This is a great suggestion and reminder.
Yes, most definitely!
I recommend everyone that has their own farm to have at least two goats (I think they are better in pairs or more). They are silly, very expressive, love to play, get into trouble and are pure joy. No matter what was going on in real life, they could always make me smile.
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Good on you to keep āolderā horses going well. I was going to ask what CO High Plains grazing would be like, but you answered me at the end here. Does your 19 year old mare get fed in the larger group? Or do they bring them inside to feed?
I had not realized that molasses could aggravate ulcers. Interesting, but makes sense intuitivelyā¦ it was - at one point - an expected add-in for one of the barns I rode out of.
My 6yr OTTB gelding looks and feels great on:
20lbs grass hay spread into 4 feedings
2lbs alfalfa hay (Standlee compressed bale, split to be fed with his AM/PM grain)
Daily grain - split into AM/PM feedings, fed in a mash
1lb Poulin Etec Balancer
1.5lbs Timothy pellets
1.25lbs Beet pulp shreds
1lb Buckeye Ultimate Finish 25
4oz Flax
2-4oz Cool Calories in the winter, canola oil in the summer
Supplements - fed with AM grain
Elevate (during the winter)
Salt
SmartHoof (hold over from when I bought him, kept on as sort of an āif it aināt broke, donāt fix itā measure)
Thia-Cal (magnesium and B1)
Animed Brewers Yeast
Heās my eventing prospect and works 5-6x a week for 45-60mins each. Weāre up in NH so no shows right now (I try to go to a handful of shows during the summer, depending on budget). During the summer he lives out 24/7 with a small band of geldings, from November-April heās in individual turnout during the day. This horse is a fussy eater when not fed a mash, if thereās too much volume heās incredibly slow (learned not to feed alfalfa cubes), and heās ulcer-prone. Luckily he doesnāt waste hay because while he tolerates a hay rack in his stall, he refuses to eat from a hay net (although the net is perfectly fine in the trailer) :lol:
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My horse gets free choice loose hay plus a slow feeder net that I fill once a day. He prefers to finish the net first, and then continue on to the loose hay because he really likes his net for whatever reason. Which is fine, because he is an easy keeper and if he wants to eat slower, I am not complaining.
He gets 600g of a āgrain freeā Muesli. It is basically alfalfa based, with a little rice bran, and sunflower oil.
Vit/Min forumlated for EMS horses/easy keepers
100ml Flax Oil
8g MSM
The Muesli is just to mix everything together as he doesnāt need grain. The Vit/Min is a good fit for our area/the nutrients we lack in our hay. The flax oil and MSM are mainly for his allergies, not sure if they help, but they are cheap enough and Iāve noticed no negative effects.
This meal is fed once a day. If he requires medication AM/PM - usually a handful of pelleted feed will suffice. Just enough to mix with.
Heās in good condition with a shiny coat.
He works 5-6 days a week, medium work level. He does work harder in the spring/summer which is fine because the heavier work load allows him to be on some grass without getting too fat.
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Whatās a ration balancer? Honest question.
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Itās a concentrated feed, usually 30% or so protein meant to ābalanceā the nutritional needs of horses on a forage diet (pasture or hay or both). Itās fed very sparingly - just 3/4 or 1 pound for a whole dayās ration for an average horse. Some are soy based, some alfalfa based some have beet pulp, but contain a daily serving of vitamins/minerals, etc. in a very small serving.
I was not familiar either, until I came back to COTH a year ago. I guess Iād been living in my own little farm world and wasnāt familiar with newer feed offerings.
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~ 20lbs of grass hay (right now 2nd cut timothy) split into 3-4 feedings, 1 lb ration balancer, ~1 lb alfalfa leaves, few handfuls soaked beat pulp, 1/2 lb finishing touch (flax/oil crumble) and a vit E + selenium supplement. For 6 year old warmblood gelding in work 4-6 days/week and showing in summer. Easy keeper. In summer also gets oats depending on energy level.
~ 18lbs grass hay, 1/2 lb finishing touch and 1 lb ration balancer for 4 year old wamblood mare working ~ 4 days/week.
Both working horses are out all day and come in a night.
Broodmares and young horses out 24/7: Grass hay 2x/day almost free choice, ~5 lbs/day alfalfa hay, 1 lb /day ration balancer. Grazing in summer with no hay, still get ration balancer.
Broodmares when nursing get oats + beat pulp added into their ration balancer if needed.
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Oooooo - I want to hear about alfalfa leaves - is this a bagged product? I see you are in Canadaā¦ is this a Canadian thing? Alfalfa leaves sounds like a great product for my senior, as Iām having issues with the Standlee Compressed Alfalfa in that some bags are too coarse for him to chew, while others are nice and soft. Leaves might solve that problem.
