Would wetting grain down well be as good as doing a bran mash for preventing reactions to sudden or severe weather and temperature change?
Also, which is best, the night before the weather or the night of?
And yes I know there are two schools of thought on whether bran is even a good idea…which is one reason I’m asking… 
I add water to our feed year round- enough to make it soupy-warm water in the winter. I don’t use bran. If the weather is really cold, I will add alfa alfa or a timothy alfalfa pellet for some extra calories.
My guys love it!
Great! Thanks!
I always add water to my horses’ feed, let it sit (or use hot water) and serve it as a mash - not a soup, given that they just make a mess of it that way and my gelding will tip his feed pan over if it’s too watery.
I also don’t do bran, but mine get a “lunch” of soaked beet pulp and alfalfa cubes every day.
I think suddenly throwing a bran mash into your horse’s feed routine is more likely to cause tummy upset than help anything. Unless the horse is colicking because they aren’t drinking enough, wetting their feed probably won’t do much. The amount of liquid you are adding is probably negligible in the grand scheme of things.
I too soak all grain and never feed bran (ever!). My mare loves her hot soup in winter (& cold soup during summer). I add very little grain to her timothy cubes and pellets - it makes a great mash.
My mare typically gets about two gallons of water in her per feeding - that makes a difference.
Great info, thanks all 
I also always add water to my feed buckets. I put all the feed/supplements in, add water (hot water in the winter time), and by the time I’ve bitten up a carrot into bite-sized chunks and added them to the buckets, the water is mostly soaked up and the feed is mush. They all seem to love it!
[QUOTE=Humblepie;7872213]
I add water to our feed year round- enough to make it soupy-warm water in the winter. I don’t use bran. If the weather is really cold, I will add alfa alfa or a timothy alfalfa pellet for some extra calories.
My guys love it![/QUOTE]
^^^This, except I my horses aren’t fond of soupy so, I add enough warm water to fall just short of soupy - 365 days/year:)
And I use timothy pellets instead of alfalfa as my seriously insulin resistant horse cannot tolerate alfalfa:)
I carry the hottest tap water to the barn. This time of year, by the time it gets mixed and fed to the horses, it’s down to “Goldilocks Just Right”
Yes.
If the only point is to get more water in, then add very warm water to the regular food, and you’ll have to play with how wet the horse likes it. I have 1 who doesn’t care if he has to slurp it all up. The other 3 have varying degrees of perfect, but none like extra water.
Unless the horse is colicking because they aren’t drinking enough, wetting their feed probably won’t do much. The amount of liquid you are adding is probably negligible in the grand scheme of things.
IME, and also based on my own person, I think once you get an animal (or human) more used to the idea of more moisture, they actually seek out more. So in this context, adding nice warm water to a meal might make the horse more inclined to drink more, sort of stimulating the thirst reflex.
Always? Doubtful. But I do think it works in some cases, and it certainly doesn’t hurt
Great advice all…
Decided this horse will get his meals mixed with soaked beet pulp
any kind of sudden food change is bad for horses. Feeding them bran mashes is a really bad idea- causes all kinds of stomach upset. Not sure who came up with the idea of mashes, but it’s not good for them.
So if you don’t normally feed them soupy meals, don’t suddenly start.
My horses are outside, and always have open water
I do feed soaked beet pulp year around to my two senior horses and to my one horse that is IR She also gets IR supplements in that beet pulp
Body heat is actually generated by the digestion of forage, more than by grain.
I do worry about the horses not drinking enough when it gets really cold (minus 25 t0 30 C )
I then add salt to the beet pulp,and for the horses that don’t forage that much, in the snow, between feedings, but are almost totally on hay (my IR horse and my show horse ), I add salt to the beet pulp and I dump two pails of hot water over their hay. I have a tap at the back of the house, that has a hot and cold tap
It gets that extra moisture into them, even if it freezes some on the hay, before they have finished eating
here is an article on cold weather feeding of horses. Note that the digestion of forage has a greater source of heat generation that that of grains
http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/vhc/efac/equine/documents/ColdWeatherFeedingPracticesforhorse-B.Mowrey.pdf
From another source:
Feeding good-quality hay in sufficient amounts is one of the best ways to help horses keep warm. Feed digestion produces heat, with the digestion of high-fiber feeds such as hay releasing the greatest amount of heat.
