Funky coats, horsekeeping in the South & non-traditional feeds

[ABDR4]

I’m going to combine 2 issues into 1 topic, since I’m thinking that the 2 issues might be related.

Just successfully moved down south (Georgia near Valdosta). I body clipped my herd since I knew they’d be too hot with there “brace for -30F northern winter” coats. Right now they have the weirdest coats I’ve ever seen. Their winter coats haven’t come in a little, but its this odd coarse, harsh bristly stuff with some longer hairs. Kind of like a boar. Does anyone know why their coats are doing this?

They had been getting coastal hay while boarded, and my 2 harder keepers were doing ok enough on it but my easy keeper impossible to get weight off her got way too thin. If she had her summer coat, I’d be able to see every one of her ribs & her spine. I have some Tifton 85 hay that they seem to like a lot better than the coastal, and I was just adding a little of the Tifton 85 to the coastal. They’re just sifting through the coastal to get to the Tifton 85. No changes in their manure. Would it be appropriate to switch them over to the Tifton 85 completely just 2-3 days after starting to work it into their diet? I don’t want to make the switch that fast, but it seems they are just wasting the coastal.

Feeding them has been challenging & I’ve had to make my own supplement for them for many years. Diet for all 3 is my supplement, alfalfa cubes, hay & pasture. One of mine has some extremely severe allergies to wheat, corn, soy, barley & rice, which has made life difficult. Her issues are a combination of lip/facial swelling, hair loss & colic. I had tried to work through many commercial feeds, RBs & vit/mins, but I had to stop once things progressed to facial swelling. She also has some drug allergies & insect bite allergies. I haven’t been able to get any of them to eat beet pulp, which basically left me with either timothy cubes/pellets, alfalfa cubes/pellets or flax. I have come across some non-traditional feed components, and I was wondering if anyone knows if they might be more available in the southeast. Things like almond hulls, sunflower hulls or meal and hemp hulls or meal.

What are the feed companies that make feed in the southeast? Thus far I’ve come across Buckeye & Seminole, though neither have something I can safely feed. Right now they all live in a small paddock while we finish the fencing. My senior dribbles feed, so there’s too much of a risk that my Queen of Allergies could wind up nibbling something my old lady drops. I just don’t have a set up that would allow me to completely separate them & remove all risk. So i have to design everything around the horse with the most issues.

[Walk_N_Gal88]

Mid-South Feed is made down in Alma, GA. I’ve got both my QH gelding and my mama’s TWH gelding (both moderately hard keepers) on their Quality Blend 11/10, with a few supplemental things

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

I can address a couple of things.
Hay: Native hay in the Southeast is not very good for horses.
Coastal especially. It is plentiful which is why it’s less expensive but most horse people I know won’t use it.
It is too fine and people say that it causes colic.
By people I mean I’ve heard more than one vet and quite a few people who recommended against it.

Anecdotally, you may hear from others who fed their horses coastal all their life and their horse never colicked.

Just do some research.

My BO fed my horse 20/80 Timothy alfalfa in the winter It probably has other grasses as well. Most horses love it.

Cons: it’s expensive. It is not cost effective to grow Timothy or alfalfa this far South. It has to be shipped in.
In the summer , she feeds Bermuda . Some people don’t like Bermuda but my horse never had problems with it.
Not as expensive and easier to get.

As to feed. I don’t know if you are going to find a commercial mill that will provide a complete feed that your allergy horse can eat.

You may have to find a ration balancer or a source of extra calories. I’ve heard of people using fat to add extra calories.

You may not even need a complete feed depending on how much work your horses will be
doing.

You may want to look for an Equine Nutritionist in your area , if you can find one.
With the caveat that some of them are sponsored by big commercial feed mills and may try to steer you to that particular line.

Good luck.

