Which Chaff? HIFi Vs Healthy Hooves Vs molasses free?

Dusty85

Dusty85

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Which chaff to you feed and why?

4yo warmblood mare. 24/7 turnout currently. Has a lost a little condition as with previous owners was in a no fill turnout although unclipped; and a scoop of pony nuts/day, no extra forage.

Will be on fast fibre and a mug of linseed. wanting to feed some chaff alongside, Ive had good experiences with 'healthy hooves' before and was going to use that, but since I last looked, dengie seems to have brought out all sorts- molasses free healthy hooves, healthy tummy etc etc. I get that its not necessarily needed but old habits die hard so would prefer to give some sort of chaff.

She's young and will be having short and sweet schooling sessions and general hacking, as much as I can fit in, somewhere between 3-5 times per week work depending. Need something to add a bit of condition but nothing heating.

Thanks.
 
Alfalfa gave my gelding skin issues, so he can't have it. There have been a few posts on here where other horses have had the same problem. My other two horses loved it (even the fusspot) and were fine eating it.
 
Previous horse had Alfa A, calm and condition, top spec comprehensive balancer and glucosamine when eventing and he was good on it- but it had the molasses in. he was quite lazy sometimes mind!
 
If you are feeding her ff I personally wouldn't bother with a chaff, it's just duplication. I would just ensure she gets adlib good quality hay/haylage alongside. If after that she needs additional hard feed to maintain condition, you would need something more substantial than a chaff to add to the mix
 
I avoid molasses as when I originally switched to the molasses free chaff (had 4 neds at that point) they all started to grow tighter hoof capsules. I was really taken aback that such a simple feed change could have such an effect (no other changes were made to their management at that time).
 
Faracat said:
Alfalfa gave my gelding skin issues, so he can't have it. There have been a few posts on here where other horses have had the same problem. My other two horses loved it (even the fusspot) and were fine eating it.
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I avoid alfalfa too, didn't give the beast specific skin issues but he became very footy within two days of upping from summer rations of 2 small handfuls a day to two stubbs scoops a day... By footy I mean he tip toed over a concrete yard!
 
I feed the dengie healthy hooves molases free, I think its good, it is a complete feed, I add fast fibre to bulk it out a bit and my boy has goot feet and a nice coat
 
If you are wanted to add condition then I wouldn't choose either of the chaffs mentioned, as they are both mixed with chopped straw to keep calorie levels down for good doers! It would make sense to use either an alfafa chaff (if your horse is OK with alfalfa) or a grass chaff, as these will add more calories into her diet than the alfafa/straw chaffs. This is especially pertinent when fed alongside Fast Fibre which is also a low calorie feed with a significant straw content.
 
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