(Sorry to hijack OP)
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2 airferns, one is an 11 yr old retired TB (never raced, never in race training) the other is a 6 yr old fjord in heavy work (6 days a week, getting fit for CDEs).
They get as follows:
(winter):
AM - 1.5lbs ration balancer, fjord gets 2 oz oil + MSM, E+Se & Tri-Amino, electrolytes as needed
All Day: free choice fescue hay (mix of roundbale and square bales) and free choice to himalyan salt block
PM - 1 scoop of balanced alfalfa mini cubes (forage essentials) + beet pulp pellets + 2oz oil - soaked all day, split between the two horses
Turnout is access to stall/dry lot and pasture (which is just for boredom/nibble factor and movement this time of year)
Summer:
same grain program, locked in dry lot all day with fescue hay (usually about 3/4 bale)
turnout - all night with grazing muzzles, usually 1 night of week is No Muzzle night
My biggest challenge (after a lifetime of hard keepers) is not just keeping an airfern not only not fat, but the kind of lean and fit needed to do a sport that requires 13k of trotting with only a short break in the middle AND at the same time, make sure he gets the kind of nutrition needed to build muscle. Thatās where the tri-amino comes in. As the three limiting amino acids, I figure those are the nutritional building blocks most likely to be in short supply given the constant tension between calories v. work. MSM and E-Se are primarily for muscle soreness.
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2005 TB Mare in light to medium work currently but will be showing in the summer in both show jumping and dressage. Has RER.
Per Day
2.5lbs Coolstance
1.25 lbs Renew Gold
1 lb (ish) Beet Pulp pellets (recently added)
1/4 cup iodized salt
1/2 cup chia
2 cups canola oil
Uckeleās G.U.T.
Joint Supplement (varies by what is on sale but is current Cosequin ASU)
Custom Supplement (amino acids, vitamins, minerals)
All soaked and fed in a ground tub
Orchard Grass hay - uncertain on amount
I would like her to have free choice hay but currently there is no way for that to happen. She gets the Coolstance as a carrier for her supplements/ the base of her feeding program. It was originally beet pulp shreds but I switched to Coolstance because of the higher protein and fat content. The Renew Gold is another source of fat and protein. I just added the beet pulp pellets to encourage her to finish her Coolstance by adding some flavor and texture / keep it from sticking to her feed tub as much. Oil and chia are both there for fat and omega 3s. I have recently started the Chia (beginning of January) and I am not sure I will keep feeding it. The iodized salt balances her diet in regard to iodine and sodium and chloride according to FeedXL. She is also a heavy sweater and bad drinker, so it is also to encourage her to drink. The GUT is to help her tummy since we have issues with ulcers and the joint supplement as she had her first round of hock injections recently. The thought being maybe the oral supplement will help the injections last longer.
ETA The Renew Gold, BP pellets, chia, salt, and supplements are all combined in Tupperware containers I make up (5 days worth at a time) so the barn just has to scoop out her Coolstance, dump the Tupperware, add oil and water and her food is ready to go. This helps me to know if she is getting her supplements or not and makes the barn workers jobs easier.
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Haha, that would be cool but they are not any product you can buy. I get an irrigated 100% alfalfa hay (pretty much dairy hay) for the broodmares and foals and a bunch of leaves and green āpowderā is always left under the bales. I feed it to my chickens and working horses to use it up. Itās hard to feed to the outside horses but easy to feed in a tub as a part of a grain ration for the inside ones. For the gelding I hope is it buffering his stomach acid.
Maybe you could try alfalfa pellets for your guy?
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@winter - aaahhhh! That makes total sense. Darn! Thought maybe it was something new I was unaware of. He does get alfalfa pellets in his 2 mash meals each day. I was thinking of something soft to add to his actual hay. Itās hit or miss with the compressed alfalfa as to how coarse it is. I should probably just bite the bullet and special order the chopped alfalfa hay, which my local TSC doesnāt carry in stock.
I feed her when she comes in to be ridden. Not everyone in the herd is on grain. If Iām not there theyāll bring her in and feed her for me.
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Glad you asked, and well answeredā¦
Oh I hear you, I was interested in the logistics of that if they did end up feeding her for you.
Have you always used flax oil over other oil types?
I have used rice bran oil in the past, but that was with a different horse.
I wanted the benefits and Omega 3ās of flax, but did want to add a bunch of seeds to his feed, and thought that top dressing with oil might be good. Itās not very expensive, and Iāve had no issues with keeping and shelf life so far. I may switch to seed form due to heat in the summer if I think the oil may turn rancid.
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New England/ show hunters / three small grain meals and hay all the time. Feed is Senior:Haystretcher - one meal adds rice bran- and one meal dressed with Well Gel and Equate
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