What do you feed your barefoot?

[KeyflowUK]

We would like to know what you feed your barefoot horse- what characteristics do you look for in a feed and why? Also, are there any supplements that you like to use and for what reasons?

We're just curious!

 

[Dizzle]

Grass and hay!

She gets a token feed of ready grass and low calorie nuts, I rarely feed her though so when those run out I'll swap to bog standard pony nuts, she only gets fed as a treat when she comes in from the field to make the yard more appealing. When she is fed she gets a teaspoon of mag-ox in her feed.

 

[KeyflowUK]

Grass and hay!

She gets a token feed of ready grass and low calorie nuts, I rarely feed her though so when those run out I'll swap to bog standard pony nuts, she only gets fed as a treat when she comes in from the field to make the yard more appealing. When she is fed she gets a teaspoon of mag-ox in her feed.

Wow she sounds like an easy feeder! Is she in work?

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Scarlett]

I have 3 barefoot Thoroughbreds - all fed on Keyflow

I have found it very difficult to feed them for weight and energy whilst keeping it barefoot friendly. I tried the beet/grass nuts, chaff and barefoot supplement route but I couldn't feed them enough to support their workloads, plus I have one that won't eat soaked feed like beet or Fast Fibre and as he was in work 6 days a week I just couldnt keep his energy levels up. I tried a few well known higher energy feeds but they either made him footy or affected his digestion. Personally I avoid alfalfa as it makes my 2 geldings go footy but I know a few folk for whom their horses have no issues with it at all.

I now feed varying combinations of grass nuts, KeyPlus and Maestro depending on workload and they all get Perfect Balance added too. I add extra copper to balance the deficency in our grazing and extra mag-ox when the grass is pushing through to counteract the seasonal footiness. I have found I can add extra KeyPlus if weight is needed without it having any ill effects on their feet and have been doing that recently with my mare who dropped a bit when she moved yards.

I plan to be out jumping and, hopefully, eventing barefoot this year so getting their feet and their feeding right is very important!

For me I always look for low sugar/low starch feeds with no alfalfa and that doesn't need soaked but that gives plenty of good energy, then I want a good vit supplement or balancer that helps to aid muscles and stamina, basically something aimed at a working horse, but that has the right levels of the minerals required to keep their feet in good shape.

I'd be interested to know how the levels in Perfect Balance compare to the well known, and very successful, barefoot supplements like the Forage Plus ones, or Pro-Hoof+.

 

[HaffiesRock]

A have a Haflinger and a New Forest x who are both barefoot. Both live out 24/7, but on quite sparse grazing (my choice). They get last years hay to top up their fibre and minimal feed. If I do need to feed, I choose fibre based feeds which are low sugar. My Haflinger gets a scoop of sugar beet with micronised Linseed and my NF x gets a token scoop of fast fibre. Both are worked 5 times a week. I am very careful about grass consumption as both are native and prone to weight gain. I monitor their weight with a tape and section off the grazing before any weight gain occurs. I would rather feed older hay and a balancer than risk weight gain or laminitis.

 

[TPO]

What I feed my BF TB depends on lots of factors like time of year, his condition, level of work (or not if he's on box rest again!), amount of turnout etc

Supplement wise he's usually fed Pro Balance but if for any reason "more" is required I've fed Pro Hoof or Forage Plus hoof health balances. Like Scarlett I feed additional copper but also add zinc. When sugars are high I feed mag ox too.

I also feed MSM, glucosamine, boswella and bicarbonate soda.

The base feed is an unmollased chaff, currently Dengie unmollased Hi-Fi, micronised linseed and a "beet" either Fast a Fibre or Alphabeet (or combination) depending on his condition requirements.

I use Spillers high fibre cubes for snack balls as they appear to have the least garbage in them compared to other "fibre" nuts.

My horse is currently on box rest following surgery and went off his bland feed containing meds. As such I restarted him on Dengie Alphabeet and Winergy low energy. I know he loves Winergy (sugar!) but from my comparisons, while containing cereals and mologo, it had the lowest sugar and starch of similar feed types. Only a small amount is fed as an appetite stimuli.

