A generous ration of corn will do the job. It’s like feeding a kid a half pound of candy at Halloween!!! 
G.
Actual corn? How much? And will the effect wear off after a week or two as the horse gets used to it?
Of course for obesity and NSC, all the nutritionists are warning us off corn these days.
Yup, actual corn! You can buy it whole or cracked. A couple of pounds will do. IIRC the cracked corn works quicker as it’s already in small pieces and ready for digestion. The “high” will last until it’s burned off.
Corn is a high sugar feed and that’s why we feed it to horses and turn it into 'shine!!!
Actually any carbohydrate will digest faster than a protein and that’s why high carb feeds can make a horse “hot.” And if they can’t work off that sugar it become “obesity.” But that result follows any feeding regimen that gives the horse more calories than it can burn.
G.
I could just use increase the oats as a start! She’s getting about one lb 5 ounces total daily in two mashes (with beet pulp and alfalfa cubes). On a cool day if she’s well rested she’s quite sparky but the next day rather laid back. I’m preferring sparky these days.
Then there’s the question of how long the sugar rush lasts. If she gets mash at 8 am and rides at 2 PM it’s probably dissipated.
LMF is a brand of feed. They have many to choose from, including a ration balancer.
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Interestingly (and strangely), even though you would expect to, we don’t actually see much in the way of Vitamin E deficiency out here in SoCal. Since we have ZERO pasture, I thought the same thing, and asked my vet about it. He agreed that you would expect a horse without pasture and not supplemented to show deficiency, but for some reason, it’s actually not an issue, and horses here seem to be getting it from somewhere. (That being said, I still supplement it )
There’s a difference between having enough (from supplemental feed) to not show (blatant) signs of deficiency, and having enough to be optimally healthy.
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The “corn high” is a quick start and a quick finish. There are times when this might be a “good thing” but for most domestic horses it isn’t. If you’re going to be doing something where you want a little “quick energy” adding a bit of corn to a ration might make sense.
Longer distance rides are no longer on our “dance card” due to age (ours, not the horses ;)) but if we were to do some I’d have my wife make a couple of these out of good quality canvas: http://www.mcpheetersantiquemilitaria.com/04_horse_equip/04_item_051.htm
Most of the time you’d not carry a full 10 pounds for a short ride so maybe only one person in your group does. But now when you stop for rest you can pull out a small amount, feed the horse, and then let them finish with whatever graze you find. I’d not carry anything with molasses as that will make the bag pretty much a fly magnet in short order. But a mixture of oats, barley, corn, hay/alfalfa pellets, etc. might do quite nicely.
Sometimes there IS stuff to learn from 100 years ago when it comes to horses!!!
G.
Which LMF would you use as a good ration balancer? The Super Supplement?
Super Supplement is the ration balancer.
