Cool mix is a very misleading title.
Can I ask why the garlic? Garlic is good in certain cases for SHORT term use as a treatment but should not be a regular addition to the diet as it kills the 'good bugs' as well as the bad ones in the gut.
Calm & condition is designed to be fed as a complete feed so if you were feeding recommended amounts you would not need the supplement. All you would need would be C&C and maybe a bit of chaff for texture.
If you go down the linseed route and as you are already feeding the supplement I would be looking at a diet of Speedibeet (calm&condition is mainly beet based anyway) Micronised Linseed & AlphaOil with the Pro Hoof.
What ever you decide make sure any changes are made gradually to give the bugs a chance to adjust otherwise although with the above changes you are already feeding all of those ingredients so should make the change unlikely to cause digestive upset.
 
JHC said:
Im feeding it with great affect. TB is putting on weight but still chilled (unlike other feeds that send her loopy). So glad I took the advice of others on here, high fibre, low sugar/starch. Initially didn't think it would add condition but it really has, even in just 2 weeks.
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Brilliant news JHC!

Having a T.B with a sugar intollerance years ago opened my eyes to the world of fibre feeding and how much diet effects temperament (not to mention the health implications!)
 
Made my TB fizzy; he now get the linseed pellets which is bascially the by product - still has same effect on coat etc.

I didnt feed it for weight gain - my TBs have always had ad lib hay and have tended to be on the porky side (still trying to shift some weight off the retired TB before summer).

My 15.2hh ex-racer can easily eat a bale of hay a day whilst he has been on box rest, and also gets fed huge trugs of hi-fi lite with speedi beet etc throughout winter which he grazes throughout the day. He also gets fed 3 small meals a day with his supplements. He is very stressy and cribs so we try to keep him occupied as much as possible. He is rather porky at the moment as has only just been brought back into work.
 
I'm another with a TB mare on Micronised Linseed and its brilliant for keeping weight and condition on without the fizzyness.

Now im a bit confused by MilkMaids comments :confused: I have her on Spillers cool mix, dengie hi fi molasses free (the lami one) with a scoop of micronised linseed and a small scoop of garlic powder.

Everything apart from the linseed was what she came with so i've stuck to it but if the coolmix is full of sugar and starch then i want to steer clear of that and i always though garlic was good for them? :confused:
 
Antw23uk said:
Now im a bit confused by MilkMaids comments :confused: I have her on Spillers cool mix, dengie hi fi molasses free (the lami one) with a scoop of micronised linseed and a small scoop of garlic powder.

Everything apart from the linseed was what she came with so i've stuck to it but if the coolmix is full of sugar and starch then i want to steer clear of that and i always though garlic was good for them? :confused:
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Spillers Cool Mix is 20% Starch so not hugely high (competition mix is 28% & straight oats 40% for comparison) so as long as you are feeding her daily requirement split over small meals it shouldn`t cause too much of a problem (and indeed it doesn`t for your mare by the sounds of it?) But for one sensitive to starch/sugar or with ulcers it would not be a good feed to use.

Despite what it says on the bag it is a cereal based, mollassed mix which to me is like poison to a horse!
I can`t find an ingredients list for Spillers Cool Mix ANYWHERE on the net & it doesn`t even list % of sugars on their nutritional analysis! which is very annoying (and slightly suspect as it begs me to ask what on earth IS in it!)

Oh hang on I found this ---------->Složení: oves, vločky ječmene, pšenice, travní granule, melasa, rýžové otruby, kukuřičné vločky, slunečnicové expelery, vločky hrachu, nutričně bohatá sláma, uhličitan vápenatý, sůl, sójový olej, vitamino - minerální premix, kalcinovaný magnezit, rostlinný olej

Which translates to ---------->Composition: oat flakes, barley, wheat, grass granules, molasses, rice bran, corn flakes, sunflower expeller, pea flakes, nutritionally rich straw, calcium carbonate, salt, soybean oil, vitamino-mineral premix, calcined magnesite, vegetable oil (I take it the corn flakes are Maize not Kelloggs, lol!)

So oats, barley & wheat are the first three ingredients followed by molasses at No4 (not even low sugar molasses which probably explains the lack of sugar info on the analysis!?!) and they add a good dollop of magnesium to calm your horse down after you have just fed it a ton of cereal & sugar :tongueincheek:

Punch Garlic into search and there has been quite a lot of talk about its use recently :D
 
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My tb was fine on linseed, he's a very laid back character and is generally fine with starch as he has been fed Oats and Barley in the past with no behavioural changes however he is incredibly sensitive to molasses in his feed and reacts to that.
 