Like Scarlett I'd be interested in a comparison and/or complete breakdown of the Keyflow balancer.

 

[Kat]

Mine is a poor doer and a fussy feeder in a reasonable amount of work. She gets genuinely unlimited hay, our fields are well grazed, then she gets speedibeet, soaked whole oats, micronised linseed, mollichaff calmer, salt, fenugreek and a hoof friendly suppliment.

We used pro hoof for ages but are now trying forage plus performance.

I look for low sugar alfalfa free feeds but they have to be palatable. Mine won't eat slop, I would prefer not to have to add chaff but she prefers the texture. Mollichaff is the lowest sugar alfalfa free chaff I can buy locally.

It is important to me that I can buy suitable quantities of feed as I have limited storage.

 

[Leg_end]

My WB is fed a combination of copra, um beet, Alfa pellets a and I add oats if he needs more. He is currently on pro bal although I am changing to equivita until the grass is through enough for me to do a bespoke mineral plan. I also add in extra mag ox, brewers yeast, salt and bicarb as well as linseed.

He is in full work, competing (dressage, SJ and will be eventing) and is a good weight.

 

[Busybusybusy]

My barefoot TB is fed cool stance copra, micronised linseed, oats, plain straw chaff, plus magnesium, pro hoof, and salt. He was very underweight and had no topline due to kissing spines. Over the winter he has put on weight and topline and is now a decent weight. He has been barefoot for a year following a diagnosis of navicular syndrome and his back was operated on in june 2013 where he had 4 processes removed.

 

[Cragrat]

I have a WB and two TBs, all barefoot.
I look for molasses free, alfalfa free and soya free feed!
I also avoid supplementing iron, as we are in an iron rich area.

I won't buy something that doesn't have a full analysis available, and I like to have it recommended to me - trust is important

I feed copra and unmolassed sugar beet, with rolled oats when working enough to need it. It all gets soaked for 12 hours.

I add micronised linseed, a joint supplement, and progressive earths pro hoof.

They are out all day, in at night with ad lib hay. In the summer they will be out 24/7, and fed the same, but less!

 

[toomanyhorses26]

alfa nutsand a few oats if needed plus vits and mins plus enough hay to sink a small ship - 10 weeks home and looks amazing with tons of energy

 

[Queenbee]

Last winter as a rising four year old, working five days a week hacking and schooling, with a month off to be a baby then back in work. 2 scoops Alfa oil, 2-3 cups of linseed soya oil, tip top equimins supplement and 2 scoops speedie beet split into am and pm feeds throughout this time.

Turnout day all day, in at night and ad lib hay

Throughout this winter so rising five, he had a winter break of about four months during which time he had a level scoop of baileys ultra grass (coated in Soya oil) and 2/3 scoop of speedie beet twice a day with equimins tip top supplement. Turnout during the day and in at night, adlib hay. He has now come back into work, and will be doing on average six days a week consisting of a mix of hacking, schooling and jumping. However, he's not fussed about his feed now he's working, he is carrying more weight than last year and tbh probably needs to lose some. So he's now just on grazing and ad lib hay with a small handful of ultra grass with his supplement and doing really well. Currently I think there's a lot more goodness in the grass than we realise.

 

[nikkimariet]

Mine and my sisters ex racers are both barefoot and both on a completely commercial diet.

Mine is best on a fibre/oil diet; he is a very poor doer and is also sharp/hot to ride. He is fed Winergy Condition, Mollichaff Calmer, soaked rolled oats and micronised linseed. He is supplemented with mag ox, powdered fenugreek, DMG and Suppleaze Gold. He is currently training Advanced and competing Medium.

My sisters boy, although suffering ulcers gets on well with a high starch/protein cereal based diet. He is also a poor doer, but lazy by nature (they couldn't be more opposite if they tried!). He is on Winergy High Energy, Havens Slobbermash, soaked rolled oats, Alfa-a and micronised linseed. He is supplemented with Egusin SLH, Alcar and Suppleaze Gold. He is training GP and competing PSG.

