If Seminole feeds were available here, I would strongly consider switching to them. I love their ingredients lists and nutrition info.
I have heard they have a great reputation!!! Thanks for mentioning them
Have you fed oats before? Youād be surprised how ālittleā you need to feed if a horse is on grass or full hay 24/7, turnout, and quality forage. That goes for any grain, really, but I have had really good results with oats.
Iāve fed oats to my TBs just fine. None needed more than 2 quarts total daily; oats is one of those things that is great with grass, high quality hay, alfalfa pellets, vit/min supplement and a source of fat like corn oil. Right now my gelding is on Poulin Fibremax & alfalfa pellets because that is what the farm feeds, but in the past he did very well on oats/alfalfa.
Like Manni01 I have seen hard keepers thrive on oats. My favorite was an older horse on Cavalor for the last 10 years; owner went through a really rough patch and had to downgrade the $$$$$ foodā¦ we suggested oats/alfalfa, and the horse filled out and bloomed. Youād be surprised; barring NSC issues or metabolic problems, oats can be the answer to a lot of sport horse diets.
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My PSG horse is a special needs boy. He was unfortunately in a high-stress barn as a young horse, and consequently developed hindgut ulcers and seemingly a grass allergy along with them. He does the best on a straight alfalfa diet with no pasture turnout, so I supplement with vitamin E to compensate for lack of pasture. There are a couple of recent studies showing that horses without access to fresh grass are pretty much all vitamin E deficient.
He also gets Purina Wellsolve low starch, more alfalfa pellets (it was a struggle to get the barn to feed him straight alfalfa so I found it easier to add more feed myself via pellets than rock the boat for more flakes), magnesium and a joint supplement.
Not directly, but I did work at barn when I was young that had a few horses on oats. I was too young at the time to ask pertinent questions, however, so my memory of this is fuzzy! Iāve looked into it for a few of my horses, but nothing about their diets was ever ābrokenā in such a way that I felt I needed a complete switch to āfixā it.
I HAVE been mulling over trying to switch this guy over to a mix of the Crypto Aero and Renew Gold for extra fat, plus Platinum Performance. Iāve been a little hesitant because of the starchiness of the Crypto Aero, (which does have whole oats.)
Iāve only had this guy for a couple of months, heās on the feed heās on simply because thatās what he came to me with. Heās in good health, but I canāt help but feel like a little change in feed might help him have a little more energy and be able to continue building muscle as we keep working harder. Thatās just my gut instinct though.
Itās also tough to get good alfalfa where I am, as well, which I would like him on. Currently he just gets a scoop of chopped alfalfa with each meal.
There were a few threads on the āHorse Care Forumā regarding Crypto Aero. The consensus was that it was high in NSC, lacking in basic nutrients and fairly $$ for what it is. You would be better off either going Manniās route with oats and a VM supplement or a fortified feed with more nutrition.
I donāt know about anyone else, but I can tell you why I feed a complete pelleted feed instead of oats + V/M. I live where pasture 24/7 (or even a few hours/day) doesnāt exist. So all of my horseās nutrition comes from what I buy, so I want to make sure it is balanced. Oats are great in a lot of ways, but have a high amount of phosphorus relative to calcium. I could try to balance that with alfalfa, which would also provide protein, but it is really hard to adjust for the different quality of hay throughout the year.
The fact of the matter is, for lots of horses complete feeds are better than oats, and there is data (not anecdotes or opinions) to support that. Nutritional Secondary Hyperparathyroid Disease (or ābig headā) is caused by a low calcium-phosphorus ratio, which can come from feeding too much grain or grazing in areas where certain plants grow. (http://www.agsolutions.com.au/megamiā¦ead-in-horses/). Indeed, for horses living in those areas a diet of straight oats might in fact be fatal.
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Since youāre feeding a purina product already with the ultium, have you looked into purinaās super sport? Itās specifically designed for building long and lean muscles, top line, and adding energy boost
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Any feed mix that is low in NSC% and high in fat%.
