This thread is blowing my mind. I have an 8yo ottb who’s isn’t even at half that level of work (BN eventer,) and I just had to up his feed for the summer as we get into heavier work (tribute kalm ultra + supplements.) What breeds are y’all feeding on oats and hay?!
I have an OTTB dressage horse who is doing 3rd level who gets a LOT more than just oats and hay lolol! Mine gets 2.5lbs of Kalm Ultra plus 0.5lbs of Triple Crown 30% protein balancer (similar to Essential K) twice daily plus as much hay as he wants. He is also out overnight on a grassy field.
My horse who is in full time FEI work gets daily Ultium combined with some Empower.
The Empower is relatively new. I’ve been trying it for about six weeks now, on my trainer’s recommendation. He has a hard time building and keeping a well-developed topline. We had him there this spring and then he presented with some intestinal issues, was hospitalized twice, and lost a lot of muscle tone after just a couple of weeks out of work and on antibiotics.
The feeds are mixed with some MSM for joint health and a daily probiotic and his electrolytes. He is back to himself now and schooling at about the I2-GP level work four days per week in a very hot climate while I am away for the Summer. He’s confirmed I1 in the show ring, I am only confirmed to Third Level.
He’d look like a rack of clothes on nothing but hay and oats at his level of work. He’s an 11yo Westfalen.
Assorted warmbloods and Andalusians. There is one TB and he requires much more, even in light work.
We also have good pasture and great quality hay 24/7.
Hm. I have never had to feed my FEI horses more for energy. As they get in condition, they have more energy. Maybe it’s because the norm here is to feed half alfalfa and half grass hay.
All of my horses get about a quart of cob as a treat each day with flax. They also get vitamin e and selenium added because of the soil here. I have never had to feed an FEI horse more.
As horses hit about 12/14, I added msm, glucosamine, and chondroitin.
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My trainer feeds her PSG horse a low starch ProElite. Her GP horse gets ProElite Performance. Both get Buckeye Ultimate Finish and an electrolyte. Basic good quality timothy hay for both. GP horse recently had alfalfa cubes added to his diet.
I think Oats combined with a Vitamin Mineral Supplement is more of a Quality feed then many of these other feeds mentioned here…
I looked up some of them for the ingredients and they consist of shredded hulls and other things. There was no oats but only corn 
I don’t get it why people feed things like that… With oats I know what my horses get… and its very easy to up it or reduce it. for more or less energy…
So I don’t really understand your post… I get it that people feed all these feeds but they are not better then just oats… But thats only my stupid opinion…
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Dutch Warmblood and a PRE. I’ve had my fair share of allergy horses, and oats plus a proper vit/min balancer is a really unobjectionable diet for them. It’s hard to manage allergy horses on commercial feeds. Heck - it’s hard finding a balancer that doesn’t contain triggers.
The horse I have on Ultium is certainly easier from a human standpoint.
Stupid Americans, thinking science might improve your horse’s health. :no:
I’m finding this thread interesting. I have horses who are hot, but need calories to maintain weight and muscle tone, not energy. Not at that level yet, though. But I watch my trainer and his wife struggle with her mare they refer to as being built like a supermodel - tall and all legs. She isn’t naturally powerful and carrying, so needs extra nutrition to help support building muscles. She has shown through either PSG or I-1, and is learning the GP work now. The mare herd gets about 10lbs of alfalfa per horse once a day, 10 lbs of timothy mix per horse once a day, and free choice bermuda which ends up being about 30 lbs per horse per day on average. So each horse ends up with around 50 lbs/day of hay. I think the FEI horse who struggles to maintain weight is also getting about 10 lbs of Nutrena Safechoice Perform and 6 lbs of alfalfa pellets. I’m not certain on her feed, she may be getting Senior instead to help with weight.
My mare gets just the Perform, about 5 lbs, and the same available amount of hay in the herd. She’s looking as if she got in with one of the stallions right now, but when she cycles again she drops weight in a hurry, so I like her having a bit extra in reserve.
