You've got me thinking about barefoot diet...

[OldNag]

Mmm. I have been reading a lot on here about barefoot diet.

My loan boy is 6 yr old and barefoot. He does seem to have good feet and I'd like to keep him barefoot if I can.

When he arrived he was on speedibeet and pasture mix. On advice from my yard, I gradually moved him on to chaff and leisure vits/mins powder and I use FlaxOil 3 x per week. I have recently switched his chaff to Alfa-A non molassed. I also do add in a small handful of Spillers high fibre nuts.

I have been reading a lot of good stuff about micronised linseed and have just ordered some. Is there anything else I can add/delete to keep his feet in good condition?

No alcohol in stock regrettably, but I can offer some nice choccy biscuits in return for your sage advice

 

[CBFan]

Generally speaking, if it ait broke don't try to fix it!!

Why did your yard tell you you should change what you were feeding in the first place?

Strictly speaking neither the pasture mix or the alfa-a are barefoot friendly and the speedi beet and Micronised linseed would be a perfectly adequate base for a powder supplement. If you find his feet cracking up or becoming more sensitive, it might be an idea to review what you feed...

 

[Oberon]

If he's happy and you're happy - then stick with it

 

[OldNag]

Generally speaking, if it ait broke don't try to fix it!!

Why did your yard tell you you should change what you were feeding in the first place?

Strictly speaking neither the pasture mix or the alfa-a are barefoot friendly and the speedi beet and Micronised linseed would be a perfectly adequate base for a powder supplement. If you find his feet cracking up or becoming more sensitive, it might be an idea to review what you feed...

Change was advised from pasture mix as it's quite molass-y and my YO suggested move over to just simple chaff and balancer/supplement. At first I had him on Hi-Fi-Lite before I realised it was actually molassed. (Should read labels more carefully).

He does seem to be doing fine on what he has, but I would like to make sure I'm giving him an optimal diet, hence getting in some micronised linseed after reading so much about it on here.

Oberon thank you so much for your pm - really useful info. I hadn't appreciated that salt in addition was required. He has free access to a Himalayan salt lick (he is in overnight) so I haven't been adding in salt on top of that. Shall rectify!

Thank you folks. He has lovely rock-crunchers and I am hoping to keep them that way.