What do you feed your barefoot horses?

Alfa-A, feed balancer and Formula4Feet, which I'm giving a year or so to see if it makes any difference. She had her shoes off in September and we just left her in the field for the first 6 weeks. Now she's hacking out happily on a variety of surfaces and is only footy on hard, stony surfaces where the stones are loose/ uneven.
 
Hay, grass, browse, small amount speedibeet with vitamins (e and c for some) minerals including salt and magnesium and micronized linseed.
 
Blimey never seen so many supplements :p

Mines been barefoot since Nov. he's coping well and hasnt been too 'footy'.

He lives out on good grazing. One feed per day which is -

- Handful of happy hoof
-Handful of spillers high fibre cubes
-1 carrot
-1 danilon sachet (for bone spavin)

I do measure it all in a scoop but just to make it easier to understand I've put it in handfuls on here :)
 
Going to be controversial here...........why should a barefoot horse be fed any different to a shod horse? Surely nutritional requirements are exactly the same. Also why should exercise differ? Could it be possible that some of the improvements seen when horses go barefoot are due to a better nutritional and exercise regime.

Will now run for cover.......................
 
toomanynags said:
Going to be controversial here...........why should a barefoot horse be fed any different to a shod horse? Surely nutritional requirements are exactly the same. Also why should exercise differ? Could it be possible that some of the improvements seen when horses go barefoot are due to a better nutritional and exercise regime.

Will now run for cover.......................
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Diet shouldn't be any different. The thing is a horse can cope with a lot of dietary problems wearing shoes also frog and sole are lifted off the ground so it is less obvious if there are problems. Take the shoes off and you see the true health of the hooves and tbh horse. So those that do well straight away had no problems either dietary of from over trimming etc... All hooves will improve barefoot but some are very sick and need rehabbing first. ;)

Don't forget that the most important part of the diet is the forage the horse eats. Grass, hay and haylage are where the horse gets most of it's nutrients.
 
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AngieandBen said:
I think you will find Happy Hoof is 4% sugar NOT 40% :D
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Oops sorry I didnt explain that very well - the molasses which Happy Hoof is coated in is called molglo which is 40% sugar, its a mixture of soya oil and molasses (in case anyone on here doesnt feed soya like me!)

They manufacturers like it cos they can say it is a low sugar version as straight molasses is listed as being 47% sugar. So its only 7% lower but still far too high imo for barefoot or lami's.


TooManyNags - dont run for cover! Stay and learn :D Shoes tend to mask lots of little hoof problems which immediately become apparent when the shoes are removed. Because so many owners feed the crap sold in the pretty bags in feed shops and dont look at the ingredients, or understand what they are and what effect they have on the horse they do not realise that the shoe has been hiding infections and weak, poorly formed feed for years and then panic when the horse is sore barefoot.
 
My barefoot cob is on 500g of Spillers Lite Balancer with 1 tablespoon of course rock salt plus ad lib hay/grass.

He has a foot score of 7.7 from my EP - amazing feet!

If he has any issues in the spring I may add Magnesium Oxide to his feed too, but he doesn't need it at the moment.
 
fatty has nothing but hay at the moment, little boys all get a scoop of calmer chaff and big girl gets scoop of calmer chaff, scoop of speedibeet, half scoop oats, equivite supp and mint to hide the taste. all are out 24/7 and get a wheelbarrow of hay each morning and noon.
 