Both are fed ad lib haylage and are out all day every day on ex dairy pasture.

We are true believers that the harder the feet work, the more you can 'get away with' in terms of sugar and starch etc (severe metabolic issues aside and of course I am sure there are exceptions, this is just our experience).

 

[jm2k]

Both horses are on Simple Systems horse feeds with some adaptions and additions.
No molasses, soya and all low sugar/starch with no cereals (was treating the TB as if he had an ulcer when he arrived and have kept that way ever since).
My 6 yr old ex-racer is on total eclipse (but going to be making my own mix as it only contains micro linseed, seaweed and brew yeast), red grass nuts, added micro linseed (500g) for increase in body weight he has lost recently, 60ml red cell, 50ml Cider Vinegar, small handful of SS grass.
He has thin soles, been barefoot with boots for 3 years, but in/out of work a lot due to injuries and accidents so not had a proper time of work to transition to total barefoot, although i hold out hope for this we are more than happy to remain partly booted dependent on terrain such as stoney forest tracks etc. Not a good doer and struggles to hold weight on, esp in winter (adlib hay and large access of grazing).
He is very lazy and laid back and have yet to find anything to give him a little boost!
Tried whole soaked oats for energy and weight gain - no difference at all.

My arab is on total eclipse, lucie nuts (lucerne), and 300g SS grass.
Just turned 5 yr old, feet like rocks. Only started getting a little footy at the end of a 20km ride at the weekend when passing over a very stoney gravel track.
Forward going, on his toes but calm natured.

 

[ester]

fast fibre, linseed, equimins advanced complete, oats as required and adlib hay. Previously had separate bespoke minerals based on grazing analysis and considering going back to this (moved yards so will need a new analysis).

 

[paulineh]

Spillers Senior Fibre, Baileys Lo Cal , to damp down the feeds I use a mixture of Grass nuts and Lucie Nuts that have been soaked. In the winter I add Micro Linseed.

The added supplements I add are Sodium Bicarb , Magnesium and Turmeric mixture .

My mare is a good doer so only needs a small amount.

 

[ellie11987]

We would like to know what you feed your barefoot horse- what characteristics do you look for in a feed and why? Also, are there any supplements that you like to use and for what reasons?

We're just curious!

Mine is a TB and has 1 scoop speedibeet, 2 mugs micronised linseed and up to 1.5 scoops of whole soaked oats if in work and dependent on what level of work. She also gets benevit advance (though not sure I am impressed with this!) plus mag ox and salt. Also ad lib haylage.

I look for low starch/sugar, free from alfalfa/molasses/soya/fillers/GM products etc. As close to the natural diet as possible with added vits/minerals.

 

[KeyflowUK]

I have 3 barefoot Thoroughbreds - all fed on Keyflow

I have found it very difficult to feed them for weight and energy whilst keeping it barefoot friendly. I tried the beet/grass nuts, chaff and barefoot supplement route but I couldn't feed them enough to support their workloads, plus I have one that won't eat soaked feed like beet or Fast Fibre and as he was in work 6 days a week I just couldnt keep his energy levels up. I tried a few well known higher energy feeds but they either made him footy or affected his digestion. Personally I avoid alfalfa as it makes my 2 geldings go footy but I know a few folk for whom their horses have no issues with it at all.

I now feed varying combinations of grass nuts, KeyPlus and Maestro depending on workload and they all get Perfect Balance added too. I add extra copper to balance the deficency in our grazing and extra mag-ox when the grass is pushing through to counteract the seasonal footiness. I have found I can add extra KeyPlus if weight is needed without it having any ill effects on their feet and have been doing that recently with my mare who dropped a bit when she moved yards.

I plan to be out jumping and, hopefully, eventing barefoot this year so getting their feet and their feeding right is very important!

