I just started Nova on alfalfa cubes about 3 weeks ago and am starting to increase the amount alittle bit (she usually gets about 5 full size cubes soaked) and now she's up to 8. She is ok with the alfalfa but I usually have to mix it with a little sweet feed and I would rather feed something else but our feed store doesn't have very good quality feeds. This may sound funny but I was wondering if it would be a better idea to just cut up some apples (deseeded) and carrots to mix in place of the sweet feed. What are your thoughts on this?
Currently she's getting fed 5-7 pounds Timothy x clover mix hay 3 times a day and now the alfalfa cubes.
Why take the seeds out of the apples? At first glance it looked like you were wanting to feed cubes that were 2 years old. My brain must be a bit slow today due to the cold. I wouldn't be giving a young horse sweet feed-it can lead to a lot of problems. Are you trying to say she doesn't have much appetite? Is she skinny or on the way there?
I also thought old cubes at first. If it was me in your situation, I would probably go for soaked beet pulp over sweet feed to help put weight on. I always think sweet feed is the equine chocolate bar - quite tasty but doesn't do much to contribute to overall health.
One the subject of apples, I give my horses the whole apple - core and all. It's not bothered them at all.
When I "do" beet pulp, by the way, I soak it at the rate of one part beet pulp to two parts water. If you're using cold water, it takes about three hours minimum for the pulp to soak up the water (it takes about half an hour if you use really hot water but I found my horses seem to prefer it cooler than warmer). I don't know how long you're soaking your cubes but you'd want them done at the same time, I'm sure. Since you'll have them done at the same time, I see no reason why you can't just dump them all together in the feed bin. When I used to feed my senior horse, I'd dump the beet pulp in first and put his soaked complete feed in on top of it - he was fine with chowing down that way.