Supplement made for your horse.....please help with research :)

TopTotty

TopTotty

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Hi, If you could buy a supplement specially made to balance YOUR haylage or hay would you be interested? The haylage would be analysed then the supplement made up accordingly so that you could feed a balanced diet without the need for hard feed. Obviously this could be adapted around how much work the horse was doing and size etc
If you needed to feed hard feed, for weight gain or competition then ehis would be taken in to account aswell.
Please can you let me know what you think.
Many thanks and Happy Christmas :):)
 
TBH, I wouldn't as my ponies are doing fantastic on general supplement mixed with chaff and their ad-lib hay so I don't see the point in fixing what ain't broken. :)
 
Hi

This is an interesting thought, we already do this at work for cows.

How would you replace hard feed with a tailored mineral supplement? Minerals don't have any energy in them...if I have understood what you are suggesting correctly. Yes you need mineral to release energy but I don't understand how you could replace hard feed with them as they don't contain starch/ glucose or fats etc.

I think in principle it is a good idea to balance the minerals in your diet taking into regard your grass/hay/haylage make-up but personally I don't think people will pay for the expense of having their forages tested and then having someone sit down and make up a mineral supplement when they probably wont see a huge difference.

I think you are best targetting elite groups like racing yards were tiny details can make big differences but to your average horse owner I don't there is a need for it.
 
What wispagold said :)

If it could replace the energy the horses could get from cereals then it would be interesting. But I assume it would need redoing every year when we get new batches of haylage in, so it would totally depend on cost and how easy it would be to do.
 
The analysis of the haylage shows how much energy it provides so it depends on what level of work your horse is doing. If you are feeding a hard feed, unless you feed exactly what it says on the bag per day then you are not getting a balanced diet from it. I have supplemented my horses accordingly and am now very happy knowing that they are getting a balanced diet. It can also be dangerous and not cost effective to just feed a min and vit supplement as too much of some mins and vits are not good for your horse and affect the way others are used.

I event my horses purely off haylage and a supplement. If you're haylage is good quality then a lot of the time you do not need the extra feed. Of course every horse is different and this needs to be taken into account and also a lot of people are stuck with old routines and old habits and this is fair enough. Each to their own but I just like to know I have done the best where I can.

A lot of people think you must see an external difference in your horse but this is not always the case.

:):)
 
i would love it as i have a horse with protein losing entropthy (sp) so along with 20 steriod tablets everyday, to have a good vit/mineral suppliment to work with the haylage and hard feed to give a full balanced diet.
Would be happy to hear more abut it, pm me if you wish
 
Are you talking about a balancer - so would containt he vits and mins, but also protein, carbs and fat?

Think it is a good idea, but like everyone else said - depends on cost!

How would it work for someone like me who has a 15yo poor doer, a 2yo very good doer and a 7 month old colt? All obviously have very different needs. If I'd need 3 different supplements, then I'd probably say no thanks (unless all 3 of them we're equivalent to the price of the balancers I buy now)
 
It would interest me, but as my horses will eat one bale of hay like it is chocolate and turn their noses up at the next, I would assume that not all bales are exactly the same.....

I also have 1 17year old, 1 3 year old and a little pony, so would probably need 3 different ones....
 
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