Oats soaked or otherwise for a TB?

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horsegirl

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There are so many conflicting views.
Soak them for 12 hours and drain
Soak them and don't drain
Don't soak them at all
etc

Does anyone feed oats, soaked, rolled or otherwise to a spooky & excitable TB?
 
Soaking them turns the oat into an enzyme making it easier to digest. No point pumping it in if its going to come out undigested the other end!
 
I do!

Soaked for 12 hours - sometimes drained, sometimes not.

TB does extremely well on them, doesn't hot him up at all and I have found it helps keep the weight on him.

I feed with Alpha a plus a balancer.

Also, much much cheaper than mix.
 
joeanne said:
Soaking them turns the oat into an enzyme making it easier to digest. No point pumping it in if its going to come out undigested the other end!
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Apparently (after advocating the soaked oat diet for years *blush*) the enzyme thing isn't actually true. But I'm pretty sure soaking the oats and softening the husks will make them easier to digest.
I'm a huge fan of oats and have fed them for years. I've fed them both ways and I can't say it made any noticeable difference to PF *blushes again*

ETS: Whole, soaked for 6-12 hours, drained.
 
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I was feeding them soaked in the morning and then drained and rinsed and fed. Frankly I found it all too much of a palaver. The water that came off was pretty yuk so I am not sure I would want to soak it with the sugar beet but maybe I am being overly fussy. Horse did not hot up at all but did put on weight.

I didn't notice them overly softened tbh and lets face it horses have incredibly powerful jaws so I am sure they could manage the unsoaked ones.
 
I fed them to my tb mare when she was very thin (when I first got her) and she did very well on them. I soaked them for at least 6 hours, so soaked the evening ones in the morning and the following mornings ones that evening (if that makes sense!!) Just scooped them out with a sieve
 
Sorry if I sound ridiculous, but why would you feed oats if you want to take all the goodness and energy out of them? Surely you could just feed nuts and not worry about the soaking? Or barley to fatten them up a little without too much heating?
 
It doesnt take all the goodness out of them, soaking the whole oats softens the husks which mean the horse can digest the whole oat, which is fattening and not whizzy energy. My mare had them as she wouldnt eat ANY hard feed and she loved them. In certain cases I would definately feed soaked oats again
 
I have owned TBs for over 30yrs and only feed them a hi fibre diet for normal riding, i.e. A&P fast fibre, chop, non heating conditioning cubes and brewers yeast powder. The only time I have fed oats is when I was racing. Do you need lots of fast acting calories?
 
BlueCakes said:
Sorry if I sound ridiculous, but why would you feed oats if you want to take all the goodness and energy out of them? Surely you could just feed nuts and not worry about the soaking? Or barley to fatten them up a little without too much heating?
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They don't lose the goodness or energy. Oats are lower in starch and therefore less heating than barley or maize. A vet explained to me that nuts are indigestible to many horses due to the way they're cooked when made and my mare used to have regular bouts of low-grade colic when fed them. She has never once colicked on oats, nor does she fizz up. Oats are poorly understood and much underrated. Together with alfalfa to balance the calcium/potassium levels, I won't feed anything else.
 
So clear as mud :)

Does it matter if they are soaked for more than 12 hours? For example if they are put into soak in the evening and fed the following evening? What kind of oats are best? Should I soak the Tiger oats?
 
horsegirl said:
So clear as mud :)
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Depends whose answer you read :)

Does it matter if they are soaked for more than 12 hours? For example if they are put into soak in the evening and fed the following evening? What kind of oats are best? Should I soak the Tiger oats?
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They tend to ferment in warm weather. Whole oats are best for soaking. Not familiar with tiger oats.
 
I've fed them unsoaked to good effect, but soaking is always an option...

It's really the statement about "soaking turning [oats] into an enzyme" I want to pick up. As PF says, not true. Not remotely possible either. An enzyme is a protein which catalyses a biochemical reaction, not something that an oat could be turned into ;) If you were soaking in hot water, you'd probably denature any active enzymes anyway. I've read that it makes no odds whether you soak or not, but not from any source more reliable than the internet :cool:
 
If the Oats were going to send my horses bonkers how long would it take for them to take effect, roughly? Do you think it would be a day or so? They have been on them for a week, small qtys to begin with while I use up the pony nuts but so far they both seem fine. Also what qty of oats should be fed? I have a 16.1 tb and a 16.1 ISH both in what I suppose would be classed as light work.
 
Mixes of any kind make the TB very spooky and exciteable and he won't eat enough of chaff based feeds to keep the weight on.
 
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