Natural unprocessed horse feed

H

Horsekaren

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 March 2017
Messages
1,300
Visit site
A question for those of you out there will a good knowledge on horse feed.

As my other post below my boy seems to be having hind gut issues. I understand feed is very important and im just wondering if maybe a slow change in diet might help.

He started off just on hay but didnt gain weight and was spooky, he was given token feeds of fast fiber in order to get the calming magnesium into him which helped hugely.

He now has
*half a scoop of fast fiber
*1 handful of grass pellets
*magnesium
*protexin gut balancer
*protexin acid ease (as and when)
*natural herby syrup for dust allergy
*70 predisolone steroid tabs
*adlib soaked hay

an occasional calming much block (one a week)


I understand the hind gut is very sensitive to feed and im just wondering if there is anything else that would be better as its less processed.
15.3 cob, 8yo, good doer, DOESN'T need energy or anything in the slightest bit heating!
 
I am pleased on checking that they seem to have taken the garlic out of FF otherwise I may have suggested switching that out for beet or such like.
Not all grass nuts are equal so you may wish to check the energy quantity although he isn't getting much and they will be fine gut wise.
What is in the natural herby syrup ('syrup' worries me a bit ;) )
 
ester said:
I am pleased on checking that they seem to have taken the garlic out of FF otherwise I may have suggested switching that out for beet or such like.
Not all grass nuts are equal so you may wish to check the energy quantity although he isn't getting much and they will be fine gut wise.
What is in the natural herby syrup ('syrup' worries me a bit ;) )
Click to expand...
This is the cough syrup
https://www.viovet.co.uk/Feel-Good-Herbal-Breathing-Supplement-for-Horses/c7887/

The grass pellets are the dengie ones :)
 
I suggest you have a look at Agrobs or Thunderbrooks both of which do a range of natural additive and sugar free feeds. Look on their websites and give them a call. I went for Agrobs who were super helpful but do use Thunderbrooks cobs as treats and to sprinkle over hay to encourage my mare to eat it if she's having a diva day.
 
ester said:
I am pleased on checking that they seem to have taken the garlic out of FF otherwise I may have suggested switching that out for beet or such like.
Not all grass nuts are equal so you may wish to check the energy quantity although he isn't getting much and they will be fine gut wise.
What is in the natural herby syrup ('syrup' worries me a bit ;) )
Click to expand...

Garlic in the syrup will not be helping so that would be changed ASAP as garlic can irritate the guts.
 
be positive said:
Garlic in the syrup will not be helping so that would be changed ASAP as garlic can irritate the guts.
Click to expand...

O really?
He has been on that for about 10 days, no major change i suppose in that time the kicking when picking feed started. If garlic irritates guts... if anything irritates guts why is it in feed, this annoys me :(
 
be positive said:
Garlic in the syrup will not be helping so that would be changed ASAP as garlic can irritate the guts.
Click to expand...

O really?
He has been on that for about 10 days, no major change i suppose in that time the kicking when picking feed started. If garlic irritates guts... if anything irritates guts why is it in feed and medicine, this annoys me :(
 
garlic should not go near a horse's intestines ever
it is in feeds because it sells feeds, people expect to see it in things that keep flies off, breathing things etc and people seem to be a bit slow on the uptake as to the issues it can cause.
It in an antimicrobial so disrupts the gut microflora which I am sure you can see is particularly unhelpful, particularly when you are feeding the gut balancer as pre/probiotics!

I'm really pleased you posted this though so at least we could tell you :).

FWIW I think the dengie grass pellets are ok.
 
All I've ever heard is good things about Garlic. Is it really that bad for their guts? I've just bought a new one, unopened, to help mine with a tendency to cough. Not sure what else I can use, but if Garlic is upsetting them, I don't want to feed it.
 
yes it is, it also causes anaemia and causes sweet itch horses to be itchier.

when I said should not go near, I should have said usually, I did hear of a horse recently where it had been useful but that was because it had an unusual proliferation of unhelpful bacteria.

