Pelleted/Extruded feeds as a complete ration

[Wegbah]

I’m seeing more and more feeds advertised as a complete ration that can “replace some or all of the forage in a horse’s diet.” For instance, Wendland’s One and Only, or Triple Crown Low Starch pellets. I’ve also read about some sort of biscuit or cookie meal replacement for horses.

The very nature of this type of feed (if used as a complete diet) contradicts commonly accepted nutritional advice to insure a horse has plenty of long stem fiber and avoids long periods of time with an empty stomach (unless you have a very slow eater, or a system for feeding many, many small meals throughout the day).

I imagine it is a godsend for elderly or severely compromised horses who cannot chew hay. However, have any COTHers fed this type of diet exclusively, successfully, without health issues to a horse who IS able to eat and digest regular hay? I’m not looking to change my own horse’s diet to this (I couldn’t if I wanted to as I’m at a boarding barn who would not go for it) I’m just genuinely curious.

[Abbie.S]

I guess my question would be, why would you want to?

The “complete ration” feeds you can get around my area aren’t cheap. In your average year, you’d be better off financially feeding hay. More bang for your literal buck, as well as following what the horse’s system is designed to do.

The only person I know of who did what you’re speaking of “successfully” lived in an area where grazing was poor, and she only did it in a couple of years where hay supply was very limited due to bad harvest, which drove hay prices through the roof. She needed a way to get the nutrients and calories into her horses, and hay was slim pickings. This did the trick, for the time. But I remember talking to her about it: it was expensive, and one horse in particular just sat and stuffed himself all day (the feed you listed specifically is designed to be “free choice”…which is about as healthy for many pleasure horses as putting a permanent dessert bar in your house).

You also need to look at ingredients. Again, the one you listed, Wendland’s, has multiple main ingredients with the word “product” or “by-product” in them. Not what you want your horse’s diet to be consisting of. There’s no long-stem source of fiber in any of it…not good for Dobbin’s GI tract.

It’s a stand in for a specific point in time, as it was when my friend resorted to it. Not suitable as a long-term, stand-alone feed.

[Appsolute]

I remember in the 1990’s a few big boarding barns in the area (Northern CA) fed only pelleted rations… not little back yard operations either, one facility I am thinking of housed a few big name trainers - grand prix jumpers and dressage horses etc.

I think it was chosen for ease of storage and feeding - not something I would really want to choose for my own horse, but most of the horses appeared healthy on this “diet” (we did have one in the barn that choked).

I think that barn has since “changed its ways” and now feeds hay (I am assuming due to demand). I do know a couple of facilities (again, show barns) that feed only cubes - reasoning I am assuming is the same - storage and ease of feeding etc.

And of course there are horses with dental issues etc that NEED this type of diet. I am now boarding at a large facility that feeds generous amounts of quality hay - but does have an all pellet ration available for a handful of horses that need it.

[Hermein]

A horse I lost last year lived for several years on a slush diet of alfalfa cubes, a “complete” pelleted feed* and a senior extruded feed. He did very well on this, ribs covered, perky, eager eater, etc.

He was in his mid-30s with no molars, but kept his weight on this type of diet. I used cubes for the long fibers they provide, the complete feed to hopefully supply what the cubes didn’t, and a senior feed just because he liked it. I fed him three times each day.

*The complete feed was a feed that you would take with you if you were riding in the back country, or places where there was no forage to speak of.

eta: I am also feeding this mixture along with hay to another older horse because he’s not keeping his weight where I think it should be. His teeth are plentiful and just fine. He gets about 20 lbs of hay daily.

[newhorsemommy]

I wouldn’t feed it to a horse that can eat and digest hay, but following my gelding’s molar extraction, the vet said no hay or grass for 30 days. So he got a soaked, extruded hay pellet product/complete feed three times per day and did just fine on it.

There are a couple of seniors at my barn that can’t have hay and they do great on the pellets.

Some barns in Northern California still don’t feed hay. I’ve run across two in my area that only feed a cubed hay product.

[Pocket_Pony]

When I had a horse who couldn’t eat hay, I gave him a diet of beet pulp and alfalfa pellets (soaked) with a vitamin/mineral supplement. I fed him that 4x per day and he did great on it. Never felt a need to go to a feed company’s “complete feed.”