Thanks for the info everyone; I also thought garlic in small quantity was good for digestion and with summer coming good for fly repellent? Tbh Milkmaid I put her on the Brewers Yeast and garlic as another lady who sold her horse left them behind! Which supplement are you referring to that I should leave out as she seems to be doing well on it all in general?

She only has a full scoop of soaked c and c twice a day (so about half scoop dry) but bearing in mind the not feeding more than 2kg per meal rule I don't want to up this amount really (can't add a 3rd feed as YO not always on yard to feed mid day) and thought the micronised linseed might be good as a weight booster as it's fed in a relatively small weight?

To add to this the only reason I put her on the hoof supplement is because of the zinc as she has Leukocytoclastic Vasculitus and the top guy in the country from the vet school recommended zinc and sunflower oil to aid recovery. With this condition you need to suppress the immune system rather than stimulate it so I thought some more 'digestive' type additions would help rather than 'immune' ones. I'm certainly no expert as the world of supplements has moved on massively since I was last a horse owner!
 
Billabongchick said:
She only has a full scoop of soaked c and c twice a day (so about half scoop dry) but bearing in mind the not feeding more than 2kg per meal rule I don't want to up this amount really (can't add a 3rd feed as YO not always on yard to feed mid day) and thought the micronised linseed might be good as a weight booster as it's fed in a relatively small weight?
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The rule is more about bulk than weight - most suggest that a rugby ball is about the equivalent size of the stomach.

This is only for "hard feed" as well - they should be grazing on grass/hay/hay substititutes throughout the day hence why I put in trugs of hi-fi lite (can be used as a hay substitute) and ad lib hay.

I have found speedi-beet very good for weight gain in TBs without fizziness. I fed this all year round to one of my TBs.
 
A 500kg Horse in Med work only needs around 1.5kgs DW of C&C a day (a stubbs scoop is 1.5kg) Soaked correctly with 2 x the amount of water this would give you 3 x stubbs scoops a day and 1.5 scoops per feed (wet) with a small amount of chaff, some micronised linseed & a dash of oil would be fine.

In effect you are nearly double dosing on vit/mins by feeding the ProHoof as well?

As you mention that she has a medical condition that might benevit from Zinc, why not look at buying some straight Zinc which would be a lot cheaper and potentially better for the horse as C&C is designed as a complete balanced feed. Progressive Earth sell straight Zinc.
 
Antw23uk said:
I'm another with a TB mare on Micronised Linseed and its brilliant for keeping weight and condition on without the fizzyness.

Now im a bit confused by MilkMaids comments :confused: I have her on Spillers cool mix, dengie hi fi molasses free (the lami one) with a scoop of micronised linseed and a small scoop of garlic powder.

Everything apart from the linseed was what she came with so i've stuck to it but if the coolmix is full of sugar and starch then i want to steer clear of that and i always though garlic was good for them? :confused:
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I think Milkmaid has given some excellent advice and I would agree re garlic, it's something I might feed short term for a specific reason, but would not use long it term as a 'general' supplement as it does have some negative effects.
 
Milkmaid said:
A 500kg Horse in Med work only needs around 1.5kgs DW of C&C a day (a stubbs scoop is 1.5kg) Soaked correctly with 2 x the amount of water this would give you 3 x stubbs scoops a day and 1.5 scoops per feed (wet) with a small amount of chaff, some micronised linseed & a dash of oil would be fine.

In effect you are nearly double dosing on vit/mins by feeding the ProHoof as well?

As you mention that she has a medical condition that might benevit from Zinc, why not look at buying some straight Zinc which would be a lot cheaper and potentially better for the horse as C&C is designed as a complete balanced feed. Progressive Earth sell straight Zinc.
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Or feed Speedibeet, linseed & the Prohoof. C&C is mostly sugar beet and this is why I don't rate it particularly, you may just as well feed Speedibeet. And I do believe it has garlic in it too.
 
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I feed my TB apple chaff, high fibre cubes, speedi-beet and a small amount of linseed (and a splash of veg oil when Ive remembered to get some) low sugar, high fibre! :D

She’s four, last raced in Oct (with previous wins) and needs a bomb up her butt – most chilled out four year old I’ve ever met … :rolleyes:
 
Yer Ive seen - we sometimes use the herbal one if its there but like i said, she needs a bomb up her bum and is mega chilled so happy with what she's on :D
 
Victoria25 said:
Yer Ive seen - we sometimes use the herbal one if its there but like i said, she needs a bomb up her bum and is mega chilled so happy with what she's on :D
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The herbal one is much the same sugarwise, only a percent or two lowever.

If it works for you that's fine but I wouldn't have used the phrase low sugar to describe it and the OP has said they are worried about fizziness rather than trying to create energy.
 
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