Re-evaluating my feeding program....

[onequarterfarm]

OK, so I am re-evaluating my feeding program. As of right now, I have a five year old gelding and a yearling filly. Both get daily exercise and limited pasture feeding (winter). Right now I am feeding twice a day....

1-2 lbs grass hay

1 pound alfalfa pellets

1 lb 14% sweet feed

I came across a nutritional article from a well know show barn...horses look great and are successful in the show arena...this is what they feed...

Our feed program is based on 2 cups of crimped cleaned oats, 2 cups 14% protein and 7% fat sweet feed, 4 cups of soaked beet pulp and 1 pound of alfalfa, morning and night.

Opinons? My two are show horses, mostly halter at this point.

 

[disneyhorse]

How do your horses look? What works for one barn may not work for another depending on quality of hay and amount of exercise.

 

[amysue]

If it ain't broke..dont fix it. If you are happy with their condition then it is working. If you are considering changing it, base your adjustment on your horses individual needs. You take into consideration not only work load, age and occupation of the horse but also how the skin, coat hooves and body condition appear.

 

[Casey0Lee]

I have been reasearching equine nutrition for years. And lately, Mini's specifically. This is my opinion.

It's been proven that diets high in NSC (non structural carbs) cause all kinds of issues in horses. Ulcers, laminitis, founder, IR, obesity, hindgut acidosis, etc. While a horse in heavy work will need a higher level of carbs to aid in muscle function, there is still a limit.

It's common knowledge that Mini's are prone to weight and metobolic issues. Therefore, common sense tell me that they should DEF be kept on a low NSC diet. Especially if they have previously foundered or had a bout of laminitis.

I choose to feed a grain free, low NSC diet to ALL my horses. No sweet feed. I have barrel horses as well as Minis.

When I changed my big horses over to this diet, I saw a huge improvement in hoof health as well as hair health. I am also learning to trim. It's been a process over the past couple years, but through proper diet and trimming, my barrel horse who once couldn't go one step barefoot, can now be ridden/worked barefoot. The changes in her hoof form/health have been quite amazing. Thickening of hoof wall & sole, heels widening, frog widening, opening up and getting more full, etc.

My Mini mare was previously foundered and was in the middle of a laminitic flare up when I got her. She was well taken care of, but a lot of people AND farriers are pretty clueless when it comes to hoof balance and laminitis/founder. I have also been working on her... both diet and proper trimming. She has also had HUGE changes in her hoof form/health. She hasn't taken another lame step since I've had her.

Oats, corn, barley, molasses.... all things I stay away from b/c essentially, they are high NSC. A feed that is based on one of those ingrediants is going to be high NSC. Now, I'm not saying NEVER use them. For example: My barrel horse is on 2lbs of steamed crimped oats daily. I add the oats to her diet when she is in work/training and/or in the winter time. I add them to her normal feed for calories alone. She requires a few more calories than my normal feed can offer in winter and when she's in work. But, I would never go over 2lbs of oats daily b/c then the NSC level jumps up too high for my liking.

When choosing a feed, I look at the ingrediants and I look at the formula. I don't want to see corn, oats, barley, etc listed on that ingrediant list. I want to see things like soybean, beet pulp, alfalfa, etc. I also want a fixed formula feed. Fixed formula feeds are the same from bag to bag. The ingrediants never change. They are fixed. There are not a lot of feed companies out there with fixed formulas. Most of them are low cost formulas. Low cost formulas can vary from bag to bag b/c the comapny will substitute ingrediants with whatever is cheapest at the time.

The feed brands that *I* would/have use/used are Triple Crown, ADM & Buckeye. They all have fixed forumlas recipes and offer grain free, low NSC feeds.

Currently, all my horses are on Triple Crown Lite. It is a grain free, low NSC, lower calorie feed. It is meant to be fed at 2-4lbs per 500lbs of body weight for the average horse. Or, 1lb per 500 lbs of body weight for Minis & ponies.

Something to keep in mind.... calories and nutrition are two different things. You can have enough of one and not enough of the other and vice versa.

My horses feeding plans at this moment are:

7yr old Quarter Horse mare, barrel horse: 4lbs TC Lite, 2lbs oats, free choice mixed grass hay (per day)

7yr old Paint mare: 2lbs TC Lite, free choice mixed grass hay (daily)

17yr old Mini Mare: .75lb TC Lite, 1/2 sc Remission, free choice mixed grass hay (daily)

1yr old Mini colt: .35lb TC Lite, free choice mixed grass hay (daily).

