Anyone feed soybean meal in addition to grain to add protein? Thoughts on this and if you do feed it how much?
1-2lb is usually what people use when needed. Lots of horses do well on that. Some don’t.
The real question is - what is the real/perceived need for extra protein? PSSM2/MIM issues? Poor quality hay? What’s the whole diet?
Echoing JB… What does the rest of the horse’s diet look like? Loads of commercial hard feeds are soybean based, so I’d love to know why you want to feed extra soybean meal. Why do you want the extra protein/amino acids? Lacking muscle tone/topline?
Are you feeding a commercial “grain” feed, or actual grain (oats, barley)?
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I have fed extruded soybean meal for an IR trending horse of mine in moderate to heavy work. She was fed 1 pound a day along with molasses free beet pulp and her hay rations.
I don’t because my horse is soy sensitive, and increasingly the vets I use have recommended whey protein for horses. Of course that seems to be something that shouldn’t naturally be horse food. But I just learned of this new animal free process of making whey. Interested to watch and see if it becomes a cost effective alternative.
Whey isolate pretty much removes what horses don’t tolerate well, so there’s really no issue there.
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not a fan of soy simply due to the fact that I have 2 mares that react badly to it (full sisters, their mom was the same way), if I need to boost protein I have had good success with peas, also find peas more palatable for even the picky eaters.
Peas? Never heard of that! Tell me more please. What kind? How much? Protein?
I have a senior QH (1 HYPP gene) that needs some more protein and amino acids and a TB mare in work that needs to improve topline and the alfalfa she gets doesn’t seem to be enough. They both have timothy hay, as much as they want. My mare gets 2 flakes alfalfa (she could have more but only wants to eat this much) and my QH gelding gets timothy pellets in addition to hay, he seems to enjoy those more than eating the hay.
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Pea powder, split peas, are a good source of protein. Note that they also bring starch to the table, so aren’t a suitable soy replacement for all horses. They’re not cheap either.
Peas in general are high in potassium, so you’d need to dig into how many mg/gm of K come with what serving size, and see if it’s safe for the HYPP horse.
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Peas for feed and for Beyond Meat vegeburgers are a big new crop in Alberta, but as of now don’t seem to be distributed much as feed outside the prairie provinces of Canada.
Horses don’t need that much protein, not like carnivores.
Soy and soy husk pellets are certainly fed around here, most horses seem OK on them. Is there a reason QH can’t get alfalfa hay or pellets?
You can also get an amino acid supplement that will help horses make better use of the incomplete proteins in forage and grain .
How do you know the lack of topline is lack of protein, not lack of overall calories?
Have you crunched the numbers on your vitamin and mineral levels, do you feed a ration balancer or vitamin mineral supplement?
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Unless you test your alfalfa, you have to assume it’s got way too much potassium for a HYPP horse, unfortunately.
yep, that’s the question. Lots of low weight issues are seen as “need topline” when they just need more calories to start
Can we see a conformation type pic of the horse?
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QH is HYPP so no alfalfa.
My vet said he doesn’t like ration balancers… so I am not sure. I am just starting my research on all this and I thought I’d start here!
I’ll try to find some pictures.
For the topline, mare is 17 and just coming back into full work after 6-8 months of on and off work thanks to injuries (both of us lol) and its hot as hell in south Florida right now. I though maybe the protein would help her after my vet made the suggestion.
Weight wise they both look pretty good no complaints. I just want to make sure my old man is happy and healthy he can be as a retired pasture ornament and I’d like my mare to have what she needs to keep being her spunky self.
Ask him 
It’s ok to ask vets why they do and don’t like something, it’s how we learn, or decide we need to do some research for ourselves
A 17yo with 6-8 months of is going to take longer to regain top muscling, than when she was 7 or even 10. And given the heat is making it so you can’t work long or hard, it’s going to take longer. Spend a lot more time doing a lot more walking until things cool down. Loosey goosey marching along walking will do WONDERS for her base of fitness.
Without knowing the protein content of the hay, and how much of each kind they’re getting, it’s not possible to say there’s not enough protein. The one getting alfalfa, and 2 flakes is almost guaranteed to be at least 8lb, is all but guaranteed to be well exceeding her requirement assuming she’s eating at least 2% of her weight in total. Even the gelding only getting the Timothy is almost guaranteed to be meeting, if not exceeding by a bit, his needs. 8% protein hay at 22lb is 799gm protein, and that (hypothetical) 1100lb horse in light to moderate work needs only 700gm.
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ground peas, oats and flax are a trendy diet in canadian prairie - you can source it all fairly cheaply out of your own or your neighbours grain bin and adjust the proportions to suit. My one friend actually cooked whole peas into a mash for her one oldie who was doing poorly and not eating well and it really did the trick for her. They are just green field peas, hard as rock so you have to grind them or cook them, my guys can take the calories, I use them mostly if my hay is low in protein and I can’t get decent alfalfa or as a top dress for picky eaters.
you definitely want to cook legumes, they are/can be toxic in their raw forms
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I feed dehulled soybean meal as the only concentrate, no grain or grain-byproducts. It’s an excellent, concentrated, highly bioavailable source of all the amino acids our horses need. Most horses do really well on it. Great protein source, very affordable, highly palatable. Fed along with pasture, grass hay, and some alfalfa plus a Himalayan salt block and well water. It all I’ve fed for almost five years. And my horses are doing great on it, from a competitive GP dressage horse to horses still in work and jumping in their mid 20s, and including my mare.
Eliminating grains was a game changer in my barn. Soy is a legume like alfafa and the dehulled SBM is almost 50% protein, 80% of which is bioavailable to the horse. (Compare that to hay and alfalfa that has protein ranges more in the teens and is only 50% bioavailable and doesn’t have the same quality of protein i.e. rich in the limiting amino acid.) A pound a day of dehulled SVM (2-1/2 cups of the stuff I get) for a 1200 pound horse provides the protein they need. The hard keepers thrive on this small amount compared to the much larger volume of premium grain they used to get. The easy keepers seem to self regulate now that their protein needs are met and have lost fat pockets and look great.
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Where do you buy from?
Local feed store. Southern States is one brand.
I fed some as a supplement a few decades ago. I think my horse was on a ration balancer plus the soybean meal. My horse’s coat looked fantastic. I think I bought it from the local co-op.
Local elevator that mixes our grain recipe for us. Been feeding soybean meal in the grain for many years. Horses have great hair and hoof quality with using it. Be careful not to feed too much as adult horse can only use up to 10% of it in the diet. More fed means you are wasting your money, they pee it off. Even young horses only will use the higher amount until yearling age, then waste the extra. Learned this in nutrition talks years ago.
