Why DON'T you feed garlic?

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SillySausage

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I don't feed garlic and I'm not planning on it... But as I'm working my way through an Equine Nutrition assignment I remembered reading on here that several people wouldn't feed garlic.

Out of curiosity, why is this?
 
Well I feed it as it's contained in the mix I use - my understanding is that it's a good all round tonic and can help to keep flies away.

When I kept my horse at livery at a small farm there was a girl there who wouldn't feed it purely on the grounds that (in her words) "it stinks"!!
 
I used to, but didn't find it helped with flies ect.
Tried feeding granuals/powder and it was working out quite expensive so swapped to buying garlic from tescos
 
I don't feed it as there is no actual proof that it works and TBH I think that most supplements are a waste of money. My horse looks fab on Spillers Lite Balancer, Alfa A, a bit of salt and ad lib hay, I am sure he gets all he needs from that. I have long been sceptical on its fly repellent properties, it's never worked for me before like that.
 
There is no evidence that it works (as a fly repellant I'm guessing you mean) but there IS evidence that it is toxic, so I don't feed it to my animals, love it myself though :)
 
Scrooge said:
There is no evidence that it works (as a fly repellant I'm guessing you mean) but there IS evidence that it is toxic, so I don't feed it to my animals, love it myself though :)
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I don't use it and I'm not planning to... This is just a general musing to avoid doing other work on a Saturday afternoon!
 
Because garlic, like onion is poisonous to horses (and to people in large quantities). Have you EVER seen a horse eat a daffodil plant (a relative of onion, or wild garlic?).
 
I used to as I heard it could help with itchiness but then I read on here (I think) that it affects the way calcium is absorbed by the bones so I stopped! I am very impressionable :)
 
amandap said:
One reason. http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/nutrition/feeds/eqgarlic528/

Another is garlic is also a fairly powerful antiseptic and can kill off gut flora which upsets horses digestion.
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This reason for me too. Before finding out about all this I used to feed it as years ago I was told it would help keep flies at bay and benefit my horse (he gets sweetitch) but once I discovered all this I took them straight off it and haven't noticed an increase in the amount of flies so don't think it actually made any difference.
 
i used to feed it to try and help decrease flies but it didn't seem to make any difference so i stopped, and as i didn't notice an increase in flies i concluded i was right and stopped wasting my money;)
 
Scrooge said:
There is no evidence that it works (as a fly repellant I'm guessing you mean) but there IS evidence that it is toxic, so I don't feed it to my animals, love it myself though :)
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I feed Neem leaf as a fly repellent instead.
http://www.cotsherb.co.uk/botanical-herbs/herbs/neem-leaves/prod_373.html
 
^^ agreed but if it is potentially harmful why do they put it in their feeds?

Just interested as to why they put a potentially harmful ingreiant in, or am I synical that we will beira inclined to buy supplements? :)
 
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