Should i feed bran to my pony

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minnieminster1

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Hi,
I am doing a lot at the moment both home and away, jumping and flatwork. I work my pony most days. She is a 13.2 New forest pony.

At the moment I am feeding her a couple of handfuls of soaked bran, a coupe, of handfuls of molasses chaff and a couple of handfuls of conditioner mix.

After looking bran up lots of people say they have fed there horses bran for years and it hasn't hurt them and others say they would never feed there horse bran whatever the matter.

Please could I have you opinions as they would be deeply appreciated.

Thank you
 
What is the reason you feed the bran :) I have heard people feed it when their horses are 'colicy' or tied up although I know years ago it was a common feed. Bran is high is phosphorous and low in calcium so you should be feeding a calcium supplement with the bran as it may do damage long term without. I wouldn't be feeding a molassed chaff and does your pony need conditioning mix? I would recommend maybe a non molassed chaff like hi-fi molasses free and a balancer/vitamin and mineral supplement :)
 
Not many natives need conditioning mix, especially in the summer. I'd be concerned about the balance of your feed, lots of starch and sugar and too little calcium I would think. It tends to be best to keep the diet as cereal free as possible for most ponies, so using higher calorie fibre sources and oil if they need to gain weight is a better option.

Bran used to be fed years ago, but there are far better feeds available. I'd probably just feed a small amount of balancer or a general supplement with unmolassed chaff or beet. If weight gain is needed then sugar beet and added oil are good options. You could also feed something like fast fibre which is complete with vits/mins at recommended levels and is a soaked feed.
 
OP - bran is old fashioned but has its purpose. The important thing is to understand why you feed what you do. If your pony looks well on what she is having, can do what you want her to do and is holding a decent weight - not gaining or loosing - they you are fine. Keep doing what you are doing.

The reason some people won't feed bran long term is because it can upset the calcium / potassium balance. If you feed bran for more than a few months you can add limestone flour to replace the calcium. Wet bran aids "digestive transit" - it makes the food move through her faster. Dry bran has the opposite effect. Either way it is a low feed value bulker - it adds mass they can't really digest or get much good from. You can feed bran safely long term - I had a cob on dry bran for almost 10 years - but with limestone flour.

If your pony is fine on the feed she is getting then you don't need to change. But if you want to be 100% sure the bran is OK just add some limestone flour as well.
 
In one of the free mags this month there was an article about feeding bran and the negative effects it has. Esp when one off feeding i.e for colic. Ive left it at yard so cant quote 4 def. I use feeds high in fibre, low in sugar.
 
A lot of our riding school ponies have about a quater of a scoop and that seems to keep them happy. We use it to simply bulk up some of the smaller feeds. If you are worried about bran being high in Phosphorous then maybe try adding a scoop of limestone to your feed. It balances it out :) x
 
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