Need to cut sugar out of diet..help!

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harrietmina

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I recently got my 16.1 5 year old anglo arab. He came to me in poor condition in all areas, and after seeing the dentist she said he needs all sugar out of his diet due to how bad his teeth are. so no apples and no polos :(

He was just on (very dusty) hay when I got him, and he needed a little extra weight but wasn't horrendous just a little weedy looking. Now, he's filled out a LOT on just a scoop of mollichaff and hay (+grazing) so he is a real good do-er but he does lack energy although I think this is just his personality. He can't have the mollichaff anymore and he can't have pellets as they form a paste and stick to his teeth which will worsen the decay. What should I feed him that will be SUGAR/MOLASSES FREE, nutritious, low calorie and not fizz him up too much ?!

I was going to go for Alfalfa with 365 balancer but I feel its so boring!
 
Why not try something like speedibeet and Dengie unmolassed hifi to start with as a base and see how he does on that. You can always add to the diet if you feel its not enough.
 
If he is a good doer i would feed Hifi un molassed or un molassed alfa a with a balancer as he doesnt really much else. Normal Alfa a etc has molasses in it. Fibre cubes are another option, if you wanted a wetter feed there is fibre beet and speedibeet but they do have a low amount of sugar in.
 
Yeah I'm gonna try Dengie unmollassed hi fi I think. Thought about trying the countrywide own brand alfalfa as it says no added sugar but that doesn't necessarily mean unmollassed right? Will have to ring up for its nutritional content I guess
 
wench said:
Surely his teeth will grow back? Given that horses teeth constantly grow...
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Well yes, but like I said they are incredibly damaged and decayed. If he continues to have sugar in his diet then that decay will increase as the plaque multiplies, until he ends up breaking his teeth. I'm not worried about them not growing, I'm worried about him damaging what's left of them at the moment.
 
I think the countrywide alfalfa herbal should be just fine. When it says unmollassed, it generally means without added sugar. If you still have the bag, it should (by law) have a tag or a printed area on it that lists all ingredients. Otherwise you could ring them up.

Just to add to the list of possibles: Spillers Happy Hoof now comes in unmolassed, and I think the Calmer, Hoofkind and Alfalfa Oil versions of Mollichaff are sugar-free too (but do check the label when you're at the store, or ring up if you want to make sure. The webpage lists an analysis, but not a very clear list of ingredients: http://www.horsehageforage.co.uk/WP/?page_id=108)
 
I have an anglo and two arabs on a low sugar, high fibre diet. One of the arabs can't have alfalfa, so that made it a bit trickier, but this is what I feed; meadow haylage (avoid rye like the plague), oats (don't fizz any of them), molasses free sugar beet eg speedibeet, micronised linseed, honeychop chopped oat straw straw chaff and a vit&min supplement (pro balance).
 
Go back to complete basics - oats and either Meadow Chaff and/or Lucerne chaff. I have read somewhere that a lot of South American horses have poor teeth as they are often fed sugar cane.

OP - It may look boring to you but horses love boring - their diet is grass, grass and more grass. Don't worry about boring!
 
Tnavas said:
OP - It may look boring to you but horses love boring - their diet is grass, grass and more grass. Don't worry about boring!
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Completely agree! "Müsli" style mixes are very popular in Germany. The reason being that they look prettier to the human eye! It's completely ridiculous. They'll add small amounts of rolled corn and peas purely to add the yellow and green coloured bits to the feed, for a more "appetizing" look. Cubes are almost always the better choice in comparison as they are lower in sugar, but of course they look bland and boring. In the end, humans buy horse feed, not horses, so the feed has to be attractive to humans.
 
what about Simple systems. They offer natural type of feeds with no additives and sugar.
I have changed my horses onto their feeds and they seem to be doing alright.
 
Have you considered adding oil? Oil is slow release energy and is highly digestible for horses. You could just add oil directly to whatever else you feed, i.e. chaff, or you could try a supplement such as Saracen Equi-Jewel. I have used both, but now use Equi-Jewel and love the results. However, it does come as very, very small pellets, so maybe that wouldn't be suitable?
 
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