What are you feeding your event horse?

[Erin_Pittman]

Our horses are getting a variety of feeds depending on each individuals needs. Pretty much every horse in our barn is an eventer or in training to become one…

Easy-keepers get pasture, good quality grass hay and a forage-balancer (2 pounds per horse per day) - this includes some full TBs and an Irish Sport Horse.

Those with “issues” like ulcer-prone, grain intolerance, laminitis, etc. get a feed very similar to Fibergized called Fiberize (FCA) - anywhere from 6-10 pounds per day, plus either grass hay or a grass/alfalfa mix.

Most are on a high fat/beet pulp and oat-based textured feed called Excel (also FCA) - anywhere from 5-8 pounds, plus the grass or alfalfa/grass mix hay.

A couple are getting FCA’s Senior feed. Some get added oil if they’re underweight.

I adjust them if I see them gaining or losing weight or if we get a horse that’s picky, etc. We got the gorgeous alfalfa/grass hay this fall and have cut back pretty significantly on our grain-feeding. Before we got it, some horses were getting 3 meals a day, now nobody is.

[CrowneDragon]

[QUOTE=cindywilson;7395463]
OK, you’ll love this: 3 OTTBs, 1 1/2 TB, 1/2WB. Two are 29, one’s 24 and the competition horse is 13. They all get the same: alfalfa hay, scoop of alfalfa pellets & a scoop of Costco senior feed. They are alll fat, sound and healthy. Of course…I’m on the CA Central Coast & not worrying about subfreezing temps, etc. But, really, it does get down to freezing at night and they are outside. (I know, you think I’m a total wimp.)[/QUOTE]

…Costco sells horse feed??!

[cindywilson]

Costco doesn’t sell horse feed in all their stores. When I lived in Pasadena, I didn’t buy it there, but, to tell the truth, it never occurred to me to look for it. I know they sell it in the Goleta (near Santa Barbara) store and up here in the San Luis Obispo store. So - maybe only in CA, don’t know about other states - it’s maybe sold only in the less metropolitan/more rural areas. And they don’t carry all types, just a couple of pelleted types are offered in the pet dept. Up here, at least.

[Manahmanah]

[QUOTE=JFCeventer;7395387]
While CocoSoya does smell delicious, it does NOT taste as good as it smells. Just a word of warning :winkgrin:[/QUOTE]

I figured it probably wouldn’t taste like delicious movie theater popcorn. Another thing that doesn’t taste like it smells -succeed! Nothing like cookie dough.

@CrowneDragon;7395644

…Costco sells horse feed??!

I had that that exact same thought.

how much per bag, who makes, etc? I am intrigued!!

[normandy_shores]

My 15.2h PMU mutt gets a small handful
Of extruded pellets 2x a day, a scoop or two of beet pulp (prepared, using a pasta type spoon… So not much) with his am feed, and 4 flakes of WA Timothy hay. Our bales are the big heavy 3 strand bales, and good quality. He gets triple crown, magox, zinc and biotin as supplements.

Same feed year round. Mid he starts to get porky we cut out the beet pulp.

[subk]

A minimum of 12 hours a day of very high quality mixed grass pasture that I fertilize regularly, overseed when needed and manage for weeds. I have 4 horses on 20 acres. Most winters it never goes completely dormant and a good quality orchard/clover/timothy hay is just something to munch on when they are in their stalls, but this winter I’ve added plenty of alfalfa/orchard grass hay.

Forage is supplemented with KER All Phase (a ration balancer) and KER Releve (similar to Fibergize) a high fat, high protein, high fiber, low carb feed. None are on supplements, although the ulcery one is on ulcer meds.

[_Trinity]

We have excellent quality hay and don’t feed much grain, even to our harder keepers. I would rather supplement with oil and beet pulp than give them ridiculous amounts of grain. I feed the Masterfeeds line and love it. Other popular options in my area are Purina, which I won’t touch to save my soul, and Buckeye.

My coming 6 year old TB gelding in Training level work is an easy keeper:

1 handful RX Roughage cubes
1st and 2nd cut 40% alfalfa hay
.

That’s it. And he’s fat in his flank area. It’s humiliating, really. My athletic but easy keeping Drafty/WB/Paint that’s going Pre-Training eats more. The ONLY reason he gets roughage cubes is because I’m a sucker for his face when he gets left out at meal time.

I have just started supplementing with Vitamin E, Mag, and Selenium, since they would only get this through grain in the winter (other source is pasture, which is currently under 2.5’ of snow and Vit E/Sel is significantly depleted as soon as hay dries).

On the opposite end of the spectrum, my upper level horse is now semi-retired and fat off a basic 12% grain and a mix of 1st/2nd cut hay, but in his fitter days he was eating the highest energy grain in the barn, but not necessarily a lot:

6 cups Masterfeeds Grand Prix 2x daily
1 cup fresh ground flaxseed (I do it myself to avoid the preservatives) 2x daily
1 tbs MagOx daily
Mix of 1st/2nd cut 45% alfalfa hay 4-5x daily

Another lower level, but hard keeping horse eats:
4 cups RX Roughage Cubes
6 cups Podium
Lot of Beet Pulp (not sure how many cups that scoop is)
Unlimited hay
Gut/joint supplements, etc

[CrowneDragon]

[QUOTE=cindywilson;7395668]
Costco doesn’t sell horse feed in all their stores. When I lived in Pasadena, I didn’t buy it there, but, to tell the truth, it never occurred to me to look for it. I know they sell it in the Goleta (near Santa Barbara) store and up here in the San Luis Obispo store. So - maybe only in CA, don’t know about other states - it’s maybe sold only in the less metropolitan/more rural areas. And they don’t carry all types, just a couple of pelleted types are offered in the pet dept. Up here, at least.[/QUOTE]

So what you’re saying is that in addition to being jealous of people who are fortunate enough to live near a Costco, I should be extra jealous because some of them sell horse stuff too?

