Ive been feeding Renew Gold for 2.5 years. I have 14 horses, all ages. Not many in any kind of heavy work.
Almost ALL of my horses are fat and overweight. I live in TX and feed coastal hay. I am in the process right now of having the latest delivery of hay tested. . . .
I’m thinking it’s time to switch feeds. Most of these horses are getting less than a cup total per day of RG and maybe 4 cups alfalfa pellets, split into two feedings.
I like the concepts and ideas of the feeding program, but, I am concerned dropping the amounts much lower that I’m not really doing anything to balance the hind gut, and the horses aren’t getting what they need. I like the addition of the alfalfa pellets to slow the coastal digestion… in the three years of having this program, I have only had one mild colic from coastal hay.
What made you choose these products in these amounts?
I like the concepts and ideas of the feeding program, but, I am concerned dropping the amounts much lower that I’m not really doing anything to balance the hind gut,
Nothing about RG and alfalfa pellets are “balancing” the hind gut
and the horses aren’t getting what they need.
RG and alf pellets are not providing a whole lot of anything, especially in those amounts. You’d provide a lot more nutrition from a vit/min supplement, with some providing more than others.
I like the addition of the alfalfa pellets to slow the coastal digestion… in the three years of having this program, I have only had one mild colic from coastal hay.
Any suggestions?
4 c alf pellets is doing nothing to slow digestion. The issue with ileal impaction from Coastal Bermuda isn’t related to the speed at which it’s passed through the system. It’s related to the often high lignin (Indigestible) fiber comtent.
Fat horses get muzzled on pasture like that, and possibly also restricted hay intake when they are off the pasture.
HorseTech’s High Point Grass, or Uckele’s Sporthorse Grass, are 2 v/m supplements that provide a lot more nutrition than most, and I’d choose one of those. You can add 1-2c alfalfa pellets, or shredded beet pulp, with added water, to mix it all in for more volume.
Most of the horses through working with the manufacturer but I cut down here proportionately with a few horses that cannot keep the weight off. Trying to become more educated myself as much as I can so I can be a part of the decision process instead of being beholden to what a manufacturer tells me.
Im currently testing the hay we feed free choice and hopefully it will give me a starting point to a more sound progra
, and will check out your recommendations thank you for the sound advice.
OP where your horses thin when you started the renew gold? Kinda looking for something to add to feed i’m feeding, to get a little more weight on my riding horse.
Renew Gold is nothing more than Rice bran, coconut oil, and flax. It will put weight on them. It is low starch if that’s a concern. I thought it was pricey for what it is and I can feed Legends Omega Max cheaper and get the same benefit of cool calories. Renew Gold is 43.00 in my area for 30lb and Legends Omega Max is 26.00 for 40 lb.
OP: Just feed a ration balancer and be done with it. You can still top dress with the Renew Gold is you like the extra fat for their coat. I would cut out the alfalfa. Might need to look into grazing muzzles if your grass is really good.
Regarding the coastal, every horse that I know that has coliced on coastal was because it was too fine and binds together and blocks the small intestine. Kinda like hair that blocks a drain, as it was explained to me. Horses don’t chew the fine stems and just suck it down to fast without properly chewing.
I’ve feed coastal hay with no issues for a few years in the pasture cause that’s what everyone else in the pasture was feeding, but in the stall I feed high quality timothy. I never had issues. If your horses have free choice they are less likely to bolt down hay and hopefully chew it really well. Stay on top of the dental and hopefully you will never have any issues.
Depending on how your hay tests, this is a good start to a feeding program. If you horses are fat and your hay tests good, you probably don’t need to feed anything else. Most people have a very common misconception that you MUST feed SOMETHING. If anything, they need muzzles on the pasture since they are overweight and this is founder season. And/or use small hole nets for the hay to slow consumption. You can feed a vit/min supp such as TC Lite if you feel like you have to feed something, and keep an eye on the weight.
You should read the entire post instead of just one sentence. “If you horses are fat and your hay tests good, you probably don’t need to feed anything else,” was my suggestion. Then I added that muzzles and a slow feed net might help with the weight, which will decrease calories, and depending on the situation, the OP may want to add in TC Lite. Feeding horses is not a spreadsheet or a strict formula. There is no possible way to measure how much horses eat when they are on lush pasture and free choice hay. You guess, test the forage, look at the body condition, maybe do blood work, and then add what may possibly be missing. And again, since your starting point is an unknown, there is no way to be sure that what concentrate or supplement or rb is getting them to the perfect number.
I did read it all. You said you can feed the Lite “if you feel like you have to feed something” .
If someone feels like they need to feed something to a fat horse, a handful of beet pulp or alfalfa pellets with a regular v/m supplement is next to no calories. You keep saying the Lite is a vitamin/mineral supplement, and it’s not.
If your intended feeding protocol for the Lite was a handful, then why bother? Feed it how it’s supposed to be fed, or use something that can be fed as intended, unless what you’re feeding is purely for taste, and I don’t see the Lite serving that function.
You are right that no concentrate or supplement or RB is going to get them to a perfect number - they aren’t supposed to. They are only supposed to help insure there’s at least enough, without going over by too much (and even then, many horses would benefit from more copper and zinc). We don’t need to them to be perfect every day, and they never will be since outside of clinical settings, we cannot control their nutritional intake to the letter . Even forage testing is only an average. But for the vast majority of horses, that’s quite ok.
Why would you want to feed a fat horse any kind of hard feed? A small handful of timothy hay pellets with a vit/min once a day. I’ll take the hard to keep horses over the easy keepers any day,don’t have to play ration the feed.
I understand that a few decades back, before there were a lot of sophisticated extruded horse feeds, Calf Manna was considered a good (if off label) choice for supplementing horses. The dairy and beef industry has always been ahead of the horse industry in finetuning nutrition, and the hay testing companies originally got started for dairy farmers. Nutrition in = milk or meat out, and they want the best nutrition at the cheapest cost. Horse industry is slower to catch up.
There are probably way better choices than Calf Manna for horses these days, but I’ve heard of some old school trainers who still use it.
BTW when I was riding as a teen in the 1970s, the big local mill supplied only whole oats, or mystery pellets, or sweet feed (cracked oats, barley, corn, with mystery pellets, a dusting of bran and dry molasses). Pony was ridden heavity every day after school and did just fine on the sweet feed. If I rightly recall, she got a gallon icecream bucket of sweet feed every night. Can that be true? Anyhow, she ran ran ran all day for me, and was super fit and healthy, so it worked.
But I can see that when Calf Manna came along, it might look pretty good alongside these options.
It’s been very interesting catching up on advances in nutrition since I’ve returned to riding a decade ago!
