Moving from mixes onto straights - my story!

only_me

only_me

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Well, someone said they would be interested in hearing how I got on with switching feeds.
Little history - billy (5 year old ISH) had quite a lot of hives all over his stomach & flank and we were :confused: as to what they were, turns out they were from the masses of wheat he was being fed earlier in the year (Cooked cereal meal) as an additive for weight gain (he was very poor over winter - worms/stressing/cold)so we decided to take him off wheat completely, just to let his system re-boot and then go from there :)

Moving away from wheat was harder than anticipated - EVERY mix I looked at contained some sort of wheat, and whilst he would probably be fine on the cool mixes etc. I wanted a complete step away! The main ingredient of balancers tends to be wheatfeed or another form, as from what I gather it is how the nuts are made.
Considering wheat is traditionally bad for horses, I was a bit :confused: as to why there was so much wheat in mixes.

So instead I went for straights, as I have fed them previously throughout winter with other horses and bought a vit & min supplement to make sure feed was balanced.
He has been on flaked maize, rolled barley, oats, fibrebeet and chaff, which did take a while to get the ratio of oats right (rocket powered Billy to dope on a rope :p) but got the amounts right.
Billy also lives out 24/7 and competes off grass, up to PN (BE100) eventing

It has been just over a month now since he has been on the feed, and hives have completely gone and he actually looks fat! :D You can make your mind up if you think he looks better - to me he looks so much healthier and even fat! :D
He was slightly fitter in this pic, and you can't see his ribs cos he is turned towards the camera :p (He is a ribby type normally)
On a complete mix
old.jpg


On straights
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I found the move very easy to do; and I buy the straights from local feed mill :)
 
Straights are fabulous.
My mare's winter feed is chaff and bran. If she needs more weight put on I put her on some sugarbeet.
Last mare was on oats and chaff.
Fantastic stuff and the shine on your boy's coat says it all!!
 
Shiny! He is lovely.

I think I recognise your yard and your horse, are you in shropshire?

I also think I might try this myself in the winter, I think it would be nice to be able to adjust the feed to suit my horse exactly!
 
He looks fabulous! I'm afraid I genuinely believe that it is down to all the 'super' mixes that there is such a high incidence of laminitis. It used to be almost unknown for horses to get it and was only fat ponies on lush grass, that was in the days when horses were fed straights and ponies got a handful of grassnuts if they needed anything at all. We tend not to feed cereals at all now but if we did would only use straights (tons cheaper too!)
 
Billy-two-shoes ;) (only joking :D), is looking fabby! Although i was slightly confused for a moment as to were his tail was :eek: lol He looks more grown up, and looks to be filling out nicely. I think when Miss fat arse comes back into work we'll just use some oats and a Vit/min supp but tbh i dont think oats will bizz her up, she doesnt seem to react to anything lol
 
Ooo that was me, I wanted to know :).

Thanks for the update!

Is his temprement still the same? How much do you feed of the different things?

I've taken my horse off of the fibre nuts, mollichaff and balancer that he was on just to see if anything happened.

He is now on grass, a Rockies mineral lick and fast fibre which has no wheat or cereals in it or molasses either.

My horse seems the same tbh. He's fairly quiet most of the time and he looks the same as well I think, he still looks good.

It is really interesting. The only time I've seen my horse uncomfortable was when he was on buckets of Alfa a oil at the beginning of last winter, it was a bit rich and sent him a bit crazy and crib bitey.

I do find your results interesting, thanks again for sharing :).
 
hch4971 said:
He looks fabulous! I'm afraid I genuinely believe that it is down to all the 'super' mixes that there is such a high incidence of laminitis. It used to be almost unknown for horses to get it and was only fat ponies on lush grass, that was in the days when horses were fed straights and ponies got a handful of grassnuts if they needed anything at all. We tend not to feed cereals at all now but if we did would only use straights (tons cheaper too!)
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Couldn't agree more with this. He looks great too but you might find it's the barley that is the rocket fuel, it seems to affect more that way than oats do.
 