For me I always look for low sugar/low starch feeds with no alfalfa and that doesn't need soaked but that gives plenty of good energy, then I want a good vit supplement or balancer that helps to aid muscles and stamina, basically something aimed at a working horse, but that has the right levels of the minerals required to keep their feet in good shape.

I'd be interested to know how the levels in Perfect Balance compare to the well known, and very successful, barefoot supplements like the Forage Plus ones, or Pro-Hoof+.

Hi Scarlett,

Thank-you for your great feedback, we're very pleased that you have found solutions for a variety of horses using different combinations of Keyflow feeds.

When you say seasonal footiness are you referring to the changes in hoof integrity (i.e shelly or brittle) as the seasons change and do you regard these changes as being nutritionally related due to the significant changes in forage nutritional values?

Another question I have is for what reason do you steer away from products containing alfalfa?

We will put together a comparison matrix for you comparing some of the products you've mentioned above with Perfect Balance. It's a little difficult because we need to ensure we compare levels as fed, not just from the nutritional breakdown. By this we mean Perfect Balance is fed at a rate of 100g per 100kgs of body weight so a typical daily ration would be 550g for a 550kg horse whereas the products you mention are feed at much lower rates and so the levels need to be converted depending on the rates fed per day. We will publish the matrix here once ready.

If at any time you would like to see the full nutritional breakdown of our products they are in the red boxes to the right of our product pages on our website.

Thanks again..

 

[KeyflowUK]

A have a Haflinger and a New Forest x who are both barefoot. Both live out 24/7, but on quite sparse grazing (my choice). They get last years hay to top up their fibre and minimal feed. If I do need to feed, I choose fibre based feeds which are low sugar. My Haflinger gets a scoop of sugar beet with micronised Linseed and my NF x gets a token scoop of fast fibre. Both are worked 5 times a week. I am very careful about grass consumption as both are native and prone to weight gain. I monitor their weight with a tape and section off the grazing before any weight gain occurs. I would rather feed older hay and a balancer than risk weight gain or laminitis.

Hi HaffiesRock,

It's great that you're able to put your two on sparse grazing with supplement hay. This is my preference as well given the option as it more closely matches a horses natural instinct to roam for pasture.

Low grade hay plus a controlled and accurate level of protein, vits and mins via a high quality balancer is a very good approach!

Thanks for your input

 

[KeyflowUK]

What I feed my BF TB depends on lots of factors like time of year, his condition, level of work (or not if he's on box rest again!), amount of turnout etc

Supplement wise he's usually fed Pro Balance but if for any reason "more" is required I've fed Pro Hoof or Forage Plus hoof health balances. Like Scarlett I feed additional copper but also add zinc. When sugars are high I feed mag ox too.

I also feed MSM, glucosamine, boswella and bicarbonate soda.

The base feed is an unmollased chaff, currently Dengie unmollased Hi-Fi, micronised linseed and a "beet" either Fast a Fibre or Alphabeet (or combination) depending on his condition requirements.

I use Spillers high fibre cubes for snack balls as they appear to have the least garbage in them compared to other "fibre" nuts.

My horse is currently on box rest following surgery and went off his bland feed containing meds. As such I restarted him on Dengie Alphabeet and Winergy low energy. I know he loves Winergy (sugar!) but from my comparisons, while containing cereals and mologo, it had the lowest sugar and starch of similar feed types. Only a small amount is fed as an appetite stimuli.

Like Scarlett I'd be interested in a comparison and/or complete breakdown of the Keyflow balancer.

Hi TPO,

Thanks for letting us know how you feed your barefoot. Copper, zinc and mag oxide seem to feature strongly as key elements in the barefoot diet.

We are doing a comparison matrix with some of the popular balancer supplements which we will post on here. It's worth noting that as well as a broad spectrum of vits and mins, Perfect Balance also provides good levels of high quality protein. This protein contains amino acids in a equine specific profile so they can be utilised by horses for tissue growth and repair.

Good luck with your horses recuperation after surgery. Apple sauce can help with palatability of meds if that's of any help

Thanks

 

[ester]

ooh we wouldn't want them having apple sauce! Far too much sugar for barefooters surely!