All hay is in a slow feed net.

 

[ohmt]

Skip the oats-i think trainers like it because it helps keep the horses high energy. In reality it just makes conditioning more difficult because, as previously said, it's high in starch. The beet pulp helps bring the protein levels down a bit with the sweet feed and alfalfa, but it's high in calcium like the alfalfa so talk to your vet about doing a phosphorous supplement if you go that route. It's actually what I feed-Safe Choice (low starch 14% protein and high fat feed), beet pulp, and alfalfa and my vet has me do a phosphorous supplement now.

 

[Marty]

Nice post by Casey Lee.

You can't copy someone else's program and put it on your's thinking your horses will be the same. Every horse is different and will react differently to feeds. They are not your horse's breeding, not your horse's conformation, they are not the same. To take a bunch of different feeds and throw it all together and call it a program would make me nervous. If you think there is something wrong with the way your horse's look, could be a multitude of things, not just the feed. So go slow. Look over each one of your horses's carefully and if there is something horribly wrong, that is when you visit other options. And I totally feed oats and no one around here is hopped up on them. Good luck to you!

 

[Casey0Lee]

I start with a quality fixed formula that is low NSC/grain free and go from there.

 

[Minimor]

Good post by Marty.

My horses do not get hopped up on oats either, but I have at least two that become total idiots if I give them pelleted grain. We never gave pellets to our Morgans because they got so nervous-hit on pellets. Oats--no problem. We don't have colic/ulcer issues either--an odd colic here and there but certainly not a frequent occurrence. But then our horses get plenty of hay so it isn't as if they are on mostly grain and only a tiny amount of hay. That is where one is likely to run into trouble, by feeding too much grain and not enough hay.

 

[Casey0Lee]

It wasn't the form of feed $pellets) that did it. It was the ingrediants IN the feed. You can't say that all pelleted feed will do that to them. Lol

A sensitivity to soy is possible though, as a lot of pelleted feeds are soy based.

 

[Minimor]

Well having tried the several different brands available--yes, I can say that.

 

[Minimor]

And the other thing is -- what you like in a pellets feed is not what everyone wants. I prefer to avoid soy--my horse's get alfalfa anyway so do not need an alfalfa based pellet, and the most of my horses turn their noses up at any beet pulp based feed. Have bought different brands of that and too many of them say ick, don't like that. They do well on oats, or on the 60-30-10 feed I tried last time and I am a firm believer of the if it isn't broke don't fix it philosophy.

 

[onequarterfarm]

Well, my gelding is good on just about anything...he would eat until he popped, stays in good condition...his coat could be better, he is constantly hungry....

The filly is another story, her coat is better, her body condition not so much, but she going through the growing ugly stage I feel, at ten months...she is a blooming idiot though, mentally....spazes out at the slightest noise or touch, tears around with endless so it seems energy...more than I've ever seen in my 30 plus years of horses...and she doesn't wear down! She sometimes panics so much she will run up on top of me and just tremble! She also does not seem to like any kind of hay...she was raised on a roundbale outside and now that she has a good grass hay, she usually just tromps on it or lays on it! haha

So the gelding can stay the way he is, but I'd like to try something different for the baby

 

[Trenna]

I feed a low NSC eastern washington orchard grass (1-2 lbs a day) and some beet pulp and bran mix for filler (and adding water). My question is, do I feed a grain super supplement pellet or is a good vit/min supplement (Platinum plus) enough to get all the nutrients. Trying to figure out how to get the nutrients into my minis

 

[BSharpRanch]

My animals get a good quality Alfalfa hay and free choice minieral/salt blocks. The ones that really work hard will get a handful of grain which varies by the type of work/finish. I will feed grass hay once in a while as a filler for a bored horse but only if I can get a good quality grass, which is pretty hard in AZ.

 

[targetsmom]

A ten month old needs a lot more protein than an older horse (of any size). Check any feed bag and you will see that the amount for yearlings per pound of body weight is always much higher than for older horses. Think growing teenagers. Find a 14% concentrate you like and feed according to the recommendations on the bag to start with. (Of course make any feed change gradually. I second the low NSC route. It can really help to get your hay tested as protein content of hay varies and that is often the bulk of the diet. Last year our local orchard grass hay tested at ~9% protein and this years local grass hay from a different farm tested at about 14% protein AND low NSC!!! The total protein in the diet of a yearling should be up around 14% so if your hay is low in protein you need more grain. We also use soaked alfalfa cubes to keep the protein content high and add moisture, plus they all like them..