Feed My Horses!! (Again....)

KP nut

KP nut

I'd rather be riding.
Dec 22, 2008
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Feeding horses does my head in. There are just too many options! I can feed humans very well indeed. I have got my head round dogs. But horses..,... Arggghhhhh

Oscar has recently switched from pasture mix and hifi lite to oats, low cal balancer and hifi lite. Plus haylage. Plus a NAF general purpose supplement. He has become very silly. Which is better than the lethargy he was showing last month but is not very desirable anyway! This exactly what he was like last winter when I ended up cutting out hard feed altogether. So it may be to do with the time of year or the haylage.

Anyway I was interested in @Bodshi 's experience with ReLeve so I thought I might try that. Can I then cut out the balancer too? What about the supplement. Am I doubling up anyway using both a balancer and a supplement? He is working hard this winter (unlike last winter) so I don;t want to cut out all hard feed. I am switching him over to hay too.

Max looks and feels amazing on conditioning mix, alfa A oil, linseed, haylage and the supplement. But it is very expensive! Am I doubling up using Alfa A oil and a mix. Both say they are a complete feed but not sure how Alfa A oil is a complete feed. And website says it should be used with a balancer or a VitMin supplement which does not sound 'complete' to me. So maybe the Alfa A plus balancer would be better and ditch the conditioning mix? Though he does struggle to maintain weight....

Caspar is on haylage, balancer, Alfa A Oil and supplement. Again am I doubling up using balancer and supplement? He needs some more weight on him and obviously needs to build muscle too slowly but he is not yet working so I don;t want anything too high energy.

Can anyone suggest feeding regimes for them? My problem is that when people suggest things, I had them all in - so may be giving too much. (Linseed AND mix AND Alfa A Oil AND supplement.......)

So if people are willing to comment can they suggest complete regimes not individual things to add!!!
Plus I still have 3/4 of a bag of oats to give to someone. Surely someone could benefit from some oats? Replace the linseed with them till they have run out then switch back? I don;t want to chuck them away really.

Also maybe I should just change one thing at a time so keep Oscar on oats but switch him to hay and see if he settles down.

My current thoughts are:

Max: Alfa A Oil, Linseed (or oats), Balancer, Haylage
Caspar: As above
Oscar: Releve (or oats), Balancer, Hifi Lite and hay.

Maybe with a broad spectrum supplement....?


TIA lovely NR folk!
 
I am a keep it simple. In summer they get soaked hay cubes to give their vit/min supplement in, and 1/2 cup full of micronised linseed, they are restricted grazing so it gives the essential omega 3 oils which have lots of benefits. (Torin gets a quarter cup)
In winter if I need weight gain and some energy I swap the hay cubes for soaked grass nuts and I add a simple grass chaff for extra chew. Up the micronised linseed also if you need weight gain or maintenance. I've kept poor doers and good doers like this and just tweaking amounts is all that's needed.
They get ad-lib haylage which is a Timothy grass so naturally lower in sugar.
 
My two penniths worth, a balancer is just a pelletted vit and min supplement with some added protein so you def don't need both as long as he gets one or the other at the reccomended feeding rate or a lower rate ofset by other feeds.

Oats and linseed work differently (oats = quick release energy, linseed slow) but both are good calorie sources with good protein, but linseed has almost double the mj/kg.

Alfa is a fairly broad spec feed, it provides many of the required nutrients but some things aren't best balanced, like the calcium phosphorus ratio is a little off, suprising to some it actually has equivalent mj/kg to some conditioning feeds, so its a good source of calories :) it can effect some horses though, making them silly or footy. I personally think Alfa-A oil is expensive, I'd rather buy the Unmollassed version and add my own oil in the form of linseed, I think its works out much more cost effective and cuts that soya oil from the diet.

My personal preference would be a fibre and oil diet, my Anglo arab was a skinny lad on bucket fulls of conditioning mixes etc, switched to fibre and oil and he was less stressy, had bags of sensible energy and gained weight, later in life his nick name was fat boy :p

So I think I'd rather drop the oats and keep the haylage initially, you can always keep them to give him a top up when you feel he needs it. I prefer to only change one thing at a time or you can't tell which change worked :)

So I'd try;
Oscar - hifi lite, balancer and haylage
Max and casper - Alfa-A, balancer and haylage.
Adding, to any of those, oats for quick release energy or linseed for weight and slow release energy as you see fit :)

If Oscar is still silly in a couple of weeks then cut some or all of the haylage too :)
 
I put Albi on Spillers Lite balancer last winter and he lost the plot! It was like rocket fuel for him and his behaviour actually scared me out hacking with Dom and Jack, totally out of character and never witnessed before. We had bucking, jogging, general pratiness and I really felt that he was looking for an excuse to take off. Utterly horrid. Stopped feeding it and got my boy back.
 
I'd do what @Jessey suggested! Make it as simple as possible tends to work the best I've found. I also think horses actually don't need that much, as I found out a few weeks ago :rolleyes::p
 
I can't answer most of your questions :) but I do know that you don't need a balancer with Re-leve. When I fed Blue Chip, some time ago now, the lady on the Blue Chip helpline told me to feed it with just Alfa A Oil. Unfortunately the Alfa A completely blew Raf's brains so that was a no-no anyway for us.
 
mystiquemalaika said:
I am a keep it simple. In summer they get soaked hay cubes to give their vit/min supplement in, and 1/2 cup full of micronised linseed, they are restricted grazing so it gives the essential omega 3 oils which have lots of benefits. (Torin gets a quarter cup)
In winter if I need weight gain and some energy I swap the hay cubes for soaked grass nuts and I add a simple grass chaff for extra chew. Up the micronised linseed also if you need weight gain or maintenance. I've kept poor doers and good doers like this and just tweaking amounts is all that's needed.
They get ad-lib haylage which is a Timothy grass so naturally lower in sugar.
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Would you please tell me what exactly your "hay cubes" and "grass nuts" are called, @mystiquemalaika ? Which brand and type? I'd like to look them up. Thanks!
 
