i am sure this has been asked and answered a gazillion times before so feel free to direct me to an older threat - or share your advice with me .my 31 year old is in ok shape,on the moderate body condition scale.like many old horses,her teeth are going,she lost 2 molars last year and has started to spit out the tell tale wads .she’s been on soaked beet pulp ,sentinel senior pellets,rice bran and ground flax seeds since a good number of years along with 4 to 5 generous feedings of good quality hay per day .but now that the hay digestion is challenged ( have started shredding her flakes with a hedge trimmer which helps a lot with the quidding ,but still ) since 2 weeks ,i am adding timothy /alfalafa cubes standlee brand.soaked.now all these various feeds come with directions on what amount to feed for a certain weight and apparently,up until now i guess i fed the right amount as she stayed in good weight.but with the quidding /eating less hay and the new feed of alfalfa cubes,.i admit i have a hard time putting this all together,i don’t want to overfeed or underfeed .been searching the web for advice but there’s hundred’s of different ways to go about it.is there a simple way to figure it out ?
I would try to make at least 50% of her feed (by weight) from those soaked hay cubes - that long stem fiber is beneficial. More is better, meaning, if you can manage at least 1.5% of her body weight in hay cubes, awesome. If she’s also able to eat that chopped hay, then let her eat what she wants. Just know if she’s still quidding some, she’s not getting out of it what she takes in, not to mention what she does swallow likely isn’t chewed well enough, and she can’t get as much out of it as she used ti.
The other half can be the Sentinel Sr and rice bran.
Sentinel has a minimal feeding amount for her weight, so make sure you feed at least that. But that’s more calorie dense than any hay, and I THINK that is a complete feed (at least 18% fiber), which means you can really feed quite a lot more. But it’s short-stem fiber, so not ideal.
So that means feed as much hay cubes as you can manage, and she’ll eat, feed at least the minimal amount of the Sentinel, but increase that according to the calories she needs.
Rice bran, max 2lb or so.
ok gotcha ! thank you 
what about the beet pulp ?
Beet pulp has highly digestible pectin, and can help improve the hind gut health. But once soaked, it’s so high volume, so I wouldn’t make it a large part of the diet. A couple pounds max. Lots of horses really love it, and it’s around 1000 cal/lb like alfalfa, higher calcium like alfalfa (but not quite as high), so does have benefits in that regard when added to a grass hay diet. But if you’re using some alfalfa cubes, that calcium isn’t as big a deal.
great info,thanks so much ! i assume all these feeds are weighed dry ,correct ? so 50% alfalfa hay cubes,maybe 30 % sentinel senior pellets ,the rest 20% half rice bran and beet pulp ? plus the shredded hay to keep her busy ? i was worried i could feed TOO MUCH of the alfalfa timothy cubes but apparently no reason to worry ?
so the total weight for those feeds combined
should be in the 15.00 lbs. to 25.00 lbs. range for a 1000 lbs horse ?
so this is what i’ve come up with : for her 1000lbs frame,during the winter months she’d need 20lbs feed per day.about 4 to 4.5kg alfalfal/timothy cubes / 2kg senior pellets / 2kg beet pulp /0.5 kg rice bran plus ground flax seed.plus shredded hay to keep her busy and in the hope she’ll be able to digest some of it.
does that sound about right ?
I’d double, or at least 1.5x, the Sr, and half the beet pulp. Beep is fine, but she needs the nutrition from the Sr more, especially since her digestion of shredded hay will be a bit limited, and even limited in how well she digests the hay cubes.
ok,thank you !
I would say, don’t make this too complicated. Also, pay attention to what your cost is for each item, and take into account your personal effort to keep a bunch of different ingredients around.
I stopped feeding beet pulp to my horses when I realized that the senior feed I use (LMF Senior) has beet pulp in it already, plus it’s a balanced, formulated ration, and it cost maybe only a dollar more per bag. The beet pulp was more trouble and less nutritious and for my case not especially beneficial. (Beet pulp used to be a lot cheaper!)
Rice bran is a good source of fat but again it’s not necessarily better than the balanced senior feed, per pound, unless you have a particular reason to feed it. Like the beet pulp, it used to be cheaper; today, in my region, it’s about the same price as the formulated Senior. I did still feed it to a particular horse because he LOVED it and ate it first, so for him it was an appetite stimulant and got him to eat more than he otherwise would.
The alfalfa pellets are a bit cheaper, they’re easy to store, and they work well, so I currently feed a mix of half senior and half alfalfa pellets, along with Platinum Performance.
