Restricted grazing - what do you feed?

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CobsGalore

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Question for those who have horses on restricted grazing/muzzled?

What do you feed?

At the moment I am feeing Lo-Cal Balancer, with Mag Ox and a small amount of Linseed.

Is there anything else worth adding in? I was also considering swapping the Balancer for a general mineral and vit supplement with a handful of hi-fi lite. Does this sound ok?
 
My IR/Lami boy is on restricted grazing..He is fed two small feeds of Fast Fibre,Molasses free Hifi,Mag Ox,Yea Sacc and a broad spec Vit and Min (Feedmark Benevit Avdanced)..
 
My mare is restricted to between 1- 2 hours early grazing with muzzle. Alongside soaked hay, she gets Forageplus balancer, a small amount of micronised linseed, Vit E, mag ox, salt and stuff for her joints, all mixed in with small amount of Dengie Healthy Tummy and a tiny bit of Kwikbeet.
 
I feed max 100g per feed (which includes the linseed component in my balancer), sometimes as little as 50g total if she's gone porky! She's fed twice daily so that's between 100-200g depending on her weight.
 
It depends on the level of work I am doing with them as to what they are fed.

My two are on semi restricted turnout - they are out overnight but the field is bare, I mean bare it is soil! I've had to take the fence down onto the garden so there is a tiny patch there to graze and two of them have to share it. I do give two small hay nets at night between them.

I'm feeding hay during the day with access to a mineral lick. No hard feed. One is in very light work, the other is doing more and is ridden alternate days in the week and both days at the weekend for 1-3 hours at a time at a reasonable level of intensity.
 
I feed baileys low cal, handful of Alfa and salt. That's all she gets all year round and she's still a fatty winter and summer!
 
CobsGalore said:
Question for those who have horses on restricted grazing/muzzled?

What do you feed?

At the moment I am feeing Lo-Cal Balancer, with Mag Ox and a small amount of Linseed.

Is there anything else worth adding in? I was also considering swapping the Balancer for a general mineral and vit supplement with a handful of hi-fi lite. Does this sound ok?
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just give mine fibergy donkey chaff and nuts with a good all round supplement
 
Reading this I wonder if I am a bad mother. He gets a token handful (literally) of Safe and Sound. In a paddock 24/7.
 
My 10hh gets hay out in the bare paddock and 2 feeds a day of a little C & C and a handful of Happy Hoof and Chaste Berry powder and a general vit & min supplement. He is in at night again with hay.
 
either forage plus balancer in a handful of just grass chaff or timothy hay chaff, or formula4feet depending on what i have.
 
Soaked ad lib hay, fast fibre with pro hoof and linseed with the occasional treat of celery stick. She is currently only hand grazed but yesterday the vet commented on how well she was looking.
 
In what way is the grazing restricted? Space or quality or short quantity

If your horse is prone to being overweight you shouldn't be feeding it anything extra - just have a mineral block available.

My Clydesdale lives out 24/7 on billiard table grazing with a mineral block and looks a million dollars!

She has had NO supplementary feeding now for 18 months - no hay or hard feed of any form.
 
Mine have one meal a day consisting of a scoop of Honeychop oat straw chaff , a handful of happy hoof, mag ox, and a cup of Bailey's No14 Lo cal balancer, and other supps when needed such as joint ex and barefoot from Feedmark. They are out 24/7 now on restricted paddocks with no additional forage.
 
Nothing at all unless his poos drop below 4 in 24/hours then he has some grass nuts and alfalfa soaked together
Wont eat wet hay so no point in soaking it. He is in a large 3/4 acre track of very short grass and looks wonderful just now
He does get a few equibites daily when he isnt being fed for his vitamins
 
If ours are stuck in for any reason I add lucie brix as it better mimics forraging time and alleviates boredom rather than adding anything else to the bucket feed. They are both in medium to hard work so get buckets anyhow. Simple systems also do non-alf Alfa Brix if you want to avoid AA. Mine is a really quick eater and the Brix have been fantastic.
 
Equibites which work out cheaper than a balancer, handful of mollichaff calmer and rosehip & milk thistle for lami prevention.
Out 24/7 in a grazing muzzle, worked 4-5 times a week and fat scoring 2.5- 2.75 at the moment.
 
A question to those of you who keep your fatties/laminitics on very very bare grazing. Are you aware that grass that short/overgrazed is incredibly stressed, so it overproduces sugars at an alarming rate? I was speaking to an equine grazing consultant for an article I'm writing, and he was at pains to stress that its possibly the worst thing you can do, particularly for laminitics. Far better to put them out on very long stemmy grass, which is high in fibre and low in sugar - in a muzzle if necessary to manage their intake.
 
Auslander said:
A question to those of you who keep your fatties/laminitics on very very bare grazing. Are you aware that grass that short/overgrazed is incredibly stressed, so it overproduces sugars at an alarming rate? I was speaking to an equine grazing consultant for an article I'm writing, and he was at pains to stress that its possibly the worst thing you can do, particularly for laminitics. Far better to put them out on very long stemmy grass, which is high in fibre and low in sugar - in a muzzle if necessary to manage their intake.
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While very short grass may be stressed and produce sugars the amount of effort on the horses part to get sufficient food means that it is fine for them. Every bite returns a very small amount of grass.

I've kept any lamanitic pony in this many for decades with no problems at all.

If I turned my Clydesdale out on long, stemmy grass she would be obese in a matter of days.

Grazing her on billiard table grass is the only way I can control her diet - she is grazing all day as any equine should but the quantity that she manages to eat is the right amount for her build type.
 
Tnavas said:
While very short grass may be stressed and produce sugars the amount of effort on the horses part to get sufficient food means that it is fine for them. Every bite returns a very small amount of grass.

I've kept any lamanitic pony in this many for decades with no problems at all.

If I turned my Clydesdale out on long, stemmy grass she would be obese in a matter of days.

Grazing her on billiard table grass is the only way I can control her diet - she is grazing all day as any equine should but the quantity that she manages to eat is the right amount for her build type.
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Fair enough. I just thought it was very interesting what this guy had to say. Made sense to me - although I've always subscribed to the "bare is best" theory til now.
 
Tnavas said:
While very short grass may be stressed and produce sugars the amount of effort on the horses part to get sufficient food means that it is fine for them. Every bite returns a very small amount of grass.

I've kept any lamanitic pony in this many for decades with no problems at all.

If I turned my Clydesdale out on long, stemmy grass she would be obese in a matter of days.

Grazing her on billiard table grass is the only way I can control her diet - she is grazing all day as any equine should but the quantity that she manages to eat is the right amount for her build type.
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Same here. 12 Highlands and never a case of laminitis -- so far, touch wood!

But they do get looked over daily and have their ribs felt every few days.

By way of "supplements", I have been known to feed good clean barley straw, introduced slowly.

Native ponies should never be fed anything with coloured writing, or a picture, on the side of the bag and certainly nothing that is recommended by "experts"!;)
 
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