[No1]

If you are determined to feed a locally grown hay, please do switch to the 85 straight away. Coastal is associated with a much higher instance of ileal impaction. Most vet recommend a slow switch to coastal for horses from the north, if you ever do it at all. Tifton 85 has some evidence that it is not as problematic as the other varieties. There has been a ton of research on it, please Google it before you make firm decisions on what you are going to feed your horses.

You could also try peanut hay, which is nutritionally similar to alfalfa and grown in the South. Some horses don’t like the texture, though.

I’ve never really seen any of those alternatives available. Probably sticking with hay cubes is your best bet.

As far as the coat, it sound to me like that awkward stage where they are trying to grow some coat but aren’t really making an earnest effort at it. The change in daylight hours probably has their systems a little confused.

[walkinthewalk]

I’m in southern Middle Tennessee so I can’t comment on the hay quality in your area.

I will say, I think you are over feeding in the feed pan and need to ditch your entire regimen and start over with the KISS principle:)

You comment you are feeding a RB AND Vit/mins. If that means ration balancer plus a vit/min supplement: #1 you’re over supplementing. #2 To my knowledge all of the condensed (or not) supplements and the majority of RB‘s use soy as the protein source.

I have one horse who is in IR remission but has Cushings. The other horse has environmental sensitivities and also grain & soy sensitivities.

I have them both on HorseTech’s complete vit/min supplement. The Cushings horse is on a special mix with an increased amount of amino acids and added fat calories, as Cushings has made him a bit of a hard keeper.

The allergy horse is on HorseTech’s standard vit/min supplement which does NOT use soy as the protein source, nor does it have added iron. No horse needs added iron, unless their blood work says so - they get more than enough in hay and pasture.

I have been feeding HorseTech since 2014. They custom make products for special needs horses like mine and also for an acquaintance on another forum whose horse has PSSM, for example.

High Point-Grass/Mixed Hay

IMHO, I would strip the feed pan stuff back to a soy-free condensed vit/min supplement mixed into either straight timothy pellets or timothy/alfalfa pellets for your hard keepers. You could also add a bit of rice bran, specially formulated for horses, like Manna Pro’s or KPUSA’s, etc.

You could also add some pure Vitamin E (no added selenium) to boost their immune systems; I also buy that from HorseTech:)

IMHO Less is more in your instance.

You don’t say how you old the horses are. From your description of their coats, they are either waaaay off the mark in the vit/min department, dealing with Cushings, or both.

Welcome to the south - I’m originally from the OH/PA border so I feel your angst:)

[stb]

Regarding hay - think long and hard before using Coastal Bermuda. I have never met a vet that is a fan, as risk of impaction colic is much higher on Coastal than on other hays. While it’s true that some horses never colic on Coastal, it is also true that colic risk is 6x higher for a horse on that hay.

Getting (and paying for) good hay is hard here in the South. I am currently paying $16.00 per bale for Timothy. I could get bigger bales of Coastal for $10.00 or so. Coastal is also readily available and northern hays are not. I just can’t get comfortable with taking the risk of feeding Coastal.

[moonlitoaksranch]

I used coastal for several years, but there were too many issues. The way it’s cut pulls in a lot of sand. Even without excess sand, coastal tends to cause blockages. The soil down here has very little minerals because the high precipitation washes it away. That’s means your hay also has very little minerals and is notoriously low in protein. I’m surprised a boarding stable is feeding it. Seems like a liability.

Once I switched off coastal, I couldn’t believe the bloom on my horse’s coats. It didn’t matter if they were fed a ration balancer. It didn’t matter if I supplemented with senior feed. Nothing replaces good grass hay and alfalfa. That brittle coat is from lack of nutrients. I feed them orchard and alfalfa now. Timothy and alfalfa is probably a little better balanced, but I’m allergic to timothy. Yes, it’s expensive, but that’s the cost of keeping horses in the South. We save money when the pasture is growing and they only need alfalfa. When they’re on pasture, they get alfalfa in the morning, before I turn them out on native Bermuda/bahia pastures. Works great. The always have access to mineral blocks or loose mineral. Coastal is cattle hay. Tifton 85 is fancy cattle hay.