High-fiber feeds produce more heat during digestion than low-fiber feeds. Thus, more heat will be produced through the digestion of hay than low-fiber grains such as corn and barley. Although oats are a low-fiber grain, they will produce more heat during digestion than other grains due to their fibrous outer hull.
Providing a sufficient amount of feed is extremely important during the winter because grazing usually is not an option. In general, a mature horse should be fed approximately 2 percent of its body weight per day in total feed. The requirement is higher (up to 3 percent) for lactating mares.
It depends on the quantity. Adding 1/2lb of bran to a meal isn’t going to cause any upset to any but the most delicate GIs.
People give horses an apple out of the blue all the time
Feeding them bran mashes is a really bad idea- causes all kinds of stomach upset. Not sure who came up with the idea of mashes, but it’s not good for them.
Again, it depends on what you define as “bran mash”. Replacing a regular meal with, say, 1/2lb bran, a cut up apple and carrot, and adding some water, isn’t going to hurt him. But some take “bran mash” to mean replacing the regular meal with 2-3lb of bran, a few apples, 1/2lb of carrots, a cup or 2 of molasses, etc, and that could very easily cause a bit of trouble
So if you don’t normally feed them soupy meals, don’t suddenly start.
Don’t suddenly add water - which they already consume - to a meal? 
There’s no harm in making a meal into a soup, or wrong out sponge, or wherever in between. It’s no different from the horse eating a bite or 2, then taking a drink, and repeating
[QUOTE=KIloBright;7872865]
In general, a mature horse should be fed approximately 2 percent of its body weight per day in total feed. The requirement is higher (up to 3 percent) for lactating mares.[/QUOTE]
I will go farther and say 2% of forage for the average mature horse, minimally. Really easy keepers might need that reduced a bit, others might be eating 3, 4% especially if it’s cold. Lactating mares could easily require 3-4% of their weight in forage alone, then adding concentrates on top of that.
I do think that “2% of their body weight in total food a day” has been around a while. I think those numbers should be about the forage, then adding concentrates as necessary (after making sure all the forage the horse will/can eat is taken care of first).
For those of you adding HOT water to feed, consider that some feeds will be changed if effectively cooked and may lose some nutritional value.
The only horse that I make “soup” for is Izzy, but that is to slow her eating.
yep, it depends on how hot is “hot”. I say I add hot water, but in reality, it’s hot water from the tap when it comes out, but it’s only “very warm” by the time it gets to the barn and has beep dumped into it.
[QUOTE=Iride;7872818]
Great advice all…
Decided this horse will get his meals mixed with soaked beet pulp :)[/QUOTE]
Beet pulp is a fantastic idea! It’s also a great source of forage and a great way to help keep their intestines running right all year 'round. I’d suggest starting slow but you can add a fair amount of beet pulp and it holds LOT of water.
If you get the shreds, they take about 10-15 minutes with hot water and I usually cover them with a towel so they don’t cool off.
You’d be surprised how many horses go nuts for plain hot water. The 32 year old pony at the barn who is colic prone will guzzle half a bucket when I offer him one while the beet pulp is soaking. And then I’ll top off his bucket before I go and I KNOW that he had drank at least half a bucket at X time (and I’ll clean his stall if he’s been lack-luster so we can keep an eye on his “output”).
With hot water, I find it takes literally 2-3 minutes to soak well enough. Of course, if you’re adding more water, it takes longer for them to plump up. My ratio is about 3c shreds to about 2c water. In the Winter that’s “tap hot” water, and by the time it takes me to fix the 4 buckets, it’s pretty hydrated. 10 minutes would be really plump and fluffy, but still the same amount of water.
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