[Hermein]

As to why one would want to feed cubes/pellets/extruded feed to a horse who can eat and digest hay: I think that when a horse is, say, 27 or 28, or more years old, their digestive tracts are not as efficient as younger horses, so they need a sort of pre-digested feed.

I very well may be dead wrong about this, and crazy along with it.

And, I think that barns feed cubes to prevent waste and to save space.

Does the LA Equestrian Center still feed cubes?

[Hermein]

As to why one would want to feed cubes/pellets/extruded feed to a horse who can eat and digest hay: I think that when a horse is, say, 27 or 28, or more years old, their digestive tracts are not as efficient as younger horses, so they need a sort of pre-digested feed.

I very well may be dead wrong about this, and crazy along with it.

And, I think that barns feed cubes to prevent waste and to save space.

Does the LA Equestrian Center still feed cubes?

[fordtraktor]

Besides extreme oldies the only other reason I can think of is COPD/heaves. Some horses just can’t tolerate hay/dust. Though this is less of an issue if you can soak it thoroughly, some barns may not have the time to soak appropriately and I can see something like this being an alternative. I haven’t done it.

I have had to soak hay thoroughly for laminitis and I wondered how I would be able to make it work in winter because it would freeze before the horse ate it. So maybe climate is a good reason to do this for horses you would otherwise soak hay for.

[Flash44]

[QUOTE=Wegbah;8217699]
I’m seeing more and more feeds advertised as a complete ration that can “replace some or all of the forage in a horse’s diet.” For instance, Wendland’s One and Only, or Triple Crown Low Starch pellets. I’ve also read about some sort of biscuit or cookie meal replacement for horses.

The very nature of this type of feed (if used as a complete diet) contradicts commonly accepted nutritional advice to insure a horse has plenty of long stem fiber and avoids long periods of time with an empty stomach (unless you have a very slow eater, or a system for feeding many, many small meals throughout the day).

I imagine it is a godsend for elderly or severely compromised horses who cannot chew hay. However, have any COTHers fed this type of diet exclusively, successfully, without health issues to a horse who IS able to eat and digest regular hay? I’m not looking to change my own horse’s diet to this (I couldn’t if I wanted to as I’m at a boarding barn who would not go for it) I’m just genuinely curious.[/QUOTE]

I think that it would be used for a horse that can’t eat hay or during a hay shortage. It’s pretty pricey per pound.

[JB]

They are for horses who cannot have forage, for whatever reason - can’t chew hay/grass, have some colitis issues which require no long-stem fiber, etc. While they obviously don’t have long stem fiber, they are high in short-stem fiber to do as well as can be expected. They tend to be a little less nutrient dense because of the potentially high feeding rates.

I wouldn’t ever use one for that purposes just because it CAN be used, but they definitely have their place.

And being a complete feed doesn’t make them unsuitable at lower feeding rates for horses who are getting ample forage.

[Melyni]

[QUOTE=Wegbah;8217699]
I’m seeing more and more feeds advertised as a complete ration that can “replace some or all of the forage in a horse’s diet.” For instance, Wendland’s One and Only, or Triple Crown Low Starch pellets. I’ve also read about some sort of biscuit or cookie meal replacement for horses.

The very nature of this type of feed (if used as a complete diet) contradicts commonly accepted nutritional advice to insure a horse has plenty of long stem fiber and avoids long periods of time with an empty stomach (unless you have a very slow eater, or a system for feeding many, many small meals throughout the day).

I imagine it is a godsend for elderly or severely compromised horses who cannot chew hay. However, have any COTHers fed this type of diet exclusively, successfully, without health issues to a horse who IS able to eat and digest regular hay? I’m not looking to change my own horse’s diet to this (I couldn’t if I wanted to as I’m at a boarding barn who would not go for it) I’m just genuinely curious.[/QUOTE]

They are most useful for horses who cannot eat hay for some reason (teeth, age, COPD etc), or at times of places when hay is unavailable or cannot be stored.

They are not ideal rations for horses, who really do have a long stem fiber requirement, but they can help in times of need or shortfall.