[lenapesadie]

Well, personally I wouldn’t be too fussed about a relatively quick transition from one variety of Bermuda to another variety which is what you’re doing switching from Coastal to Tifton. Unless the Tifton 85 is a Bahaia. Tifton has patents on several varieties of several different species so without seeing your hay or googling to verify, I’m not sure if your Tifton 85 is a Bermuda or a Bahaia.

Coastal became popular because of it’s high yield. Somewhere along the way “coastal” became synonymous with Bermuda in the vernacular in many areas, resulting in a lot of confusion. I can guarantee you that there are a ton of people that claim to feed Coastal Bermuda but if you trace the hay back to the farmer, it’s Alicia, Jigs, Russel or a Tifton variety. All of those are perfectly safe for horses. It’s only the Coastal that carries the enhanced risk of ileal colic. It’s said that if you do feed Coastal that the risk of ileal colic is reduced by feeding a flake of stemmier hay like alfalfa with it daily. I dunno if that’s true or not.

I have Alicia Bermuda in my barn currently.

All of your Bermudas are going to have on average lower calories than most northern grass hays. Bahaia even lower. IME horses have to be awful hungry to eat Bahaia hay.

Perennial Peanut hay is an excellent option for a locally sourced, higher calorie hay. You’ll want to vet the farmer though. It’s incredibly common for blackberry vines to invade those fields. If a horse won’t eat peanut hay, I’d bet money it’s got blackberry vines (stickers! Ouch!) in it. One of my horses will eat PP hay w blackberry vines in it and the other won’t. Good PP hay is almost straight leaf with just a bit of thin smooth flexible stems in it.

Trucking in hay is possible. I get some import hay myself, but I dislike the additional fuel burning that practice comes with.

I dunno about those interesting feed ingredients you mention or a southern milled feed that meets your criteria. I feed one of mine the Triple Crown Gold RB and it is soy free if that helps. I would guess the coats are just in a funky regrowth stage.

[Wyndwolfe]

I have had horses in FL and GA for 40+ years. As other posters have commented, the most readily available hay is generally Coastal bermuda. That is also what is most common in pastures. Although I am aware of the perception that there is a higher risk of colic with Coastal, none of my horses (including multiple TB’s and WB’s) have experienced any problems with Coastal per se. I fed Coastal routinely until my herd got into their 20’s and needed additional calories. If your horses have been eating Coastal for several months, and particularly if they have also been on any type of grass pasture, I suspect they do not have any colic issues with Coastal. OTOH, they may have some nutritional issues.

Alfalfa does not grow well in this area, so although there may be some that is locally grown (usually mixed with grass), it is hard to find. I have purchased alfalfa/orchard grass mix hay that is grown in TN and KY. This year it has been almost impossible to find, so I have resorted to feeding western alfalfa, mixed with local coastal. It is a bit of a pain to mix, but pure alfalfa is just too rich (and expensive).

Seminole feeds are made in FL, and Seminole has a wide variety of options. Go to their website and look at the options. You can also send them an email outlining your horses’ special needs, and they will make recommendations.

[moonlitoaksranch]

There are a lot more options in Central Florida. Near Jacksonville, it’s just coastal, O&A, T&A, timothy, alfalfa, and sometimes, PP. The PP is hard to feed here because it’s only available for a few months after harvest before it turns brown. Horses do pretty well on it, but the leaves fall off so easily that you lose lot, especially as it ages. It’s easier for me to just select hay that I can buy year round.

[moonlitoaksranch]

I’m glad it’s been smooth sailing for you. A few trips to UF was enough for me. We feed in big rubber tubs that are dumped twice daily and there is a noticeable difference between feeding coastal and feeding the other hays. The amount of sand that accumulates after coastal is frightening. As per the vet, we do Sandclear treatments and sand checks regularly, just because they can pick up sand in the pasture.