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My PSG/I1 horse gets a pound of ration balancer (Triple Crown 30%), a handful of alfalfa pellets, beet pulp, Respire and steamed grass hay. He’s turned out about 14 hours a day on pasture.
I guess you are right… specifically if this type of science was performed in order make food producing companies rich…
Did you ever look up the ingredients of your food??
The one I looked up contained a lot of soy and shredded oat hulls and corn… for me hulls are nothing valuable, and soy and corn is nothing I would choose to feed my horse…
And additionally every year horses die because they get contaminated food by some company
And weren’t there even cases of doping because of contaminated food???
A lot of risk …
And for the record everybody can feed whatever they like but I don’t think it’s correct to state that oats is inferior to commercial food
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Oof, maybe my post came across as condescending or something? Certainly not my intent, in fact the opposite - My question was genuine curiosity. To clarify, I pretty much obsess over my horses’ feed, including talking to my vet and a third party nutritionist. (There are also some posts I’ve made in the past on this same topic.)
So, I for one certainly track everything my horses’ feed is made of, as well as the nutritional content. In fact, my interest lies in the fact that I have been looking into the pros/cons of feeding oats as opposed to a complete feed; as well as going in the opposite direction and trying a grain-free diet. I was surprised to hear that so many upper level horses were on JUST hay/oats with no other nutritional supplement needed, as my reading had led me to believe that oats are fairly starchy and don’t necessarily cover any nutritional deficiencies that could crop up in many types of common pasture-grasses? (I am not super well-versed in this, just started looking into it recently.)
I certainly did NOT imply that complete feeds were better/worse than oats as a concentrate. I don’t think that. I am genuinely interested in both, and where they make the most sense.
It sounds like the oat diet that a lot of early commenters were discussing is common in two scenarios: a) Europe (which I have heard before, now that I recall it.) b) Some of the more baroque breeds, who are fairly easy keepers and may just need some extra calories for energy.
At any rate, this thread is super interesting to me!
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I agree with you that only feeding oats is not enough. I have always been feeding a vitamin/mineral supplement with it. But I honestly like to see what my horses are getting. I don’t trust any pellets. And I have had horses all my life and I always fed oats.
A couple of years ago I had an old TB which was on pelleted food before I got her. She was not a hard keeper but she did look bad on that food. Her skin was breaking and she looked old. When I switched her to oats, She thrived!!! She loved it and refused to eat any more pellets and after a while nobody recognized her anymore because she looked so great… I have had great experiences with oats all my life and I am not going to change to pellets…
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Is it possible you are confusing hulls with bran? I know of no commercial feed that includes hulls, but most include bran.
eta: lo and behold Ultium does list oat hulls as an ingredient!
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For hard keepers who are in heavy work I like either LMF Gold or an organic feed made by Modesto milling balanced for California hay called Horse Plus. It has no fillers, corn or soy and has organic oats, barley, peas, sunflower seeds, flax, coconut meal, kelp, and vitamins/minerals. I add extra flax and canola oil. They also make an organic ration balancer/vitamin mineral pellet called the horse supplement pellet that I feed the easy keepers.
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yes… oat hulls, soybean hulls, soy and corn are listed as ingredients… I am sure its a great feed and a lot of people seem to feed it.
That sounds interesting! It sounds like crypto aero, which I’d been looking into https://www.chewy.com/crypto-aero-wholefood-horse-feed-25/dp/143749?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=f&utm_content=Crypto%20Aero&utm_term=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwrKqotKU3AIVSVcNCh0FoQNcEAQYBSABEgKeuvD_BwE#pdpGallery
The thing that made me hesitate is I can’t seem to find the nutrition breakdown anywhere, and I really like knowing the fat/protein/starch ratios, as well as percentage of other key nutrients
@HereComesZach click on the Nutritional Info tab on the Chewy page, it’s all there on the right hand side.
Enrich plus as a balancer, hay and a bit of alfalfa. Also add Bute Less herbs to deal with inflammation
FYI, Seminole wellness herb mix no corn. Oats are there. And the hulls provide fiber, thats why they are in the feed. Same with the Calm and cool.
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