The seniors may start to get weird maladies from not absorbing enough of the critical vitamins like vitamin E. Watch for that and be ready to supplement. That’s another reason I’ve come to lean on the senior feeds harder than the bulk ingredients. They are formulated to be the whole ration, so the ratio of the nutrients is set based on that.
Your mileage may vary on the cost; I believe in my area costs are dominated by the need to ship 50 lbs of anything in. What’s in the bag doesn’t seem to matter a whole lot. Feeding something lots of other people in my area feed helps with the cost. For example, if you have a surplus of beet pulp locally it may be that it is a lot cheaper for you.
Shredding the hay is fine if that works for you but it is a lot of work and I’m not sure she would get a ton of benefit from it compared to the cubes. Anything that makes your life harder or more time consuming, I suggest evaluating critically. Not just because your time is valuable, but also because it makes it harder if you’re not available to feed, and that’s not when you want to make changes. Use your time for grooming and enjoyment, if that’s an option.
(If she is quidding on the hay I’d worry a bit about choke and also about her eating that and not getting enough out of it compared to what she’d eat if she had soaked cubes. When my elder horses quid their hay and can’t be fixed with dental work, I’ve transitioned them completely to cubes. On the other hand, if she’ll eat that when she won’t eat the cubes, that’s a reason to do that work. I had a horse who would sometimes eat alfalfa leaves when he wouldn’t eat anything else, so I shook a lot of leaves into a bucket for him during that time… 
)
I’ve added in variety for horses that are getting older and not eating as much as I want them to - in that case trying variations is often successful in increasing intake. Otherwise, I would encourage you to make this as simple as you can. Having the right ratio of each item increases your number of trips to the feed store, adds time to your routine every day, and increases the storage space you need, and in the end that may not be worth it if it doesn’t save you much money or improve your horse’s nutritional intake.
good points ! and i hear you - it is time consuming and in case i’d have to ask husband to do it for me,i’d be in a pickle LOL.i don’t mind doing it for my oldie though,i had her for over 30 years and i already did the math,it isn’t that much more in terms of cost.but still,it makes sense what you are saying.i admit it is a whole new concept for me to feed ready made formulated feed - i don’t even know the correct term for it :eek: i find it very confusing to choose the right feed with SO MANY different products out there and it seems everybody has a different favourite brand and type.i looked up yours,the LMF Senior feed,i like what i read for ingredients.i am feeding sentinel senior pellets atm,this would be a " WHOLE feed " as well,right ? just different mix ?i’d be more than happy to buy a product that already has beet pulp and rice bran and everything else the horse needs,in it,it would take my guesswork out .however,which product to choose ? - as for hay cubes,that’s a no brainer .she loves to eat them soaked ,the extra hay i offer is mainly to keep her busy .
Rice bran isn’t the highest calorie feed, but 1lb at 1200 calories is generally less volume than regular feeds, so has that benefit.
“ready made formulated feeds”, aka commercial feeds, aka fortified feeds, have feeding ranges. Regular feeds have a relatively low high end rate, often in the 1-1.5lb per 100lb range. But complete feeds - fortified but also high fiber and designed to be a horse’s ONLY source of food if he can’t/won’t eat hay or grass - have nearly unlimited upper feeding rates: You could feed 20lb a day to a 1000lb horse for example.
If that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes, and sometimes that IS what’s necessary.
But if the horse can eat hay cubes, or chopped hay, then as much of that he’ll eat, the better - long stem fiber is always a first choice when it’s an option.
Some horses have a volume limit, which is where a higher calorie:volume ratio feedstuff is valuable - fat sources. Just not at the expense of fortification/nutrition. Meaning, don’t feed 2lb of rice bran for calories if you’re only feeding 1lb of a feed meant to be fed at 6lb
Choosing a feed - start with the brands you can easily and reliably get. Then pick the right category. Old horses can use senior or growth feeds, for example. Then look at any special needs - not all Sr feeds are low(er) sugar+starch that an old Cushing’s and/or IR horse might need.
Many Sr feeds have beet pulp. Many other feeds do as well. That adds fiber, is healthy for the hind gut, but in the feed, doesn’t amount to a lot by weight. Some feeds have a fat source, whether rice bran or coconut meal or similar, to help get the fat content of the feed higher. That doesn’t mean you can’t still add a little.
The basic formula for any horse is just 2 parts: [LIST=1]
awesome,so much detailed info in here ! you are the best :):)