[lenapesadie]

The PP is really interesting. it does lose color as it ages. I bought some in May that had been baled last fall. The horses ate it up. That came from a local vet that grows it, between him and the big hay farmer I like, I’ve been piecing some info together. Age of the field and baling conditions seem to be implicated in how easy the leaves shake loose. But even the best PP is the messiest hay ever!

Locally, NW FL / LA, mixing Bermuda and PP for hay similar to T/A is taking off. I haven’t tried it myself but maybe next year.

Field conditions are less sandy here and I’ve not seen any sand in any purported coastal Bermuda. It’s debatable if that is due to the fields or if the hay isn’t actually coastal.

Locally, the biggest oldest most reputable hay grower raises Alicia. He has never raised coastal. Regardless, several local boarding facilities advertise feeding coastal hay purchased from this farmer. I asked the farmer about it. His reply, “horse people are crazy”.

[lorilu]

Have you considered adding camelina oil to the hard keeper’s ration? Easy calories and good Omega balance.

[Marla_100]

like @moonlitoaksranch said- I’ve seen this many times here in Fl. from horses who have poor
diets- not good quality hay or feed. They’re lacking proper nutrients so the coat gets scruffy and dull. These are usually the same horses who are fed coastal bermuda hay and poor bagged feed.
Bump up the hay quality to some nice imported higher nutrient hay and get some better quality bagged feed. I’d also get a large bag of flax, that will put natural oils in the coat.

[IPEsq]

For some horses, the winter undercoat is just coarse like that. It’s just now apparent because you shaved off all the soft stuff. I wouldn’t worry about it.

[dani0303]

Just moved my horses from Colorado to coastal GA (near Savannah) in the spring. My easy keeper mare is doing great on coastal but my senior gelding is eating O&A. They both are fed PP as well and LOVE it.

We’re not too far from Aiken so my barn feeds Banks Mill feeds which is locally sourced.

Their coats are the normal Colorado fuzz and they’re now on the second body clip of the season (actually third- I clipped them back in May too). The biggest adjustment I’ve noticed is in their feet with all of the moisture. I COULD NOT keep shoes on my mare and ended up pulling them. Because of the sandy soil she’s adjusted well to being barefoot

[yaya]

What is PP? Nevermind. Missed it in an earlier post.

[wsmoak]

This document has a comparison between Coastal bermuda and Tifton 85 (which is apparently a cross between a bermudagrass and a close relative called a stargrass.)

CoastalvsT-85.pdf

Talk to your vet… most of them are not in favor of coastal bermuda for horses. I feed timothy/orchard but as others have mentioned, it has to be trucked in. My big Irish horse will not tolerate bermuda though.

[StormyDay]

Coastal is only good for cows. I wouldn’t even feed it to an easy keeper because it’s so fine that it can cause colic, as others have mentioned.

You need to get your hay from up north. The boarding barns and locals will pay for a big truck of hay to come down. You usually pitch in with a bunch of other people and then every month or so a truck comes and you have a big ‘pickup’ day where you go get your hay. It tends to be cheaper than the local feed stores and better quality. I did this in FL and in NC and SC.

Alfalfa or Timothy is the only thing you want to feed in the south. Sometimes you can do orchard, but some sellers will try to pretend their coastal is orchard, so it can be hard to get good quality orchard.

[ThreeWishes]

Florida horse owner checking in. I’ve kept horses here for 35+ years. Spring and summer pasture is lush and lovely. When I feed hay, supplement in the summer and really feed hay in the winter it’s straight Timothy and a topping of Alfalfa. Sometimes orchard when I can’t find Timothy. It’s pricey but my horses diet is mostly forage with TC balancer for V/M. Coastal hay is garbage. It’s like feeding your dog Old Roy and saying he lived a good life.