@ownerof2mfts. TBH, I don’t trust anyone’s organic feed except my own. I’ve had rabbits contract salmonella poisoning more than once with organic feed. My horses graze on a good pasture mix of cool season grasses, warm season grasses and legume runs. In the winter they get those same grasses in hay and they do graze oat wheat and rye in winter. They also have access to the rabbits’ chicory and vetch and wild roses and mint and wild ginger and several other low oxylate fresh feeds my rabbits graze. In short, my horses (when they aren’t on stall rest recovering from surgery) eat as nature intended. And that pasture contains a total of 5 WC horse’s that don’t get an ounce of processed feed or grain have no ulcers, aren’t skittish, have great feet, no IR etc.
Watch a horse graze legumes. The eat the vines not the peas and will ignore the leaves if they can. Crypto Aero completely dismisses NSC as a marketing ploy by feed manufacturers which is dangerous. There are too many horses that founder on spring grass from sugar content and on dandelion during drought and too much good, solid science behind the concerns over NSC for it to be meaningless. That was their answer to someone questioning the high NCS of their food to claim that 50 years of science is dead wrong.
Kelp, rose hips, peas, etc. if you want to feed organic I certainly won’t complain because everything from myself to my parrots, dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, chickens to my turtles eat organic foods that I produce, but I’d feed the horses strait hay mixes before I fed them something that is going to run about 28% NSC and isn’t something they would spend an entire day eating given the choice like Crypto Aero. It’s not enough to be organic, it has to be the right organic.
I know you want testimonials and not opinions but keep in mind you opened your post implying that feeds most people here give to their very much loved horses are contaminated garbage and people are going to defend their choices because it can be inferred by those remarks that we aren’t providing the best for our own animals.
The term organic encompasses more than the way in which something is grown. I spent YEARS researching nutrient requirements in the species I raise and years observing that given a variety to choose from an individual animal will ultimately eat what it needs. My older horses will walk through a stand of orchard to get to crabgrass or Timothy. Former ulcer horses spend more time on mint and chickory and legume vines. They’ll eat poison ivy off a tree then go eat the jewel weed at the creek. Some days one will be all about milk thistle or fennel.
The moral here is that with any pre mixed feed, find an equine nutritionist, do testing and pick the feed that most closely fits each individual horse then supplement based on testing to fit the need of the horse. Never assume that any feed is appropriate based on marketing and don’t be mislead into thinking that feeds that have kept horses thriving into their 30’s and 40’s aren’t good options because they don’t fit into new feeding fads. And please don’t default to the “bad horse forums” line when you don’t hear what you want. People here use sound logic, good experience and great intentions when they comment on a post. And frankly, until you feed like I do, it’s organic in name only.