[cindywilson]

manahmanah–Next time I’m in town (the ‘big city’ of SLO), I’ll check price/mfr and let you know. I think it’s something like Southwest Choice for the senior feed, don’t know about the pellets. And it’s got glucosamine HCl. Costco is pretty good re customer input. I bet if enough people let them know horse feed would sell in a particular area, they’d stock it.
CrowneDragon–Oh, and it was 70 degrees out today. Sorry. But the down side is, we’re in the midst of the worst drought since they began keeping records in the late 1800’s.

[CrowneDragon]

[QUOTE=cindywilson;7396589]
manahmanah–Next time I’m in town (the ‘big city’ of SLO), I’ll check price/mfr and let you know. I think it’s something like Southwest Choice for the senior feed, don’t know about the pellets. And it’s got glucosamine HCl. Costco is pretty good re customer input. I bet if enough people let them know horse feed would sell in a particular area, they’d stock it.
CrowneDragon–Oh, and it was 70 degrees out today. Sorry. But the down side is, we’re in the midst of the worst drought since they began keeping records in the late 1800’s.[/QUOTE]
Send me a box and I’ll mail you some snow. :lol:

[SnicklefritzG]

Send me three boxes and I’ll send you a truck load of snow.

[ThirdCharm]

My 2 TBs (not in full work right now… Mare will run Int again this spring, stallion moving up to Prelim) both get free choice grass hay 24/7 and about 5 qts 2x/day of Nutrena Pro Fiber, which is 12 protein, 13 fat and 16 fibre. Love that stuff.

Jennifer

[bornfreenowexpensive]

I have mostly OTTBs and a few WB/TB crosses. Competing horses are all on Progressive ration balancer–about 3lbs a day, harder keepers also get 2-3lbs of Progressive Envision (medium keepers get Rice Bran instead) and the really hard keepers also get a few pounds of plain oats. I some times mix a pound of Triple Crown complete to make sure they eat or to replace the oats for the few they get a bit hot on the Oats. Most is spread over 2 meals but the 3 really hard keepers get 3 meals a day.

The majority of the horses though are not difficult to keep weight on and just get between 1-3lbs of the ration balancer (depending on how easy). The mares living out 24/7 (even with the cold) with choice hay in front of them all just get 2lbs of the ration balancer and are fat as ticks–even the two preggo ones.

The key is feeding top quality hay…which right now is killing me at close to $9 a bale! We are using hay nets for those in stalls so they have hay in front of them all the time but do not waste it. Large bales in the fields—I can not wait for grass to come back!!!

[ccr0009]

I just switched after moving from Virginia to Alabama.
In Virginia we were able to get Buckeye. I adored it.
My conn/tb (ridden 5-6 days a week, heavy work) got a coffee cup of “Grow-N-Win” and a quarter scoop of EQ8 Gut Health textured feed twice a day.

Before the switch he was thin on 3 full scoops a day of other feeds.

My 16yo Preliminary Horse was on the “Grow-N-Win”, scoop of EQ8, and coffee cup Ultimate Finish.
I wish that Buckeye was carried here in the South. It was quite pricier than other feeds, but kept my horses looking fabulous.

Now that we have moved to Alabama, the 16yo is now on Safechoice. I don’t mind it, but I do think his coat has lost some of its sheen without the Ulitmate Finish.

[Frizzle]

[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;7399692]

The key is feeding top quality hay…which right now is killing me at close to $9 a bale! We are using hay nets for those in stalls so they have hay in front of them all the time but do not waste it. Large bales in the fields—I can not wait for grass to come back!!![/QUOTE]

Pppssshhhhtttt! Hay prices here would make your heart stop! Currently paying $42.99 per 3-wire 125-lb bale of orchard grass hay (has gone up close to $10 in a year), and last week I paid $16 per compressed bale of o/a. I’m about to go to the feed store, and I hear they’re out of both the 3-wire and the compressed, but have 2-wire (60-70 lb) bales of o/a for about $22.

[wildlifer]

I used to feed SafeChoice and Solo did fine on it. But when price crept up, I decided to try the TC Complete, since everyone couldn’t shut up about it.

Well, they were right. My “hard” keeper totally stabilized in his weight, had a better coat and feet and was just…better. He was fine before, shiny, healthy, etc, but after the switch, he was “new and improved.”

Now both he and OTTB get it, although TB is a hard keeper, so he gets over 10 lbs a day. He also gets Cool Calories, soaked alfalfa pellets and when I was loading him up at first, rice bran pellets. I tried beet pulp, quickly switch to rice bran, easier and more fat.

However, they don’t have much grass now, when they come to my farm, they will be in forage heaven and I hope I will have to do a lot less!

[kinscem]

I feed oats and free choice of TA hay. Glanzen from Smartpak as hoof and coat supplement.
Hard to keep my OTTBs busy enough to not gain weight on this schedule