hope you feel better now 
if you read the thread obviously there are more people who feed oats to their upper level dressage horses. Maybe it works???
I never feed any of my horses straight oats. Way too high NSC!
I believe high quality forage is the basis of any diet. I have my hay tested every year and itās amazing how differently it tests every year even though itās coming off the same field! I base the concentrates I feed on my hay analysis and the individual horse with assistance from our local nutritionist. During the summer my 4th/PSG mare is on grass 24/7 and doesnāt require any extra calories to maintain weight so she is just on a ration balancer, Buckeye Gro n Win 1.5 lbs a day. During the winter she requires extra calories since she is not on pasture and needs a lot of calories to stay warm during our cold Canadian winters, so she gets about 5 lbs a day of Buckeye Cadence UItra. She gets loose salt with her grain as well. In some years where my hay analysis has shown a high Ca:P ration Iāve added Buckeye Alpha Plus minerals to even that out.
To be honest itās never occurred to me to feed to increase energy. Most of my horses are hotter types and if I donāt think they are energetic enough I consider it part of my job as a trainer to work on getting the more in front of the leg.
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Just wondering why you are determined to pick a fight with MOR over something I said? Actually, thatās a rhetorical question that does not need a response. And putting little smiley faces after it does not make it ok.
If you had read her response, her message was that one size does not fit allā¦ Trust me when I say that not everything on the internet is directed at you personally.
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maybe look at post #52. In fact I wonder why she always needs to pick a fight with me.
Mine get either alfalfa/timothy or alfalfa/oat hay and then Renew Gold plus vitamin/mineral and joint supplements.
i will repost #52 in its entirety. Picking a fight? Stating real info based on scientific research is not picking a fight, although it may feel threatening to those who ignore the research. I do not like to see misinformation posted, too many people rely on info in these forums. My comment on oat hulls (since you responded to that with your favorite series of emoticons) was in response to your comment
Post 52 in its unedited entirety:
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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and again, you are picking a fightā¦ you question my choice of emoticons and also in another post you mention that I don Ā“t like injections which has really nothing to do with this threadā¦
Remember this thread was the question what you feed your 4th level dressage horseā¦
But as I said before, if it makes you feel good continueā¦
Letās tone it down, keep the focus on the topic, and not get mired in perceived slights, etc.
Thanks,
Mod 1
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My GP horse gets a fair amount of energy from concentrates. She also cannot have soy, which is in most processed feeds, as she gets skin issues from it. She gets a minimum of 6 pounds, up to 10 pounds, of 50/50 Triple Crown Naturals and Crypto Aero, plus two cups per day of Omega Grande (flax based vitamin/mineral supplement). She has tons of energy on this. When I took her down to Omega Grande plus 2 pounds of alfalfa pellets a day (because she was getting fat on a richer hay that the barn had), she completely lost her oomph.
I did not have to give her this much starch until I hit these levels. She was eating a ration balancer at 2 pounds plus hay before.
Let me also add that sufficient protein and building blocks for muscles is vital at the FEI levels. I like to supplement BCAAs, which I give before and after riding, and L glutamine, which she gets with breakfast. If I have alfalfa available, sheāll get 2 flakes a day. Mine is a big muscle bound horse, though, and probably needs more support than lighter horses. That said, she never gets stiff or sore in her muscles on this plan.
Iāll chime in since Iāve made a fairly recent diet change with my naturally quiet, easy keeper since quality FEI work really does require so much more energy in every step. Some show days I wish I could add a gallon of cold brew coffee to his breakfast to see if we can kill it on the (formerly included) impulsion score! Iām still trying to figure out if I can further optimize his diet, so Iām interested to see what others are doing. Heās not running out of energy on this diet, but itās not necessarily making him hotter either. Heās about as heavy as Iām okay with right now and higher starch diets can upset his digestive system, so I have to keep that in mind when making changes.
The following AM and PM. Everything is equal in both feedings so the barn doesnāt have to worry about AM/PM differences (I pre-make baggies):
2lbs organic alfalfa pellets
1/2 cup flax seed
3/4 cup Renew Gold (yes, I know it has flax in it too :))
Horse Tech vitamin granules (1/2 a daily dose per feeding)
Apple a day electrolytes (amount varies on current temperatures)
MSM
Lots of timothy hay and a few hours on great pasture if the weather is nice (Iād love to have more pasture time but itās not possible since I live in a busy metro).
My experience has been feeding plenty of Lucerne hay and a complete grain mix incorporating oats sunflower seed and corn to FEI horses + electrolytes.They work hard and build enough muscle to use all that. Itās hard to imagine how they can build enough muscle to do the work on a fat pony diet low in calories and protein?
Because even if a FEI horse is competing and heavily schooling they still are somewhat true to their type. I know many PREās that are kept on a fat pony diet. You can get some protein and amino acids into them via supplements and ration balancers. You can also adjust calories accordingly. But you cannot adjust NSC, it has to stay low for these laminitis prone fatty types. Yes, even in hard work. They still manage to build enough muscle because proper work and proper nutrition for them is enough. Some have more needs than others. Just like humans. I know some people that have to take gobs of protein and mass builders to gain muscle, others just workout hard and somewhat watch their diet. Not all horses require the same amount of calories. It would be nice if they did, but you have to look at the horse in front of you.
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