Hilton herbs don't include it in their freeway product but I don't know of any others.
 
The only thing I'd say about grass nuts is they're surprisingly high in sugar. My boy is allergic to sugar (it brings him out in a scabby rash) but needs a bit of help to keep weight on during winter. Soaked grass nuts were recommended to me by a feed company as providing more energy than Fast Fibre but as soon as we gave them to him his legs went mad. The sugar in them is over 10% (as opposed to 2.5% in Fast Fibre) so if he's intolerant to sugar that might be an issue.

It may be worth taking him right back to just grass/hay and adding things one at a time with 5-7 days in between to see how he reacts. We did this when we realised something in M's feed was causing the rash and within 2 days of introducing molassed sugar beet, his legs went mad. We're lucky in that we can see a physical change rather than having to interpret behaviour though it may not be that easy for you.
 
Mine with suspected hindgut issues went onto Pink mash, agrobs chaff, a mineral balancer and salt. Once I got the pain issues sorted there was a dramatic difference in behaviour and the way he looked. I've taken him off pink mash now as I wanted to see if the soya was affecting him. I'm not convinced it was but hes very reactive to food, so better safe than sorry. Hes on Agrobs museli now and a handful of their grass nuts in his treat ball.
 
i am tempted to try mix it up, i keep looking at the Agrobs muesli as i can soak it but it seams to be a bit higher in sugar which he doesn't need.
I am really hesitant to stop the mag as he has been on it for a good 9 months since the spring grass as he just got so silly and spooky. I kept it in as he seemed to calm so much.

He doesn't have runny poos ever unless is a nervous trailer poo. i cant see that there are any other side effects of magnesium?
 
buzyizzy said:
All I've ever heard is good things about Garlic........
Click to expand...

Pin yer lugholes back then - it stinks and so does anything that eats it! Any desireable effects are extremely questionable.

What you have to ask yourself is - if the plant has spent millions of years evolving into a stinking so&so to stop folk eating it - why should I push the envelope?
 
HK if you don't want the sugar in the museli why not try the weisencobs if you want to soak or the aspero chaff if not?
 
ester said:
yes it is, it also causes anaemia and causes sweet itch horses to be itchier.
Click to expand...

This. My gelding used to violently scratch off the stable door frame in the evenings, seemed quite badly affected, since taking him off garlic he's been a different pony, and only needs rugging when the midges are particularly bad.

OP, my dust-allergic gelding is on balsamic air, http://www.audevard.com/en/produits/balsamic-air.html
 
Horsekaren said:
i am tempted to try mix it up, i keep looking at the Agrobs muesli as i can soak it but it seams to be a bit higher in sugar which he doesn't need.
I am really hesitant to stop the mag as he has been on it for a good 9 months since the spring grass as he just got so silly and spooky. I kept it in as he seemed to calm so much.

He doesn't have runny poos ever unless is a nervous trailer poo. i cant see that there are any other side effects of magnesium?
Click to expand...


I looked at Agrobs muesli but amongst other things it contains carrots, which one of our Appaloosas was very reactive to. We feed the Wiesencobs soaked and they do very well on them. We do also feed a small amount of magnesium and a handful of salt but nothing else.
 
This is the same horse you are posting about on your other thread ?
If he’s showing the symptoms on your video while he’s on steroids you really must get him some better help.
 
buzyizzy said:
All I've ever heard is good things about Garlic. Is it really that bad for their guts? I've just bought a new one, unopened, to help mine with a tendency to cough. Not sure what else I can use, but if Garlic is upsetting them, I don't want to feed it.
Click to expand...

Garlic is fine in the amount you add to feed to prevent allergic reaction to fly bites. There was a study done that showed undesirable side effects of feeding garlic to horses in very large amounts. The thing is some people don't differentiate between some garlic and 'very large amounts'.
It worked very well for a horse I had. I'd feed it in the summer months and she never got an allergic reaction to horse fly bites again.
However, if you're concerned about it i'd ask a vet. He/she will be more knowledgeable than me or any other posters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top