What is the best thing to feed a miniature horse

[hnsfarms07]

What is the thing to feed a miniature horse that is getting ready for the show ring? There are so many opinions, many people tell me to ask the vet but he is no help. So I was hoping you could help.

Thank you

Shannon

 

[MiLo Minis]

Every horse is an individual with individual requirements depending on age, sex, build, temperament, etc etc. Your best bet would be to consult with an equine nutritionist. Most feed mills either have one on staff or have access to one that could answer your questions.

 

[Jill]

You will probably get all kinds of answers. Check out the horses of the people who post, which might give you an idea of how the program recommeded is working.

There's more than one right way to feed a horse and some people that feed much differently than I do have horses I think look just as nice.

My program is simple as can be...

I feed complete senior pellets to all age groups and all use horses. I choose this because I like the digestability of senior complete feeds, and that it has added protein, fat and nutrients. I also like the fiber and the fact that complete feeds can be used in place of or to supplement hay.

My horses also get orchard grass hay or a very soft timothy hay from this one farm who does it how I like it for my minis. I am basically a nazi when it comes to the hay and won't feed anything but SOFT hay to minis. I think stemmy, coarse hays cause problems from a bloated look on up to impaction colic.

The show horses get ground flax seed as a supplement. Everyone is regularly dewormed and free access to minerals / salt.

Here the show horses get about 50% of their diet from complete pellets and the other 50% from hay. Adjusted up or down depending. Non-show horses get probably 25% from pellets and the oter 75% from hay.

 

[keely2682]

it seems most people i talk to feed strategy

 

[spellcasterminis]

The show horses get ground flax seed as a supplement. Everyone is regularly dewormed and free access to minerals / salt.

Do you find the flax makes pinto/white horses more suseptable(sp) to sun posioning? I've used linseed in the past, but a few years back my daughter's paint horse was being boarded where a lot of the other 4-Hers had their horses. They supplemented with a small amount of Ultium. Her horse, who had never done this before, ended up with sun posioning on his back in a matter of a few days. Needless to say I banned him to the barn during the daylight hours. That's when someone told me not to feed Paints/Pinto/white horses flax and what it would do. Guess they'd had the same thing happen to one of their horses earlier in the year.

Needless to say since then I'm very hesitent to feed flax or a food that has flax in it. We've got too many "white" horses here now.

 

[Jill]

Hi, Buffy --

I don't really know the answer to this question. I'd never heard of it causing a problem. This year, I do have a perlino filly on it. However, my paddocks are 50-75% shaded and I've never used it on a pinto horse to date.

Jill

 

[spellcasterminis]

We've always had a lot of shade too. I thought this place had a decent amount of it in the pasture they used for the geldings. We've normally had dark colored horses too. So I was really shocked when he did this and how fast he did it. I'd love to hear if more have shown a sensitivity to the sun when being fed flax. Another thing I've noticed is the paint/pinto's with more white seem to be more sensitive to tempature. Or at least they do at our house. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[wildoak]

I fed ground flaxseed for awhile and never noticed a problem with sun, although my show horses are kept inside during the day - too hot here.

Jan

 

[hnsfarms07]

Thank you for all of your responses.

If you can think of any other helpful hints for newbie please help.....

Kindest regards,

Shannon

 

[shane]

hi guys, maybe the flaxseed releases oil through the coat, and then the sun heats up the oil and that could be the cause of the burning?

a bit like us using baby oil on our skin before sunbathing

i have a white horse and generally use a cotton sheet, or keep him indoors for the hottist part of the day