People who feed oats

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Evelynmary

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Can you please tell me what you feed with them? Mine is a good doer so thinking of Baileys Lo-Cal and a chaff.

Also I'd be interested to know type of oat, quantity/frequency. Do you feed them the night before a competition or in the morning of an event (assuming you don't have an early time)? Who supplies the best quality?

In fact any information on feeding oats will be much appreciated. Thanks.
 
Hi

We feed whole oats with chop and sugar beet. Apparently whole oats retain all the good stuff that gets lost when they're crushed or whatever.
Ours are in training so they are one 3 feeds a day - about 3lb oats, same of chop and pound and a half of sugar beet in each feed. This helps to maintain weight whilst getting them ready to race.
 
Oat should be fed in small amounts. They contain a good amount of amino acids but not really any other nutrients that your horse will need. Oats are 50% starch. They give your horse real wizz/energy, they are actually the safest grain to feed and in terms of digestible energy - they are lower than corn and barley. Dont kow about feeding them to a good doer though as those types are not usually used to so much energy, but if they are the lazy/dozey type it might just pick them up, but feeding it regularly would probably lead to him putting on weight. If i feed corn/barley/oats i feed very little (only about 10% of the overall feed - half to a whole of the baileys food measuring cup) Feed oats and other high energy foods with caution as theyre effects can vary much between different horses from giving then a slight pick up to sending them completly loopy!!

Baileys lo-cal and a chaff sounds great
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I feed my 23 yr old veteran Section D on Horsehage Veteran Chaff, Bailey's LoCal and speedibeet. Just up the LoCal in winter. Veteran Chaff is oat straw based with nettles, mint, ton other good stuff. Not sure why you would want to feed a good doer oats? I think all you'd get if you fed a lazy good doer oats is a lazy FAT good doer!
 
I'm surprised to hear oats don't really have any nutrients horses need... our entire yard (mainly SJers) is fed straight whole oats and alfalfa and they do fantastically well on them.
If you're going to feed oats you have to feed calcium (for instance in the form of alfalfa) to balance out the phosphorus in the oats. This site explains far better than I could.
 
We used to feed straights, most of it being oats, and just threw some vit/min balencers on top. Horses did very well on it, esp as they were living out on parkland and in hard work. Only changed because.... well basically we got lazy and had to move the feed room somewhere smaller so a mix was more practicle
 
You may be right B-of-F's!! When I say a good doer I'm not thinking ponies of my youth. Mine's an idle warmblood who usually carries a bit more weight than needed on the belly, the rest is muscle. I've fed all sorts of energy compound feeds over the years and have still to find one that really does it for him, ie he goes forward and is off my leg first time of asking. I find with most compound feeds the lead in time can be as much as five days, so end up feeding it all the time which, if you feed at recommended levels, contributes to his waistline. With oats I'm hoping to achieve more flexibility in that I can feed them x hours (trial and error will tell) prior to schooling or an outing. The remaining feeds will be more suited to his everyday needs.

Oats may not be the answer but feel worth a try. Very interested in others experience feeding them. Thanks for contributions so far.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I'm surprised to hear oats don't really have any nutrients horses need... our entire yard (mainly SJers) is fed straight whole oats and alfalfa and they do fantastically well on them.
If you're going to feed oats you have to feed calcium (for instance in the form of alfalfa) to balance out the phosphorus in the oats. This site explains far better than I could.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, great homework, thanks so much.
 
Papa beat me to it. Oats need to be fed with calcium.. and not other phosphorus so not sugarbeet.

They should also be fed alongside a balencer.

Lou x
 
I would say corn is a better alternative to oats, cheaper and lower in protein so less likely to have the 'fizzy' effect. Correct me if i am wrong but i think the nutrients decrease on how processed the oat is, however the more processed they are the easier they are to digest, so while whole oats would be the best nutritionally not all horses would digest them properly.
 
I feed oats. Locally sourced lightly rolled oats. With HiFi (which has alfalfa in it) and a high calcium vitamin supplement. HOrse has never looked better.
 
Just a thought, but Red Cell works well as a good pick up for my horse. You could try that and see what the result is like the next day?

I feed oats every night, as instructed by the Nutritionist. She also told me to think about clipping all year round, and especially keeping up to date with it over the winter. Also that carrots are "poor mans oats" and can add a fair bit of energy to the feed.

I think I probably have the same problem as you with my horse. She is so laid back she's practically horizontal. It takes a lot to get her fired up. Not that I want a mental, prancing horse. I just want a little bit of enthusiasm!
 
P - Looking at GWF and your feed list, they're not dissimilar. Have you taken advice or better still do you advise them?
 
Yes ! I spoke to their Nutritionist at YHL last year. Of all the ones I spoke to she made the most sense. Plus Equilibra is the most economical of the balancers. The only other thing was she recommended I buy Dengie Alfalfa as it was cheaper than theirs!
The speedibeet is on my vets recommendation as she has had a Gastric Ulcer treated this year and the more fibre she gets the better.

I have to say I am very pleased. I have a 7/8 TB ISH who went through the winter on a light work ration, fully clipped and working 6 days a week. She has Tiger oats when I am riding 6 days, if it's going to be less I drop them completely until I am in a position to work her again. This way she won't get fat on the oats. It's worked so far. She never gets oats while she is not working.

The carrots and Red Cell had an effect too, for example I can give her Red Cell the night before a lesson and it will give her extra energy without being stupid.

Another thing worth thinking about is Electrolytes. Opinions vary but my mare always has them after sweating heavily and this also seemed to make a difference to her attitude.
 
Yes yes yes!! That's how I want to feed. Thanks. Will have to wait and see how he fares on oats of any description, used to be quite a stressy individual when I first got him.

He's on Propell just now having been a little 'off colour' and occasional cough during the rape/hay making season. Think that may have the same effect as Red Cell?

Don't post as a rule, so glad I did on this occasion. Thank you everyone I've learned a lot.
 
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