{Yawn} You go girl.
2 lbs seems like a lot. Whole sunflower seeds have been known to cause impaction in people…I would worry about feeding lots to horses too but a little bit is fine, I will happily consume a few entire. Perhaps a lot is fine too but I would worry about it.
We have fed a cup a day for about 14 years now with excellent results in coat and feet. Nary a single sunflower in the paddocks either
That’s just what I read. My plan is to feed no more than a cup per day, to get the shiny coat and possible hoof benefits. My mare has decent feet, but they seem to chip a lot in the spring time after our wet season. Once everything dries out, her hooves are like rocks.
Thanks, JB… Maybe I’ll grab some flax for her too. She doesn’t have arthritis, but she’s also 22 years old so she’s probably on the verge. I tried flax with her a few years ago and she turned her nose up, but maybe if I hide it in the senior feed and BOSS, I can sneak it into her. She’ll lick Hoffmans minerals right off my hand, but god forbid I try to mix other things in her food. Crazy mare.
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Mine get 1 cup of Boss and 1 cup of Flax (unground) as part of their daily feed. Both are super shiny!!!
i buy the Boss from Tractor Supply (Big orange bag). The birds love it too!
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Do BOSS have an effect on fading? My black horse turns a muddy brown in the summer, no matter what I do. Other products for black horses are illegal to show on because they contain capsacin (sp?).
I am now feeding almost all my horses veg. oil for weight and shiny coats. Which means I am going through a gallon a week. It is expensive, oily and a pain to keep buying every week or 2.
One of the horses is the infamous Goober. He of the “PSSM” thread. Between veg oil, BOSS and Flax, which is easier to keep and feed (and is the most economical? Thx.
Calories for calorie (or fat gram to fat gram) oil is definitely going to be the most economical. I buy the five gallon (or is it 40 lbs?) containers from CostCo, and transfer to a TC Rice Bran Oil container every week or so. It’s the cheapest/easiest method I’ve found to feed enough fat for my crew. The pumps are also pretty easy, and you can find them to screw right onto your big container. I like the built in measure thing with the TC containers.
If you’re looking for a cheap/easy source just for SHINY (because who doesn’t love SHINY?) the easiest way to do that if you don’t want to screw with oil is probably looking for either rice bran or stabilized flax at your feed store. I think I can get a 50 lb bag for $20ish? Feed half cup a day. If BOSS is in that same price range, then sure, that would also work.
Dunno about the color fading issues, though! 
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Different teeth, much larger seed in relation to teeth in people, and different stomach digestion. There are some notions out there that BOSS causes impactions in horses too, simply due to having found some undigested BOSS in the intestines during surgery for an impaction. But obviously there was more than BOSS there, and it goes back to the horse not chewing well enough, so should have been ground.
IMHO there are better options than BOSS for what you’re after. What is she eating now?
It’s pretty common actually for feet to chip in the Spring when things start going from wet to dry faster than they do in the Winter. Hoof growth starts speeding up as well. Dietary changes won’t help with those things.
It’s unlikely. I’d guess you probably need to add copper and zinc. Truly. Get some Poly Copper and Poly Zinc from Uckele, or the polysaccharide copper and p zinc from Horsetech (it’s exactly the same thing). There IS copper in BOSS,but we’re talking 8mg/lb or so, which is a blip on the radar compared to the several hundred mg the horse needs.
Mix the 2 together equal parts by volume (they weigh different amounts but you are feeding it by scoops/volume) and mix well. In whatever container you use, that stuff is VERY light and fluffy and dusty, don’t breath it.
I don’t know the size of the HT scoop. I use the Uckele scoop, so with that, the above mix gives 310mg copper, and 670mg zinc.
I know that seems like a lot. But those dark horses require a lot of copper to produce all that healthy melanin which is the pigment.
[qutoe]I am now feeding almost all my horses veg. oil for weight and shiny coats. Which means I am going through a gallon a week. It is expensive, oily and a pain to keep buying every week or 2.
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What oil are you using? When I fed oil, the cheapest option was the 5 gallon container from Sam’s. You have to make sure what you’re getting doesn’t have anti-foaming agents added
One of the horses is the infamous Goober. He of the “PSSM” thread. Between veg oil, BOSS and Flax, which is easier to keep and feed (and is the most economical? Thx.
With his PSSM, IMHO you don’t want to feed BOSS, as that brings a level of NSC with it. You won’t be able to feed enough flax for the fat he needs.
This is personally why I won’t feed BOSS labeled as wild bird seed anymore, either.
Even if the Scotts Miracle Gro situation was the result of one rogue employee and unlikely to be repeated, every bag of BOSS I’ve ever purchased came with a warning along the lines of “for wild bird use only.” I imagine that CYA is present because while the FDA regulates wild bird seed production, there is a different level of quality control for wild birds vs. domesticated animals.
For example, this study:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release…0101113159.htm
FDA regulations were tightened on wild bird seed during the Obama administration (which, in retrospect, likely contributed to why we saw the BOSS price spike), but I still don’t think the standards are anywhere near those for humans, pets, or livestock. My understanding is most of the regulations on bird seed are about disclosure on the packaging, and not about the safety of the product itself.
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What kind of flax did she turn her nose up at?
The ground/cracked flax at the feed stores in 50 lb bags goes rancid and looses nutrient values very quickly.
Can you get a small bag of whole flax somewhere? Don’t bother soaking or grinding feeding it whole is just fine.
This.
I used to feed BOSS and did see some great results- then I had a mare who had problems with inflammation, and things were notably worse when fed BOSS. No issues with an otherwise high Omega 3-6 ratio diet. Still feed flax and do think I get many of the benefits people attribute to BOSS are also true of flax, I do grind fresh though.
And especially for horses who may have just smaller underlying issues, inflammation might not be as obvious, but still causing issues. Food for thought.
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I stumbled upon using them again when I realized my hard keeper/picky eater seems to love the taste. He is polishing off his bucket of mush again with the addition of some BOSS.
I think I remember hearing they do help keep dark horses from getting brassy, for the person upthread who asked, but I have no official info…something just sounds familar about that.
A friend says that BOSS helps in giving a nice shiny coat and weight gain in a less expensive amount. He said that if I don’t want much of a weight gain, I can feed in small amounts and it will still give the shiny coat.
Jeff Farmer
http://www.towingarlingtonva.com/
Where does one get affordable flax for horses?
Feed mill, feed store. Even if they don’t carry it as a matter of course, they often have a relationship with a supplier who does have it. You’re looking for a 40-50lb bag.