MW

[betsyk]

I knew someone who fed only complete pelleted feed to her horses. I don’t remember if one was heavey - that might have been the original reason - but they also didn’t have a good place for storing a year’s worth of hay for several horses or a good system for isolating one horse for whatever special feeding program it needed. However – they had several acres of pasture, so in the good weather months they had access to as much or more grass than they could ever want, and even when the snow cover was deep they could paw through and pick at whatever was available. It seemed to satisfy their need for fiber and for something to browse on, but it was really weird to go into their barn and find not one single scrap of hay, anywhere.

[lesson_junkie]

The TC Low Starch, and TC Lite are formulated for minis, ponies and easy keepers. The mineral package is heavier per pound so you can feed very small amounts and the horse will still have the benefit of the minerals.

I hunt a Connamara pony. She is a very easy keeper, and can pack on the pounds quick when the grass is good. We start hunting early, while we still have decent turn out, but cross country sweating can peel the weight off. The Low Starch is a safe way to keep her at a good weight without flirting with too many carbs.

[Obsidian_Fire]

I would use it for packing, but aside from that, if my horse was perfectly “normal” and there was no reason to feed a pellet-only diet… I surely would not!!

And as the owner of an older horse with bad teeth, I can vouch for how incredibly costly it is to feed a pelleted, complete feed sort of diet.

[SmartAlex]

I know someone using it now because they’re out of last year’s hay and no one has been able to make hay yet this year in the wet weather.

So it is also an emergency stop gap

[JB]

[QUOTE=SmartAlex;8219728]
I know someone using it now because they’re out of last year’s hay and no one has been able to make hay yet this year in the wet weather.

So it is also an emergency stop gap[/QUOTE]
Can’t they get chopped forage, or hay cubes? Even beet pulp acts as a long-stem fiber. I’d surely work to get at least some of those long-stem fiber options into the diets.

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=JB;8219813]
Can’t they get chopped forage, or hay cubes? Even beet pulp acts as a long-stem fiber. I’d surely work to get at least some of those long-stem fiber options into the diets.[/QUOTE]

One would think…
I’d go to Beep first myself

[Lady_Eboshi]

[QUOTE=Wegbah;8217699]
I’m seeing more and more feeds advertised as a complete ration that can “replace some or all of the forage in a horse’s diet.” For instance, Wendland’s One and Only, or Triple Crown Low Starch pellets. I’ve also read about some sort of biscuit or cookie meal replacement for horses.

The very nature of this type of feed (if used as a complete diet) contradicts commonly accepted nutritional advice to insure a horse has plenty of long stem fiber and avoids long periods of time with an empty stomach (unless you have a very slow eater, or a system for feeding many, many small meals throughout the day).

I imagine it is a godsend for elderly or severely compromised horses who cannot chew hay. However, have any COTHers fed this type of diet exclusively, successfully, without health issues to a horse who IS able to eat and digest regular hay? I’m not looking to change my own horse’s diet to this (I couldn’t if I wanted to as I’m at a boarding barn who would not go for it) I’m just genuinely curious.[/QUOTE]

Basically what it come down to is that they have ground up and pelletized forage in sufficient quantity to fulfill the horse’s roughage needs if he ate only that. In theory. Maybe. IME some of the highest-end Senior feeds can be fed as the only ration once the horse is completely incapable of chewing anything else, but that has only happened here when they’re already in their 30’s so it’s hard to make a judgment call about how it impacts longevity.

I myself am very queasy about the lack of long-stemmed forage; what these pellets are doing is removing the mastication factor as an impediment to the horse getting the amount of calories he needs down; an entirely appropriate equation when dealing with an elder whose mouth has gone smooth or toothless.

But as others have said above, if the horse IS capable of eating hay or pasture, WHY would you want to substitute that relatively inexpensive, natural source with THE most expensive method of feeding possible? If it’s been processed, put in a bag, and shipped across country I GUARANTEE it’s a lot more expensive than hay; the exceptions might be if you’re in an acute hay shortage area, or on the show circuit in a place like Wellington where the price of hay is prohibitive.
But if you’re there, price isn’t a problem, right?

WATCH OUT for the “extruded” stuff if feeding this way; those “cocoa puff” feeds commonly DO NOT have the forage in them as pellets do–you need to read the bag. Extruded “Senior” feeds often are labeled in fine print as NOT to be fed as complete ration but to supplement pasture or hay.

[Wegbah]

Thanks for all the info and stories. Glad to know that if my horse lives to be very old and toothless, he’ll not starve for lack of alternative food options!