Soaking Oats with Speedibeet question

[Perissa]

I intend to give my horse soaked whole oats next year as he did very well on them this year when he was away being produced. There she simmered whole oats in water until the water was all but gone and they were then fed the next day without draining.

I've been reading lots about people soaking whole oats in cold water for around 12 hours and then feeding. Some say drain the water off and discard, others say only add enough water that will actually be absorbed and don't drain.

Then is occured to me that I soak Speedibeet every morning for the evening and then every evening for the morning. Is there any reason why I could not soak the oats with the speedibeet? They will be soaked for around 12 hours, same as the speedibeet?

 

[Chico Mio]

To get the maximum out of your oats they need to soak for 24 hours. I soak mine in a sack in a bucket then lift sack out and hang it to drain over the bucket for another twelve hours. I don't use the water as it has an almost alcoholic 'brewed' smell to it by then

Plenty of people soak their oats with the speedibeet. Sounds like the other lady simmered them to just break down the husks for easy digesting, whereas I soak to change the enzymes in the grain.

 

[teddyt]

Personally im not convinced about soaking oats.

If its done to reduce the starch then you could feed something else that is lower in starch in the first place.

If its to make them easier to digest, thats what the horses teeth are for! Whole oats are digested just as easily as rolled oats and there is no benefit to the horse from processing. Soaking may soften the husks but the horse doesnt need them to be softened, it can cope on its own (unless horse is very old).

Soaking to start the germination process risks fermentation, reduces some nutrients and does the horse really need the enzymes? Soaking oats for this theory comes from humans, who have a totally different digestive process to the horse. A soaked oat is not an oat sprout anyway and to get to that point for more of certain nutrients would take alot of effort and really isnt that much benefit to the horse.

The energy from oats is released into the bloodstream after about 2 hours, why would you need it any quicker? You shouldnt ride for an hour and a half after feeding anyway, to enable the food to exit the stomach.

Would be interested to hear exactly why people feed soaked oats?

 

[Perissa]

Perhaps I should have said that my horse has been allergy tested and proved to be very sensitive to wheat and maize. For this reason I have taken him off all mixes and foods containing pellets etc as most of them have wheat feed in them.

He is on Graze On Grass, Speedibeet and pure Alfalfa. Last year he needed more weight so the producer put him on cooked whole oats and he positively bloomed.

So I thought I would do the same thing next year.

However cooking them isn't really practicle for me so I thought the next best thing would be to soak them.

You make some very interesting points which I'd like to know too.

 

[Spyda]

I soaked whole oats last year, after reading about it on here.

I'd prepare the oats for the next day, each evening. I'd pour a day's worth of oats into a large bucket and fill it with just enough cold water to well cover the contents. The oats float about so it's hard to gauge without stirring them down to the bottom!

In the morning I would add an undrained scoop of the soaked oats to the breakfast feed. The remaining oats would soak on until the evening (the full 24 hr period), and I would drain off this water and add just the remaining soaked oats to the evening feed.

Worked well for me and didn't hot my horse's up. My main problem was finding WHOLE oats to buy. Everywhere near me stocks crushed.

 

[teddyt]

Spyda, what was your reason for soaking them?

 

[Spyda]

Well, soaking apparently reduced the chance of the oats hotting the horses up. Having not fed mine unsoaked oats, I cannot comment except to say none of my TB, WB types altered behaviour on them

Now.... molassed SB was a different matter. OMG I ended up with total lunatics. Have fed SB for donkey's years and had poo poo'd the idea of it hotting horses up. Ha! I was wrong. Maybe not all horse, but definitely some

 

[Mike007]

The question of soaking oats ,feeding them crushed or whole revolves not so much on whetherv the horse can digest them ,but where in the digestive system this occurs. Whole oats are poorly digested and often pass through untouched.It is important that the starches and soluble sugars are absorbed at the stomach.If significant amounts pass through they can cause digestive problems.The hind gut is designed for the effective breakdown of digestible fibre,not starches.Hence whole oats are a bad idea, and even crushed oats in large quantities, may not be processed in the correct section of the digestive system. Soaking oats gives the system a head start in that they have already absorbed sufficient water into the starch granukles for the system to act on them immediately.Furthermore they are softer and more easily ground up by the teath.

 

[PapaFrita]

I used to be a HUGE devotee of soaked oats. PF does extremely well on them. I've recently decided that it's not really necessary to soak the oats for a full 24 hours. A couple to 6 hours (perhaps even less) will split the husks and I see no reason why you shouldn't soak them with speedibeet

 

[teddyt]

Processing oats has been shown to have no benefit to nutrient digestibility compared to whole oats, including starch. Unless the horse has poor teeth it is quite capable of grinding whole oats to start the digestive process.

 

[Mike007]

We shall have to agree to differ on this one.