Mineral Blocks and Pelleted Feed

I was talking to my farrier about pelleted feed and mineral/salt blocks and he insisted that both were bad for horses. The pelleted feed he insisted were bad for horses because the pellets are baked which causes the natural enzymes to die which causes the pellets to be harder to digest. Which could cause your horse to develop a stomach ulcer. He also said that the mineral/salt blocks were bad because the minerals are not natural which makes them not easily circulated throughout the horses body.

Now I am very skeptical about both of his claims on these two topics. I am just wondering what other people who are knowledgeable about horses think about what my farrier claims.

Thanks

I use pelleted feeds exclusively. I also use a (brown) mineral block.

All ya need to do is pick a good brand of feed, make certain that it contains the proper vitamin/mineral package for your particular horse(s) and follow the directions on the bag.
Works fine for me.

On the other hand, most grains ARE hard to digest. If ya don't believe that, just feed yours some real "grainy" sweetfeed this coming fall and watch all the oats sprout-up out of their manure.

DGW

Mare mare is on a pelleted food and she has access to a plain (white) salt block and she's fine.

Hasn't had any problems

Me too, never fed anything other than pelleted feed and this time of year when the grass nutrition is waneing I put out a mineral block. Never had any problems. I agee with DGW about the whole grain diet not digesting as well as a pellet. The digestive system of a horse is pretty much a straight shot from front to back so you want the feed to be as easily digestable as possible for absorption into their system. Does that make sense?

Yeah makes sense to me... my farrier was saying something about how pellets are baked or cooked when being processed, and that destroys the natural enzymes that makes it easy to digest and that it can cause a stomach ulcer. Although he did say it shouldn't be a big problem for my horses because they are mainly on grass which provides them with a lot of the natural digestive enzymes from the grass.

Grain is a personal preference. Owning and Managing a boarding/training facility for 15 years and having several different breedings and competition styles, I have fed a pelleted feed and have had no problems (no colics), and no mice. Pelleted feed is highly digestible. Contact your nutritionalist from the brand you are feeding. Based on the hay, grass or pasture they will come up with the best program for you. I highly recommend the Kent/Blue Seal Brand. I personally don't like the mineral blocks, I use the loose minerals.

but they are found in rocks and dirt and such - how much more natural can you get??? I know that if people don't get enough minerals, they will start to eat dirt (pica) - horses are the same way :)

Anything cooked or processed has less nutritional value than raw...even for human food...ie raw carrots more nutritional thank cooked carrots. Never heard about the ulcer connection though? But alot of the ulcer research in horses is just getting understood...so its possible I guess...but sounds extreme to me.

As far as I know about minerals...if the horse doesnt need it it just gets sent out of the body without being absorbed...I think the only mineral you really have to worry about overdose problems is selenium.

I actually switched my horses over to a pelleted food because they tend to have less NSC (?) than most and after doing alot of research felt I would have less issues with any type of future foundering, colic, etc by going that route. Also encountered my first horse with cushings (a friends horse) and that prompted my research on what I was really feeding my horses. I also put a white salt block out for them.

I was also told by my nutritonalist that salt blocks were not good. They have a lot of molasses in them and sugars that makes the horse chew them down so you have to buy more.
I use progressive grass mineral. It is like a granual.