Try again. Alternative to alfalfa feeds.

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delbino7

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Horse has had a personality transplant and turned into an ******** to handle, after a long deep converstation with my instructor and eliminating the usual back, teeth, tack etc were looking for an alternative to feeding him alfafa.

Currently on healthy tummy (suffers from excess acid) and Saracen releave along with his usual flexijoint supplement.

Turned out daily.

6 year old tb x shire (1/4 shire) and IS NOT a good doer. Not under weight at the moment but hard to keep weight on too.

None heating Feed advice.... GO!
 
Grass nuts? Agrobs?

My girl was a handful on alfalfa and like a donkey on grass nuts. Would recommend to anyone. I soak mine and add grass chaff.
 
Ditto grass chaff, another agrobs fan as mine is a fussy tit but a few more about now, previously used d+h just grass and sure someone maybe dengie has brought out a meadow grass one
 
Re-leve is VERY heating for some horses - I've tried three on it - bought it for the first one, went loopy, gave it to the second one to use the bag up, went loopy, gave it to the third ploddy one, who got sharp, so I've abandoned the bag!
 
Mine are on grass nuts, thunderbrooks chaff plus linseed for extra condition if required, all seem happy on this and look very well at the moment, you may find yours becomes a better doer in time, I find once they settle even the poor doers are easier to keep weight on, I have a tb type pony who used to drop weight and was on huge feeds at his previous home, he is now rather tubby on nothing other than decent haylage and grass.
 
Another vote for Agrobs; the Aspero chaff is lovely, and they also do a gut restorer mash that might suit him. And of course there's always micronized linseed :)
 
Have you thought about going back onto straights? Then you have control over whats actually going in rather than relying on marketing on the bag telling what magic has been added/removed.
 
I have mine on Molichaff Calmer (it's unmollassed and has no Alfalfa) and Baileys Lo Cal Balancer (again, one of the only balancers with no Alflalfa) and speedi beet.

Check all ingredients of the feeds as so many cubes have alfalfa in.
 
You can also have a look at the new Dengie Meadow Grass range. They have grass pellets and a meadow grass chaff (no alfalfa). Might be easier to get your hands on at the local merchant compared to some of the alternatives mentioned above.
If you want the larger pressed hay cobs, zooplus sell them online at a decent price, and their delivery is very reliable.

If you need more calories than plain grass nuts/chaff can provide, you could see if you can get a sample of Copra. It's non-heating but pretty high in calories (from fat). Taste-wise it seems a bit of a love/hate thing with horses, so I'd definitely do a trial first. And of course, micronised linseed is another one that will give your high calories from fats, but is more expensive.
 
Simple systems do some grass nuts that are low energy ones ( blue packet) and have a good helpline for advice. They also do a a chaff made from timothy grass, so no alfalfa.
 
Red-1 said:
Rice Bran is great, try Equi Jewel from Saracen. Piles weight on, and low in fizzability. I would pair it with Agrobs as a filler and bulker.
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Second Equi Jewel. I produced a 17.2h show horse for years that was very picker feeder and sharp. Alfalfa sent him dizzy, itchy, spotty and runny tum. He would not and still won't eat any more than a 1.kg of bucket feed in each feed and if I put too much he just leaves the lot regardless of how the feed is made up. He will not eat anything unless there is a few handfuls of plain grass chaff run through it. He competed at the highest level on Just Grass, linseed, grass nuts, speedibeet and equi jewel plus adlib good haylage or hay. On ever too frequent occasions he would leave it and I had to rethink, I did substitute the speedibeet with Veteran Vitality, that would get him going again until he got fed up. Fresh chopped mint is very useful for tempting picky feeders and I use it daily for him.

No matter how many times he said 'bored' he would always eat Equi Jewel and he always looked like the picture below (bay horse) despite having quantities of hard feed that would not have kept a 12.2 going and despite him travelling extensively, staying away from home and working hard. He was 17 in this picture. Straights he would eat for a while but barley and maize blew his brain and affected his feet and skin. He would leave all bucket feeds if there were no carrots finely chopped up too. His favourite meal is warm bran, mint and carrots - well great, but he would be a WHW case in a week on that. This horse really made me look at and research feeds, there are a lot of bagged feeds that are real rubbish. He is 24 now and cushinoid, still on just grass, linseed and speedibeet.

Equi Jewel is fed in gram's rather than shovel fulls. Another useful feed is Suregrow, I know is it marketed at youngstock but I use for anything that does not need loads of feed or is picky, it provides the vits/mins etc without bulk.

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Speedibeet, Fibre beet, micronised linseed.....if you feed bran, you may well have to supplement with is it calcium? Def supplement with something, can't think off top of head what it is....
 
Echo AA; doesn't have to fill the bucket for it to do the job and Suregrow is excellent as balancer, reasonable price too.

Another fan of soaked grass nuts, preferably Graze On ones; the same firm does a very nice chaff too, again called Graze On. Most feed stores will get it in for you - http://www.northerncropdriers.co.uk/products. Micro linseed is brilliant and Farm & Pet which have the cheapest price I know of too, will send it out or you can get it direct from Charnwoods - http://www.farmandpetplace.co.uk/pr...-and-performance/micronised-linseed-20kg.html. http://www.charnwoodmilling.co.uk/mail-order/Horse_Food.html
 
I also use graze on chaff with unmolassed sugar beet and micronised linseed for both my Arabs alfalfa sends them loopy so does molassed food, although they do hold weight well over the warmer months I just increase over the winter, I have also used equijewel on a skinny warmblood and he put weight on in a matter of weeks but remained calm.
 
I looked at keyflow pink mash recently which might be worth a look. Releve is a bit like rocket fuel for most horses. I feed rowan Barbury red mash to my old poor doer. I think the sugar/starch levels are a bit horrifying but do you know what, it worked and he looked a treat and held his weight on it without getting silly. Also, another vote for agrobs feeds too.
 
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