Talked to a Nutrena Rep

[Robin_C]

i dont feed 4 diff feeds  but one feed is not right for every single horse.

I agree, Kaykay -- doesn't take 4 different feeds. Just so happens I have 4 different classes of horses - so 4 different feeds. Many folks will be feeding only pasture pets. In most cases, a single feed will answer the needs of most horses within a class (classes including lactating broodmares/mares in late gestation, young/growing horses, maintenance adults, adult horses in moderate to hard work, etc). There are some feeds out there which are better at bridging gaps between classes. Purina markets its "Strategy" feed as appropriate for most classes of horses. If I had to choose one feed out of my whole line-up, I would go with the Triple Crown Lite as my base, then use supplements to make up the gaps. It's not impossible to use one feed, just takes some additional thought if your barn contains multiple classes of horses rather than just adult maintenance.

i was really interested to read stall signs as most people had on each stall what each horse was fed.

When I see what some people feed their horses at shows it makes be NERVOUS

! I agree that they many of them look fabulous, but I oftentimes wonder what is going on inside of them with the severe restriction of hay, grass and other important fiber sources. Thank goodness for beet pulp which most of the show people use liberally. I wonder how many of these horses have healthy guts, are harboring ulcers or how the stress of the some of the restrictive show horse diets is affecting their long-term health. This is especially true of horses who are on the show circuit for extended periods of time.

Some show folks (and I know this from firsthand experience) take these dietary restrictions to the extreme and it is NOT in the best interest of the horse's health, though the horses may look in show shape. Heck, I can keep my weight up and LOOK healthy with fast food fare, my hair can be shiny from all the fat provided by this diet, but my bloodwork looks like heck in a handbasket and my physicians would beg me to change my diet to one with more vegetables, fiber and fruit for my longterm health outlook.

Providing more fiber in the diet (hays, pasture, and/or beet pulp) and thinking of grain as a supplement rather than as the main dietary staple are principles that we CAN apply to many of our show horses. We can say "HAY" and "SHOW HORSE" in the same breath and not have to cringe!

. I'm all for giving grain to show horses who are working hard and need the extra calories for energy and weight, but not to the point where the grain percentage of the overall diet exceeds the fiber intake. That's just plain not healthy no matter what the horse looks like from the outside.

This is a 2 year old mare on a TC LITE/sunflower seeds/flax seed/beet pulp/chopped hay and a mixture of local grass hay with some alfalfa hay added. She also gets 6 or more hours of GOOD pasture each day and a sensible exercise program. In this photo she has had 3 weeks of formal conditioning -- that's all. I'm not saying that EVERY show horse can do this (they are all individuals), but many of them can be fed in a more natural manner if managed correctly with regard to diet AND exercise.

It's important for everyone to remember: You cannot FEED a horse into condition. It has to be a combination of factors - feed, exercise, environment AND genetics all play an important role. Not every horse -- no matter how you feed it, no matter how you exercise it -- will EVER look like the horses on the cover of the Miniature Horse World. But it CAN be healthy and happy and loved completely and utterly by its owner nonetheless.

Robin C

 

[chandab]

i dont feed 4 diff feeds  but one feed is not right for every single horse.

I agree, Kaykay -- doesn't take 4 different feeds. Just so happens I have 4 different classes of horses - so 4 different feeds. Many folks will be feeding only pasture pets.

Robin C

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Now that I can get Progressive Nutrition Ration balancer (directly from the local sales rep), it sure has simplified the feed room. I can feed it to all classes of horses with or without oats depending on the horse. The variety of feed available is very limited here; I can get Nutrena Youth, Nutrena Senior and one other Nutrena product plus a few mixes made up by the feed store (I don't really care for them) and whole oats. At the other feed store I can get senior feed and COB. We have 7 full-size horses and 3 minis on the property (2 full-size are my husband's ranch horses and the rest are mine); 6 of the full-size horses are on pasture/hay only with plain and mineral salt block, my senior gelding is on senior feed, COB and Hay (he's an easy keeper, so will be going on the ration balancer with the minis); the minis are on PN grass balancer and grass hay.