Can I ask how did you decide which straights to feed and to what weight ratio's? My cob is intolerant to sugar and I'm currently feeding Pure Feeds but it's a pain in the bum as I don't have a supplier nearby so have to rely on delivery which is extra expense too.
 
Jackson - sorry, I live in NI :)

Firewell - his temperament is the same, perhaps a little more cheeky :p I feed roughly according to his weight, I am going to cut down the maize slightly as he dosen't need more weight :p he is currently on half scoop maize, 1/3 scoop barley, 3 handfuls of oats, half scoop of chaff and 1/3 beet :)

I find the maize can be very heating, but it appeared that there was a huge difference between 4 handfuls and 2 handfuls :p

There is calcium in his vit&min supplement :)

JSR - I was very bad and should have weighed them out, but used the scoop instead, I just chose barley oats and maize as that's what we have fed before :)

Thanks all for the lovely comments :)
 
only_me said:
Jackson - sorry, I live in NI :)

Firewell - his temperament is the same, perhaps a little more cheeky :p I feed roughly according to his weight, I am going to cut down the maize slightly as he dosen't need more weight :p he is currently on half scoop maize, 1/3 scoop barley, 3 handfuls of oats, half scoop of chaff and 1/3 beet :)

I find the maize can be very heating, but it appeared that there was a huge difference between 4 handfuls and 2 handfuls :p

There is calcium in his vit&min supplement :)

JSR - I was very bad and should have weighed them out, but used the scoop instead, I just chose barley oats and maize as that's what we have fed before :)

Thanks all for the lovely comments :)
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Looks great and I'm a great believer in straights, never touch a 'mix' or nuts, can you tell me which oats do you use?and do you soak them?
 
regarding adding limestone. Sugarbeet has more calcium then phosporus and so helps balance the ration,also if you are in a hard water area,like me, the horses are getting plenty of calcium from the drinking water, I am always amazed that when people including the professional nutritionists never mention the water source. Unless you are feeding vast quantities of straights the ration wont be unbalanced enough to cause problems.
 
i feed straights, have for years, after i found the molasses in mixs would send my old pony's sweet itch into over drive, took him off them and a lovely non itchy pony, for weight gain i would add linseed meal, i little goes a long way and easier than oil
 
jsr said:
Can I ask how did you decide which straights to feed and to what weight ratio's? My cob is intolerant to sugar and I'm currently feeding Pure Feeds but it's a pain in the bum as I don't have a supplier nearby so have to rely on delivery which is extra expense too.
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Sorry. Just to say horses cant be intolerant to sugar. Sugar is in grass and hay! Most mixes have a low sugar alternative used that are lower in sugar than grass. It is quite a common mistake to make. Its starch that can send horses loopy.
 
Trot_On_Dressage said:
Sorry. Just to say horses cant be intolerant to sugar. Sugar is in grass and hay! Most mixes have a low sugar alternative used that are lower in sugar than grass. It is quite a common mistake to make. Its starch that can send horses loopy.
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I guess my vet is talking carp then, all those tests and the fact he nearly died and my vet was wrong in his treatment?? He doesn't got loopy he is physically unable to process sugar. He is on terrible grazing so not getting enough grass to effect him, he's on soaked hay and high fibre feeds only. 'low sugar' alternatives in feeds are not suitable, but thanks for the input.
 
jsr said:
I guess my vet is talking carp then, all those tests and the fact he nearly died and my vet was wrong in his treatment?? He doesn't got loopy he is physically unable to process sugar. He is on terrible grazing so not getting enough grass to effect him, he's on soaked hay and high fibre feeds only. 'low sugar' alternatives in feeds are not suitable, but thanks for the input.
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Wasnt trying to cause any offence. Just bugs me as i hear a lot of people saying this. Fact is there is less sugar in most mixes than is in grass. People forget that. The word sugar makes everyone thing of what we use, cane sugar, when in fact even molasses is lower in sugar than pure sugar! Obviously your horse has a medical condition and you are feeding it correctly with high fibre cubes and soaking its hay to remove the sugar. I was just talking in general.
 
Fed straights all the time I have had horses. All YO liveries are on them and they hunt twice a week and the show hunter ponies are on them. Look amazing.
 
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