Ultium is great. But they need like 15lbs a day. My horses would be crazy stupid fat. In Moderate work they only need 1-2 lbs of feed. And I only feed once a day since itās so little bulk.
So the products I use to make each horseās specific feed are:
Diet Balancer: 1-1.5lb
Purina Amplify: adjustable
Purina Ultium: adjustable
Electrolyte year round
Uckele Tri Amino: adjustable
And they get a tube of Suceed after each workout
Alfalfa: 1 flake
Coastal hay: all you can eat
Am I the only one whoās given up on Ultium because itās always full of bugs?
I havenāt had issues with Ultium and bugs, but gave up on it a long time ago because it does not keep weight well on any of our horses without feeding it twice what they need from other grains - same with Sentinel LS. I never loved the condition of any of our horses when they were on Ultium - they had good weight but not ābloomingā ā¦ but for a while it was the only high fat/high protein grain in our area.
Iāve found much better success with Poulin FibreMax.
Oats are not a complete feed, they are high in phosphorus and must be calcium balanced - for example, alfalfa is high in calcium. They also lack lysine which is important for muscle development. Before the days of research that results in a more nutritious feed, all we had was cereal grains - oats, corn, and barley. And oats was the best of those three options. But science and research have given us better options now, which is why so few people use oats now.
BTW, your oats have hulls, unless you are feeding rolled oats. Whole oats consist of the hull and grain āmeatā. The hulls provide necessary digestible fiber. Soy is an inexpensive form of protein, which is probably lacking if your horses eat grass hay or Timothy.
The other thing to remember is oats are high in starch, which is not healthy for a lot of horses. So there are a lot of reasons that many knowledge people donāt feed oats. If a horse has metabolic issues, or could be susceptible to such issues (such as ponies, some WBs, baroque breeds, Morganās, Arabians, etc), oats are not going to be a good option.
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I will have to take a look when I get back after Labor Day. I already made up the daily baggies and left instruction to last the entire summer with the mix of Ultium and Empower included.
The Phoenix metro area is a weird market for horse feeds. Itās huge in population and every suburb allows horsekeeping, and yet, I have found feed stores to be limited in what they carry. I think itās because Arabians and QH/APHA make up such an large segment of the horse population that their needs and orders are catered to above anything else.
Iām only guessing thatās the reason but for some reason they just donāt keep many options in stock. I had to drop Cavalor for that reason, and I used to add in Renew Gold a few horses ago, which also became harder and harder to locate over time.
As I wrote before everybody can feed whatever they are comfortable withā¦ If it makes you feel better to try to prove that feeding oats it bad. Thats ok.
And funny that you think that I donāt know that oats has hulls 
That is kind of cuteā¦ I get hulls with my oats and I know exactly how many hulls I haveā¦ If I buy pellets I donāt know. And as I said before I donāt need inexpensive Soyprotein in my feedā¦
And BTW my 24 year old pony loves oats and looks amazingā¦
You can laugh at science and research, that is fine with me. Just explaining why some choose to use formulated feeds, since you questioned why anyone would do so. My riding horse would founder under your chosen equine diet. I too have an oldster - a 29 year old retired warmblood mare who looks pretty fabulous too. Sheās never had plain oats in her life. One horse is not a scientific study. I realize you disdain any modern scientific advancements, including feed and joint injections. That is your choice, but many of us choose differently.
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Peace!!! Believe what you believe and I believe what I believeā¦
Science is not a belief system. Couldnāt resist. :lol:
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Agree science is not. But to call modern pellets science is not correct. If a company performs studies in order to promote their food thatās not scienceā¦more marketing. And as I said before I use A vitamin mineral supplement with it. So MOR can try to be a little nasty as much as she wants, She is missing the pointā¦
Guys, donāt even waste your time.
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Agreed:D
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