I just bought some beet pulp to try for the winter, for the quality fiber and to add a little water to their system. They scarfed it down yesterday.

 

[lemonrockranch]

Hi,

Haven't been on the forum in forever, stuff going on all summer and fall. Anyway, can I get a little clarification on the feed issue.

I feed a 12% protein pellet, with beet pulp, BOSS, and oats, along with hay. I put the mares in foal on vitamins about 2 months before delivery, and I put the stallions on vitamins during breeding season to help keep their weight up. One stallion really pulls his weight down during the summer. He's a worrier.

Am I close to being right with the formula? Robin, I think I had had some correspondence with you a year or so ago about the feed issue, but there's been a lot of water over the dam since then!

Hopefully I'm not repeated what has been "talked" about before. Thanks!

Cheryl

 

[Robin_C]

I feed a 12% protein pellet, with beet pulp, BOSS, and oats, along with hay

Cheryl, you're probably fine with this combination for most of your horses, but unless you're feeding alfalfa hay or some other protein source (soy meal, alfalfa pellets or cubes, etc) your late stage broodmares and foals may be getting a little shorted on protein. Since you're already supplementing your mares and stallion with a vitamin supplement, you might want to look into adding a ration balancer to your current meal plan. Not only would this boost the protein in the overall diet, it would add extra vitamins/minerals, thus allowing you to eliminate the current vitamin supplement you are giving. That would be just one option.

Without knowing more about the horses, their weight, more details about the current feed and hay, body conditioning scale of the horses, it's impossible to determine anything more. The only thing that jumped out at me, especially in terms of the broodmares, was the protein level of the diet overall. It's important to keep in mind, however, that it's not the protein PERCENTAGE of the diet that is important; rather, it is the number of GRAMS of protein provided per day. That is determined by both the percentage of EACH feed item (hay included), taking into consideration the overall WEIGHT of the daily food. A bit of math, but not a hard equation to plug numbers into. Almost every equine feed item contains protein -- beet pulp, oats and hay being no exception. How much is the important question to answer.

Robin C

 

[Jag and Inti's Mom]

I used to feed Nutrena, and liked it, but then it became very difficult to get in my area, and I had a horse that was insulin resistant. We switched to Progressive Nutrition Low Carb and then the Diet Balancer for Grass, we feed Timothy Hay. My kids have never looked better. We then had a problem with the Low Carb, kept getting bugs in it and so then went to oats and the Diet Balancer. We have seen no change since then. I think that if your prepared grain is balanced then you should not add the oats, but with the Progressive Nutrition, what is being balanced is the hay/grass they get. I will probably switch back to the Low Carb, if I can ever find someone who gets it frequently enough not to find bugs in it.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

I think i finally have a program that works. It is basic and simple...

all get alfalfa hay in the morning.

MOst get timothy pellets in the evening, 1 cup along with 3 cups of soaked beet pulp and a ration balancer.. however I have a couple hard keepers that get 6 cups of the beet pulp and 2 of the pellets, some yearlings that get mare and foal feed and beet pulp and my still nursing mares (that is a whole other story) get both the pellets, 6 cups of soaked beet pulp as well as mare and foal.

My T/B gets a strategy type of feed and his 5 gallon bucket of soaked beet pulp and well alot of hay

Oops they also all get rice bran it sounds more complicated then it is.. I get feed ready the night before and takes me about 5 min.

All my horses eat hay togther as a herd (minus the boys of course) so it is hard to regulate exactly who gets what but I would never restrict there hay personally but that is just what works for ME there are a million correct ways to feed a horse.. it gets to be way to much and to much math for me so THANK GOODNESS FOR ROBIN C and all her help and patience.. with her great advice and a very little bit of work ... our show horses all look like this

(sorry she is a bit - ok alot unphotogenic) but you can see she is in good weight) so you can say show horse and pasture and hay in one breath