Simple system feeds advice please!

My concern would be feeding too much protein inadvertently to your foals and ending up with growth problems which is where I am now. Of course I can't be sure where I went wrong, but I am minded to think that the Alfalfa A Oil I fed my mare contained too much protein which went into the milk, which is now the foal ended up with contracted tendons. He was born apparently perfect.

I remain a great fan of the low sugar high fibre way of feeding, but I am a LOT more careful about protein contents now. The foal incidentally is now fed grass and good hay when in at night. Not even surelimb any more. One hoof is now good, (well not upright anymore), the other one is proving more stubborn and we still have a way to go, IF it ever does come right...

Thanks Penny. I have had a careful eye on this foal as the mare is very milky, but she's drying up now and he will be fully weaned within a week. He will drop off a bit of weight I'm sure, but he has good quality forage and surelimb, I just think he might need a small amount of decent protein when the grass goes off.
I'm sure your foal's other foot will come right. Do reconsider the surelimb though, it's supposed to be good for supporting those types of growth problems and shouldn't make it worse.
 
Ooo, that sounds like what I need, do they deliver nationwide?

I'm glad I'm not the only one suspicious af anything that isn't grass! It's what horses have evolved to eat for millions of years after all.

They do, but I just ask my local feed shop to get me a bag when I need one.
 
We spent seven years trying to control what we thought was sweetitch. Turns out, that to a degree it was, but once horse had a diet free from alfalfa the allergy to the mozzie bites vanished. Good stuff, but certainly doesn't suit every horse.

Was it the Canadian alfalfa, because I had problems with this also, but the Spanish alfalfa is so different and I've no problems with this at all, now I wonder if the other alfalfa really were alfalfa??
 
Did you know that linseed is toxic to horses? Google the side effects, and you might think twice before you use it again.

Only if not prepared correctly. The stuff from Charnwood is perfectly safe.

From this website (first Google hit): http://www.horse-advice.com/equi-therapy/equine-nutrition/linseed-horse.shtml

"When raw or uncooked linseed is poisonous to horses - it contains cyanide containing compounds linustatin, linamarin and neolinustatin as well as an enzyme which liberates the poison cyanide if the linseed is fed raw"

The Charnwood stuff is fine, see their website:

http://www.charnwood-milling.co.uk/mail-order/Best_Sellers.html
 
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