Ozz was on fast fibre, healthy hooves, brewers yeast, mag, linseed oil, good grazing during the day and ad lib hay at night. Unfortunately he was loosing a little bit of condition, so he's now on Pure feeds pure working, linseed oil, mag and I'm investing in some copper sulphate too. Little sod gets bored halfway through a haynet and gives up, so getting food in him is tricky...he'll eat any amount of bucket-feed though :rolleyes:

J&C
 
Blaze - 15hh chunky cob, Jasmine - 15.2hh TB, both good doers, Blaze barefoot for 3yrs, Jas has never been shod (5yr old)
Both live out 24/7 with 3/4 others, currently on foggage field, will be fed hay if grass disappears (unlikely, we have plenty)
Given a handful each of 'treat balls' made up with either speedibeet or fast fibre, with cal mag, micronised linseed and brewers yeast.
Both rock crunching. xx
 
toomanynags said:
Going to be controversial here...........why should a barefoot horse be fed any different to a shod horse? Surely nutritional requirements are exactly the same. Also why should exercise differ? Could it be possible that some of the improvements seen when horses go barefoot are due to a better nutritional and exercise regime.

Will now run for cover.......................
Click to expand...

You are 100% correct.

A lot of horses can eat whatever they want shod or bare and still be fine.

But when a horse is shod, then goes bare and becomes sore - it tends to be because you don't get away with feeding a crappy diet with a barefoot horse.

And when I say crappy, I mean what the feed companies tell you is fab but is actually just molassed crap with a shiny label on it.

We need to go back to the 'good old days' of feeding less and working more.

I know horses on my yard who do little to no work but get Conditioning feeds
notallthere.gif
.

I make whale noises every time I see the merchant delivering them
lol.gif


Hooves get stronger and denser with stimulation - so a worked hoof is a healthy hoof.
 
forestfantasy said:
TBH i haven't looked into it as yet.
I've never had to feed them any supps at all really, they get mineral blocks (rockies) in their stables and that is all.
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Well your original post comented she was a little footy on stones so perhaps it would be worth looking into mg? along with minerals?
 
I have 2 very different, both recently barefoot.

33 year old, been shod for 28 years still in light work he had shoes off due to farrier issues, his owners farrier kept letting me down so shoes came off as an experiment, he is thriving, moving better than before and his diet is not really suitable because he is old and fussy he will not eat what he should for either barefoot or his cushings. He gets Baileys conditioning cubes, haylage and grass, he will have a small feed of Fast Fibre each day but may not eat it, depends on how he feels. He will not eat supplements either, unless they are sugary.

The other is a 16.1 ISH that has Fast Fibre, HiFi, brewers yeast, haylage, he has been on this for over a year, shod, now with no shoes he has super feet has shown no signs of footyness, I feel the diet over a period of time prior to the shoes coming off has been most helpful in getting his feet right.
 
Oberon said:
You are 100% correct.

A lot of horses can eat whatever they want shod or bare and still be fine.

But when a horse is shod, then goes bare and becomes sore - it tends to be because you don't get away with feeding a crappy diet with a barefoot horse.

And when I say crappy, I mean what the feed companies tell you is fab but is actually just molassed crap with a shiny label on it.

We need to go back to the 'good old days' of feeding less and working more.

I know horses on my yard who do little to no work but get Conditioning feeds
notallthere.gif
.

I make whale noises every time I see the merchant delivering them
lol.gif


Hooves get stronger and denser with stimulation - so a worked hoof is a healthy hoof.
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Oh don't get me started on this one lol; As far as I'm concerened people can do what they want with their horses as long as they are healthy; But when I see most of the horses in my village ridden once a week for an hour, unclipped, rugged, shod, fat and fed things like Mollichaff Extra because its cheap............ I dispare !
 
AngieandBen said:
Oh don't get me started on this one lol; As far as I'm concerened people can do what they want with their horses as long as they are healthy; But when I see most of the horses in my village ridden once a week for an hour, unclipped, rugged, shod, fat and fed things like Mollichaff Extra because its cheap............ I dispare !
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me too !too much food too little work a health disaster for all horses barefoot and shod.
 
