What's your definition of hard feed?

[Nugget La Poneh]

To me personally, 'hard' feed is a feedstuff used for energy above and beyond the horses natural diet of forage, so for instance a competition mix/compound feed or straights of barley/oats etc.

But reading comments on farcebook and here suggests that hard feed is anything other than hay or grass, so even a feedstuff like sugar beet pulp.

So what do you class as hard feed?

 

[twiggy2]

any thing other than chaff based supplement providers that you give in bucket

 

[Spot_On]

Nuts, mixes, pellets (unless soaked like fast fibre or beet pulp) and straights are what I think of as "hard feed".

 

[PolarSkye]

To me, forage is grazing, hay, haylage, chaff and beet pulp - fibre, basically. Anything else - nuts, balancers, mixes, straights - is hard feed.

P

 

[HaffiesRock]

I feed hay, beet pulp and soaked grass nuts. I say my pony has a forage only diet. To me hard feed is stuff above forage which is needed for additional energy for example.

 

[khalswitz]

To me, anything I feed in a bucket is hard feed. Anything I feed in a net/ring is conserved forage, and the obviously grass.

I don't feed chaff as a forage replacer, just to add bulk to hard feed, so I consider it part of my hard feed. Same with sugar beet.

 

[dianchi]

It is goes in the bucket its hard feed is what ive always gone by

 

[kazhar]

I feed hay, beet pulp and soaked grass nuts. I say my pony has a forage only diet. To me hard feed is stuff above forage which is needed for additional energy for example.

same for me. Hard feed in my eyes is anything with cereals in it.

 

[maccachic]

Anything that isn't fibre based.

 

[NaeNae87]

It is goes in the bucket its hard feed is what ive always gone by

^^ Same for me

 

[NativePonyLover]

Hard feed to me is anything with additional energy source than hay/chaff.

Pete gets a small amount of Allen & Page Fast Fibre & Dengie Happy Hoof AM & PM as the rest of the yard does & he has some supplements, but I wouldn't call this hard feed - more bucket feed.

 

[Maesfen]

It is goes in the bucket its hard feed is what ive always gone by

Absolutely although the old stud grooms would turn in their graves if you classed chaff (of any kind) as hard feed.

 

[immybrookstud]

don't class chaff or sugar beet or anything like fibre fast as a hard feed, only class cereal based feeds, did make me smile anything that goes in a bucket, my foals have there haylege in big buckets

 

[yaffsimone1]

I would have said all the nuts, mixes and compound feeds were hard feeds.

I feed my mare what i thought were just 'straights' i.e alfa a, speedibeet, micronised linseed, hay etc. She doesn't have any mixes or nuts unless in hard work