Jane&Ziggy said:
Would you please tell me what exactly your "hay cubes" and "grass nuts" are called, @mystiquemalaika ? Which brand and type? I'd like to look them up. Thanks!
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@Jane&Ziggy I use emerald green grass nuts, they are just grass nothing added and thunderbrooks hay cubes. Simple systems now do one as well which is a Timothy hay and is a bit cheaper but slightly higher sugar and starch.

I also use a Timothy chop from simple systems to add chew through winter :)
 
Why are you feeding the balancer???? If you are going to feed a complete vit min the. The balancer is pointless as it's supposed to do that
 
My horse doesn't get any feed at all (apart from grass and soaked hay and a salt lick) so I am no help. I have never understand the balancer though. We had a feed expert come to my yard and they told me that my horse most certainly would need a balancer because grass cannot provide all the amino acids he requires. I asked my vet who told me that was complete nonsense and just sales talk. He said that balancer would slow down Ben's metabolism which would not be good for his weight. Therefore he doesn't get one.
 
mystiquemalaika said:
@Jane&Ziggy I use emerald green grass nuts, they are just grass nothing added and thunderbrooks hay cubes. Simple systems now do one as well which is a Timothy hay and is a bit cheaper but slightly higher sugar and starch.

I also use a Timothy chop from simple systems to add chew through winter :)
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@mystiquemalaika can good doers have grass nuts? I mean would they be okay instead of say pony nuts? (Sorry for thread hi jacking:oops:)
 
Mary Poppins said:
My horse doesn't get any feed at all (apart from grass and soaked hay and a salt lick) so I am no help. I have never understand the balancer though. We had a feed expert come to my yard and they told me that my horse most certainly would need a balancer because grass cannot provide all the amino acids he requires. I asked my vet who told me that was complete nonsense and just sales talk. He said that balancer would slow down Ben's metabolism which would not be good for his weight. Therefore he doesn't get one.
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My vet told me Storm needed a balancer because she wouldn't be able to get everything she needed from grass. But just balancer because I wasn't feeding the recommended amounts of Happy Hoof when she was on that. I don't feed one now, because I don't think it made any difference and it was expensive.
 
Mine are both good doers @Trewsers , I have used them simply as a carrier for vit and min supplement in the past and a half handful of unsoaked nuts swells to a good amount but doesn't carry many calories.
I add a small amount during winter just to keep green stuff going through and if I need some extra weight gain I just up the amount given. I like them as they are just grass from emerald green,they don't even use pelleting agents so you are only getting grass, sugar and starch combined is 12% so a very small amount over the RDA of 10% for lami prone but truthfully i fed them to Neala for 2 years and the smallest thing set her feet and digestion off, these never did, I firmly believe it was simply because they are simply grass with nothing added and actually had lower sugar and starch than most hay I could get round here :)
 
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Mary Poppins said:
My horse doesn't get any feed at all (apart from grass and soaked hay and a salt lick) so I am no help. I have never understand the balancer though. We had a feed expert come to my yard and they told me that my horse most certainly would need a balancer because grass cannot provide all the amino acids he requires. I asked my vet who told me that was complete nonsense and just sales talk. He said that balancer would slow down Ben's metabolism which would not be good for his weight. Therefore he doesn't get one.
Click to expand...

I don't like bags of balancers as you are paying a premium in most cases for the making and pelleting of them. A good vit/min powder supplement in a handful of chaff or even in a grated carrot is far better imo and doesn't carry the calories most balancers do or all the added crap to make it into a pellet.
Some horses and grazing will never need them, but for some the difference in general health, skin,foot,mood,coat etc really is astonishing when a vit/min supplement is added.
Neala was a different horse when I finally found the one to suit her, farrier and vets all commented on how much better her overall health was, she did have a ridiculously sensitive digestive system. Torins feet much improved with the addition of it as well. Then I've had horses who need nothing other than grazing or hay and were fit as fiddles in which case I didn't bother at the time.
 
I like simple, generally I've fed hi fibre a good chaff and beet. Working horses have had oats added. Dollop of oil added in winter sometimes.
 
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Told twin 2 we were cutting out Oscar's oats. Her reply: "But I like it when he's silly. It's more fun" :rolleyes::rolleyes:.
Logic only a 12 year old could have! Well behaved, calm ponies are 'boring' apparently.
 
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I would not feed a balancer and a vit min sup as they are doing the same job, Having the two I can't afford to have different food so I have found something that works for both.

Alpha A with oil, Calm and condition, big dollop of oil and carrots

The only difference is Chanter has non-bute and turmeric and Ginger has super flex.

As they get 500g of CC each they don't need any vit and min as that is enough for the work they do. Ginger will get more the day the morning of a comp.

Even though Ginger is in medium work this is enough and he works well for an hour a day no extra needed but not took much it makes him silly.
 
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