AngieandBen said:
Oh don't get me started on this one lol; As far as I'm concerened people can do what they want with their horses as long as they are healthy; But when I see most of the horses in my village ridden once a week for an hour, unclipped, rugged, shod, fat and fed things like Mollichaff Extra because its cheap............ I dispare !
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Tell me about it! My friend feeds theirs a MASSIVE scoop of nuts, which I have to hold my breath to get out of the bin else il have an asthma attack its so dusty, stubbs scoop of molassed chaff and molassed happy hoof - and thinks her mares eratic, crazy behaviour is ''just her''. I cant make her see that the way I feed is not only better for the horses gut, but for my bank balance too!
 
Fast fibre, mugful before soaking.
Molasses free HI FI 1/2 scoop
Access to Himalayan Salt.

Turnout 24/7 on old pasture.
 
For breakfast Ethel gets ..
1/2 scoop Alfa A Oil
1/2 scoop Conditioning Cubes
3/4 scoop soaked Speedibeet
75g Micronized Linseed

Dinner ..
1 scoop Alfa A Oil
1 scoop Conditioning Cubes
1 1/4 scoop soaked Speedibeet
75g Micronized Linseed

My scoop is a large round scoop. I will be adding mag ox and brewers yeast once I remember to order it, although have no idea how much of each to feed per day :confused:

Ethel is a 4yo TB who doesn't keep weight well, not in much work just lunging. She also gets adlib hay :)
 
Oh dear, just seen the posts on this page about people feeding too much and horses doing hardly any work and I've just posted all the food Ethel gets when she doesn't do much at all :p

I have my reasons :D !!
 
My 2.5 year old NF X gets Fast Fibre and a handful of plain chopped oat straw chaff (no molasses or anything added)

My 9 year old TB mare was on high fibre cubes however it appears that she has got a taste for Fast Fibre again (hallelujah!) so she is currently getting Fast Fibre, chopped oat straw chaff, 1 measure of pro hoof, one measure of linseed, suppleaze gold(joint supplement) and Devils claw.

They both get ad lib haylage, although when it is a particularly wet bale I add hay and mix it together. They go out during the day (only for a few hours at the moment as fields are so wet) and in at night.
 
PooJay said:
my mare has been unshod for 2 years. Brilliant feet and no footiness but she has a tendency to be a bit of a porker.

She's on:

1 round scoop of fast fibre
couple of good handfuls of hi fi lite
appropriate magnesium
equinourish by trinity
and a load of carrots

probably just over half a bale of hay a night depending on weight (ad lib and she'd be the size of a small bus) and 730 -5 turnout on good grazing. :D
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You are very lucky to be able to feed loads of carrots and all day t/o on good grazing.

My boy can't have any carrots :( and I have to watch him like a hawk when he's on grass, I feel a real meany:o
 
tonitot said:
Oh dear, just seen the posts on this page about people feeding too much and horses doing hardly any work and I've just posted all the food Ethel gets when she doesn't do much at all :p

I have my reasons :D !!
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lol.gif
That would be me.

The only thing I will say is that as horses get almost all of their calories from fermenting fibre in the large intestine, then 'conditioning feeds' (that tend to rely on cereals) seems rather an odd concept to me.

I know a lovely Arab on our yard has put on a load of weight, stopped shivering all the time and become much happier generally since the owner finally dropped the conditioning mixes and gone with a fibre based diet instead.
 
OMG.... how many additives! and all they all necessary?

I can tell its a long time since I lived in the UK, dont get none of that here.. (Spain)

Mine are on...

Sugarbeet (scoop)
Oats and Barley very slightly mollassed ( half scoop)
Alfafla pellets (1/3 scoop)

twice a day...

slice of alfalfa (comes in bales like hay)
2 slices of barley straw..

and no grazing here at all..

Mine have been barefoot 6 years now, and have great hard feet, with no problems..
 
Funnily enough, I was asked this today, by our barefoot trimmer, Sally Bell. She was impressed by how my hw cob Molly's feet were improving. She even took pics of Moll's hooves, to add to her website, www.hoof-help.co.uk
I feed one scoop of Happy Hoof (or any feed of that type) plus plenty of hay. I add a tblsp of Horse First Garlic and More.
 
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