Sweet feed, how much is too much?

[Bebe_Falcon1]

I recently started switching my pony mare over from a so-so pelleted vit/mineral supplement to Mad Barn’s Omneity (powder) mixed with a handful of sweet feed.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a behavioural change in her in that she has so much more energy, and seems more reactive and alert when we’re trying to work in the arena. We had the opposite problem over the summer (which is why I wanted to try a more complete vit/mineral mix) but now we’ve shot from “not enough” energy to “waaaaayyy too much”. A coach described her as walking on her tiptoes

She doesn’t get much sweet feed at all, maybe a handful, really just enough to help carry the vit/mineral powder. She’s 300 - 400lbs, out 24/7 on a dry lot with good quality hay. Could the grain change be the source of my problems?

The plan is to keep the vit/mineral powder but toss it in with some hay cubes instead. It’s hard for me to imagine that such a small amount of sweet feed could cause something like this so I’m hoping someone (or someones) can chime in with some stories of their own.

[CowgirlCoffee]

Perhaps the Omenity is providing adequate vitamins/minerals that she was missing before? Often, deficicienes can make some horses quiet/lethargic.
Given that she is a pony, I would absolutely switch to a handful of soaked timothy cubes or pellets for your carrier. You can add fenugreek powder, Stabul 1 pellets (they come in many flavors), or of the Uckele flavorings if she turns her nose up to this. Good luck!

[JB]

Yep, replace the sweet feed with 1-2c of soaked hay pellets and see what happens

[greywithchrome]

A handful is all it would take for my pony to become hyper and reactive! She gets beet pulp with her Omneity. I would definitely give the hay cubes a go!

[Dbliron]

You could also switch to pelleted Omneity, which doesn’t require anything else to make it palatable. All of ours eat it happily, with nothing else.

[Weezer]

I’ve been using beet pulp without molasses as the carrier for my insulin resistant mini and my air fern QH and they love it. It’s fairly low-sugar too.

[Bebe_Falcon1]

Thanks, all. I’d forgotten that pelleted Omneity was available (duhhh), so thank you @Dbliron for the reminder.

No more sweet feed it is!

[candyappy]

I seriously doubt a handful of sweet feed makes any difference. More likely it is what is in the supplement or she is just feeling her “oats” due to the weather changes .