I guess different balancers probably work better for different people given the variation in mineral profiles across the UK so not sure how helpful a comparison matrix would be.

 

[KeyflowUK]

Mine is a poor doer and a fussy feeder in a reasonable amount of work. She gets genuinely unlimited hay, our fields are well grazed, then she gets speedibeet, soaked whole oats, micronised linseed, mollichaff calmer, salt, fenugreek and a hoof friendly suppliment.

We used pro hoof for ages but are now trying forage plus performance.

I look for low sugar alfalfa free feeds but they have to be palatable. Mine won't eat slop, I would prefer not to have to add chaff but she prefers the texture. Mollichaff is the lowest sugar alfalfa free chaff I can buy locally.

It is important to me that I can buy suitable quantities of feed as I have limited storage.

Hi Kat,

thanks for this!

Again we would be interested to know your view as to why you stay away from alfalfa with your BF?

Yours might be a good one to try on Key-Plus (stabilised rice bran) instead of whole oats as it would be lower starch option, you can also soak it if you need to but it's perfectly fine to feed dry. Key-plus does contain a little molasses to help it bind but it is still low in sugar (lower than grass). Click on the free samples link below and we'll send you some to try free if you like.

Thanks again!

 

[ester]

People avoid alfalfa as it can make some horses footy, whereas for some reason oats are well tolerated (which is handy when some of us need the starch/energy ).

 

[KeyflowUK]

ooh we wouldn't want them having apple sauce! Far too much sugar for barefooters surely!

I guess different balancers probably work better for different people given the variation in mineral profiles across the UK so not sure how helpful a comparison matrix would be.

Haha, yes you're probably right but only meant a very small amount to mask the bitter flavours and certainly not on an ongoing basis

Matching diets to pastures is important (after pasture analysis) but this can usually be done, as you do, with the addition of lacking minerals to a fortified base ration. Creating a balancer product for every soil type in the UK would set a challenge indeed! Not that we're scared of challenges

 

[AngieandBen]

I have two ponies both barefoot;

Ben, aged 23 14.1hh welsh x light hack, fed half a scoop of Equibeet and half of Veteran Vitality split between two feeds. Salt and Linseed with a handful of Dengie A molasses free. He looks amazing on this and a bag of each lasts me about two months

Turbo, aged 21 13hh NF retired gymkhana pony who isn't ridden now as I can't find anyone small enough and brave enough to ride him! fed same as Ben but half the amount. Also looks amazing.

These feeds suit them both, they keep around the same weight all year; out around 20 hours a day on a track grazing system from April to October, 5 acres in the winter, plenty of good grazing.

 

[KeyflowUK]

People avoid alfalfa as it can make some horses footy, whereas for some reason oats are well tolerated (which is handy when some of us need the starch/energy ).

Thanks again. We will do some digging and see if there is some known scientific substantiation to this.

When a horse goes footy, is this something that is solely attributed to nutrition or do other factors come into play?

 

[ester]

nutrition/metabolic issues/too long a ride the day before/hoof anatomy (eg my chap has rather flat soles which although better than they were are probably limited by the shape of his pedal bones)/thrush.

Unfortunately there isn't a lot of scientific substantiation to most of it (I'm a geek and I didn't particularly like the lack of proper science when I started with it!) - spillers pony nuts tend to be ok too for example but from the ingredients they perhaps shouldn't be.

 

[Queenbee]

Hi Scarlett,

Thank-you for your great feedback, we're very pleased that you have found solutions for a variety of horses using different combinations of Keyflow feeds.

When you say seasonal footiness are you referring to the changes in hoof integrity (i.e shelly or brittle) as the seasons change and do you regard these changes as being nutritionally related due to the significant changes in forage nutritional values?

Another question I have is for what reason do you steer away from products containing alfalfa?

