Soaked Oats (again, sorry!)

[S_N]

If your feeding good quality Hay/haylage + an Alfalfa product, like Dengies Alfa-A Origninal/Lite/Oil + Sugar Beet, then unless it is a growing horse, there is little to worry about re: the Ca/P ratio. I feed my 9 month old foal Soya Bean Meal with this diet, on the advice of EC!

 

[PapaFrita]

[ QUOTE ]
you guys must feed a supplement otherwise nedddies are not getting any mineral or vits whereas if you feed a mix or cubes they generally have correct balance of these in them. also limestone flour if you are feeding oats as there is a calcium phosphorous balance to correct. check this out any qualified horse nutritionist should tell you this. also dengie will prob tell you the same if you phone them up.

[/ QUOTE ]
Diet DOES come from a qualified horse nutritionist.
Second everything SN/CN has said.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

[ QUOTE ]
you guys must feed a supplement otherwise nedddies are not getting any mineral or vits whereas if you feed a mix or cubes they generally have correct balance of these in them. also limestone flour if you are feeding oats as there is a calcium phosphorous balance to correct. check this out any qualified horse nutritionist should tell you this. also dengie will prob tell you the same if you phone them up.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd question the statement that they aren't getting ANY vits/mins through use of the soaked oat diet

As SN says,the high calcium levels of the alfalfa/haylage etc cancel out the inverse Ca/P balance,and the quality proteins contained in the alfa will be providing lots of vits/mins.

I'm sure there is someone who feeds this diet alongside seaweed and apple cider vinegar and finds it suits ALL her horses without them lacking in anything vitamin wise.

Just a quick aside:although limestone flour is commonly fed to horses to give them extra calcium,it's still more difficult for the equine body to adequately metabolise to get the best from it.

 

[Tempi]

firstly if you read my OP mine is getting calm&condition alongside the oats (half and half) my choice as i know its like 'using a 2'in'1 shampoo and then using a conditioner' however it also provides the added vits/minerals he needs without me having to add to his diet. He also has haylage and not hay and alfa-a original plus a salt lick in his stable which he loves.

Oh, and i might add guys that he LOVED his new tea last night and gobbled it up in no time!! normally he swaps between tea and hay and leaves some tea but he ate it all straight away so big sucess from my corner!!

 

[Sags_Deer]

oh well apologies if i offended you all!!

 

[S_N]

lol - I'm not in the least offended! It's good that you raised this point! Feeding straights can lead to deficiencies (sp?) that's why you if you feed this diet, it's important to feed good quailty products + general a vit/min supplement.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Just found an interesting article regarding the calcium/phosphorus ratio of equine diets.

It gives some average amounts of each element found in common foodstuffs and shows how to work out the ratio present in your horses diet.
Thought this might be interesting for those concerned about the inverse ratio present in oats

Understanding the calciumhosphorus ratio