What does everyone feed young horses?

[Sircobalot]

As title -
I am interested in what people feed their babies, and why (particularly the 3-4 year olds starting out)???

 

[Michen]

Mine is on grass and hay... and lightly hunting twice a week!

 

[Sircobalot]

Brill - just wondering why no supplements etc? Or hard feed?

 

[windand rain]

Suregrow balancer, grass nuts, grass chaff, restricted grazing with the others, hay in march april. They only have low starch, low sugar, high fibre will add linseed if more weight required but normally just grass derivatives mostly mind you will stop most of it when they stop growing at the minute they are only 2 and 3

 

[ycbm]

Brill - just wondering why no supplements etc? Or hard feed?

What are you hoping to achieve with a balancer? I have never fed my young horses a balancer and they grew up just fine on ad lib forage and basic hard food (cereal based nuts or grass nuts).

I do balance minerals, but very specific to my grazing and water supply. I add yeast as a precaution because it helps the gut.

 

[Sircobalot]

I think that’s what i was curious about - in that there may be deficiencies or anomalies in just feeding modern hay/grass- but I do wonder who perpetrated or disseminated this information?
I would prefer to feed vey simply (grass/hay) and want to make sure that I am supporting a growing frame etc.

 

[ycbm]

Forage analysis is widely available and will tell you if you have any under or over supply of minerals. Vitamin supplements, in my experience, are completely unnecessary for horses on decent grazing and forage.

Many people find it easier to counter high iron/manganese with an all round no iron/ manganese and high copper/zinc balancer. None of the big commercial balancers that are so heavily marketed fall into that category.
.

 

[Michen]

Forage analysis is widely available and will tell you if you have any under or over supply of minerals. Vitamin supplements, in my experience, are completely unnecessary for horses on decent grazing and forage.

Many people find it easier to counter high iron/manganese with an all round no iron/ manganese and both copper/zinc balancer. None of the big commercial balancers that are so heavily marketed fall into that category.
.

YCBM out of interest, does your hay come from the same place? I could analyse the grass as they are in same field, but the hay comes from all over (albiet within a 5 mile radius), but each bale can look/seem completely different.

Would you think it's worth doing an analyse to balance the minerals of what they are eating 50% of the time?

 

[Milliechaz]

The person who is going to back mine in November and has an excellent track record and is very well thought of as a young horse producer suggested I feed my 3 year old 1 round scoop of bran (damp not wet), round scoop of high fi lite, 1 round scoop of nuts. I actually put a nit of sugar beet in with mine rather thank just using water to damp the bran and since going on to this feed my youngster looks exceptional, growing well and looks shiny and healthy. It looks a big feed but its all fibre. She gets it 2 times a day. When she goes to be backed she will get it 3 times a day.

 

[windand rain]

Wouldnt feed bran it upsets the calcium balance sometimes very seriously deforming the bones

 

[ycbm]

YCBM out of interest, does your hay come from the same place? I could analyse the grass as they are in same field, but the hay comes from all over (albiet within a 5 mile radius), but each bale can look/seem completely different.

Would you think it's worth doing an analyse to balance the minerals of what they are eating 50% of the time?

I never make my own or buy neighbours' because I know how bad our ground water is. It's shockingly high in manganese and iron, our garage looks like an industrial site with the stuff we have in it to filter the water supply!

For exactly that reason, different sources, I never analyse, I just use copper and zinc at the average levels in most of the barefoot balancers. I've blood tested a couple of times to check and it seems to be OK.

 

[ycbm]

Wouldnt feed bran it upsets the calcium balance sometimes very seriously deforming the bones

I have fed it, but not in that quantity and never without adding calcium flour.
.

 

[Michen]

I never make my own or buy neighbours' because I know how bad our ground water is. It's shockingly high in manganese and iron, our garage looks like an industrial site with the stuff we have in it to filter the water supply!

For exactly that reason, different sources, I never analyse, I just use copper and zinc at the average levels in most of the barefoot balancers. I've blood tested a couple of times to check and it seems to be OK.