We will put together a comparison matrix for you comparing some of the products you've mentioned above with Perfect Balance. It's a little difficult because we need to ensure we compare levels as fed, not just from the nutritional breakdown. By this we mean Perfect Balance is fed at a rate of 100g per 100kgs of body weight so a typical daily ration would be 550g for a 550kg horse whereas the products you mention are feed at much lower rates and so the levels need to be converted depending on the rates fed per day. We will publish the matrix here once ready.

If at any time you would like to see the full nutritional breakdown of our products they are in the red boxes to the right of our product pages on our website.

Thanks again..

I'm another one who steers clear of products containing alfalfa. No one is exactly sure *what* it is in this that can affect some horses, as the sugar content is low! but for some owners they have experienced changes in their horses behaviour and/or increased foottiness. My old mare was absolutely fine on it, but my boy became footie within a couple of days of upping his alfalfa to winter rations (from a handful twice a day to a generous scoop twice a day). It was the only thing that had changed so immediately stopped feeding this and he returned to normal. Consequently, I switched to ultra grass which has a bit higher sugar content but has been fed at a rate of two large scoops a day throughout winter but not caused this issue.

 

[Scarlett]

Hi Scarlett,

Thank-you for your great feedback, we're very pleased that you have found solutions for a variety of horses using different combinations of Keyflow feeds.

When you say seasonal footiness are you referring to the changes in hoof integrity (i.e shelly or brittle) as the seasons change and do you regard these changes as being nutritionally related due to the significant changes in forage nutritional values?

Another question I have is for what reason do you steer away from products containing alfalfa?

We will put together a comparison matrix for you comparing some of the products you've mentioned above with Perfect Balance. It's a little difficult because we need to ensure we compare levels as fed, not just from the nutritional breakdown. By this we mean Perfect Balance is fed at a rate of 100g per 100kgs of body weight so a typical daily ration would be 550g for a 550kg horse whereas the products you mention are feed at much lower rates and so the levels need to be converted depending on the rates fed per day. We will publish the matrix here once ready.

If at any time you would like to see the full nutritional breakdown of our products they are in the red boxes to the right of our product pages on our website.

Thanks again..

Not as pleased as I am

The seasonal footiness is brought on by the sugars in the grass and causes tenderness and, in one horse of mine in particular, low grade laminitis. The magnesium helps offset this and I have started feeding mag ox now as the grass is coming through and also in preperation for my horses moving to their summer grazing in 3 weeks. I don't find there is any change in the actual wall quality, we very rarely see any chips/cracks and if we do it's usually for a reason such as going too long between a trim not diet.

Theres a belief out there that alfalfa shouldnt be fed to horses with metabolic issues as it causes footiness, something to do with it affecting the uptake of magnesium if I remember correctly. Either way I have 2 horses who cant touch it - one gets legs that swell up like balloons as well as showing sensitivity on his feet and the other just goes footy. I tried him with alfalfa again a while back as I wanted to up his protein intake, and I had been told that some horses can cope with the pellets far better than the chaff, and he immediately became footy I removed the alfalfa and he came right again however all 4 feet have a nice purple bruise where his feet became inflamed. The only change at that time was the addition of alfalfa. I put him back on KeyPlus after that (had moved and was trying to source a new supplier so had been struggling to get some) and all is well again. Both my boys show signs of insulin resistance which makes feeding them tricky at the best of times.

A comparison between Perfect Balance and the other barefoot balancers would be fantastic. I will certainly continue to feed it but I'd like to be able to supplement additional copper/zinc more accurately. There does seem to be a lot of areas in the UK that are low copper/high iron, including where my horses live. Copper has a big hand in healthy tissue growth/preventing thrush and I've seen good changes in my boys feet since adding extra copper to their feeds; we have big fat healthy frogs!

 

[amandap]

Soaked hay, restricted grazing, no added iron high spec balancer, salt and microised or freshly ground whole linseed to replace omegas missed out on in restricted grazing and winter. Balancer (powder) is carried in a token amount of speedibeet. They are all fed this from mini Shetlands to TB! None work hard. They would be fed the same if shod. I sometimes need to increase speedibeet for TB in winter if very cold/wet.