Thanks for sharing that Info! Always looking for more info and ideas about equine diets!

hi
Can anyone help please?, my daughter has a 16.3 TB at moment he is totally hypo,he bucks/rears/passes wind all at the same time,tears off down the field and up again,at speeds that leave a draft gets totally impatient at all times with all things and has decided the whole world is about him. {which in my daughters eyes it is of course}.
We do know what is causing it....food, he has recently been on sugarbeet,{which we believe is probably the primary cause of his naughtiness]calm and condition,corn oil, and chaff, she has talked it over with the vet who agrees and has said that the C & C and corn oil are fine its the sugarbeat that will be more than likely to be causing the problem and that she should get a different feed preferably something with no mallasses. Has anyone any surgestions as to what she can give him that will calm him as she wants to start ground work with him again in order to start riding again as she has just had 4 months out with a bad back.
thanks.
karin

Great subject Ronda :-) Equine nutrition is something that i am sure a great deal of horse owners - including myself here! - do not know nearly enough about! Feed, be it too much or too little, minerals, and vitamins, play a huge role in the overall health of our equines, from temperament to feet.

Karin, in your case i would look at why your horse needs supplement feeds? Does he really need it at all? Is he stalled or in a pasture? all these things contribute to what you should be feeding and why. I give my two horses, 1 is a mini, the other is a 13hh brumby, a small hard feed daily. The mini gets a handul each of oat chaff and bran, the brumby gets a hadful of lucerne chaff as well. The brumby is a baby and growing so that's why he gets the lucerne. The mini can't have sugars so he misses out on the lucerne! To this i add seaweed/kelp meal as it is a great natural way of getting minerals and trace elements in their diet. It is also the best natural source of biotin for healthy feet. I also add some sunflower seeds, chia seeds, and a bit of garlic for parasite control. I am by no means an expert in this field, far from it, but it does interest me a great deal! I would advise your daughter to do her research into what her horse really needs and find the most natural way of providing that. Whether we like it or not, almost all pre mix feeds are packed full of ingredients that we do not know about and most minerals are in synthetic form. Most have molasses and other sugars to make them taste nice.
Also if your hay is new season it probably should be soaked before feeding to get rid of the excess sugars....ahhh so much to think about hey!
Hope some of this helps a bit :-)Just a question, where abouts are you?
Janelle

Yes sugarbeat would cause your horse to be very hypo as it is such a rich food. Perhaps it is best to ask you vet for a good low protein, low sugar diet. I feed my horses a basic mixture of oaten chaff with very little oats in it about two thirds of the feed is this then the last third is mainly lucerne chaff with just a small amount of bran and rolled barley added. I mix this up in a 44 gallon drum for them each week. They have half a bucket of this each once a day when they have fair grass to nibble on but when the grass loses its nourishment I add grass hay and some clover and rye hay during the winter months. My alder horses get some additional lucerne chaff and barley. This works well for me but there are numerous low energy mixes on the market which you could investigate and if your horse is this hypo I would just add good quality grass hay. However do some research - try Ronda's internet site for starters and there are numerous other sites on horse nutrition and feed which you may care to check out.

Hi

thank you both for your advice i will let my daughter read it for herself [i will not explain it all clearly} im sure she will understand it all much more than me,
in answer to your question janelle we live just on the edge of christchurch dorset between christchurch and bournemouth our horses are at ripley and winkton just outside christchurch, hopes this helps your question.
many thanks
karin