That’s interesting I had a blood panel run on Bear recently so I assume any deficiencies would have shown up but they came back clean (he was drinking more than I’d deem normal). How do you know what rates to feed/what rates do you feed? I keep hovering over the buy button for equimins advance but for two horses I’m just not convinced it even does anything

 

[ycbm]

Mineral levels aren't a normal feature of blood test In fact they are so abnormal that last time I had them done my vet said the lab had to use cow analysis tables, because there were none for horses.

As I recall, the barefoot balancers have 400mg copper and 1200mg zinc in them. You need 3 times zinc to copper, and that's copper and zinc elemental weight, not weight of the food grade sulphates that I feed. It works out, for me, at one 2.5ml measure of copper sulphate pentahydrate and one 5ml scoop of zinc sulphate heptahydrate, but please don't rely on my calculations being right! I also feed mag ox as calcined MgCO3. I think most people find it easier just to buy one of the balancers.

Your grazing and forage would be less common if it was not high in iron, but if it's not, then you could be wasting your money on a balancer. If your horses have good feet and vibrant colour coats, you may be doing fine as you are.
.

 

[Sircobalot]

And than do you analyse each time it is supplied as is likely to come from different fields each time (unless you have cut it from your own - that is)
It is a complex world and I really don’t want to feed more than I need and or pay more than I need to!

 

[Milliechaz]

Wouldnt feed bran it upsets the calcium balance sometimes very seriously deforming the bones

I was told that sugar beet being added negates this?

 

[Dexter]

I was told that sugar beet being added negates this?

No it doesn't, and bran is ridiculously high in starch. Not only is it wildly unbalanced, its totally unsuitable as a diet for a young horse

 

[Dexter]

And than do you analyse each time it is supplied as is likely to come from different fields each time (unless you have cut it from your own - that is)
It is a complex world and I really don’t want to feed more than I need and or pay more than I need to!

you cant without constant testing and the way a horse looks doesn't necessarily relate to how well they are. Linseed will make horses really shiny, but wont do anything for iron overload. All 4 of mine get a mineral balancers. I using equimns at the minute after recommendations on here, and its cheaper than forage plus by quite a bit!

 

[windand rain]

not as far as I am aware as you need calcium flour if you use even small amounts, sugar beet does correct some of the imbalance but you need 2 times as much sugarbeet dry weight to bran to just balance the ratio of phophorus -calcium which is not a balanced diet in any shape

 

[NinjaPony]

Honesty my two look amazing on equimins advance complete. Two natives, one laminitic/PPID and one typical tubby Connemara. Both get very small amounts of chaff to carry it and the PPID one has all hay soaked and barely any grass. Means I know their diet is balanced and proof is in the pudding, turns out you can get a shine on a grey! Sometimes I think they should give me commission..... but it really has done wonders for them both, their feet look so much better on it too.

 

[MarvelVillis]

I feed my 3 year old Thunderbrook daily essentials, Simple System Build & Shine chaff and salt. He's not overly keen on the daily essentials as it's a powdered balancer so I'll be switching him over to Simple Balance +. He's barefoot and I intend to keep him that way so it was important for me to have him on a low sugar/high fibre feed.

 

[tristar]

different horses ponies have different needs, like natives as opposed to tb and their crosses, depending on the individual cross and horse itself, two full siblings may have different needs

i always feed in winter and let spring grass takeover, but it all depends on how the horse is living and the work it does when starting out 3 to 5 years.

i`m a believer in feeding younger horses for bone strength, normal rate development, inc the feet and mind if they are destined to compete to get skeletal growth and muscular development to happen at the same rate, so they are not too fat or weak and clumsy when they start out

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Mine is 4 and is on very varied grazing with lots of thistles, nettles, blackberries and brambles to nibble on.

She’ll get hay in winter, and probably some grass nuts or fiber nuts with a little bit on micronised linseed if she starts to look a bit too lean in winter.