A little bit about my old man, his name is Ghost (I'll let you guess what color he is) and he's 28, my childhood best friend who I've had for 12 years now, and also has lost quite a few teeth over the years with his old age.
His typical diet is Purina senior, beet pulp and/or hay squares, mixed together with warm water (we usually even leave it to soak overnight and during the day after breakfast, he has to eat twice otherwise he starts slimming down because he can hardly eat hay due to his dental issues). He has pasture turnout in the day and at night he stays shut in the gated area by our barn with the rest of our horses. I was at dinner with my family and we were talking about his diet, because we just had a bit of a scare this Easter weekend when he had a colic episode. We actually all feared we'd have to put him down and I was nearly heartbroken, but after a visit from the vet and some of that mineral oil in his system he bounced back, but we're being especially cautious about what he eats and how much he eats in one sitting now.
Long backstory I know, but I'm trying to be detailed here so that I can get an informed response. While we were at dinner I recalled this bran mash mix I used to feed him as a kid from time to time that maybe some of you heard of, Equine Edibles Candy Cane Recipe bran mash (they have other flavors but this was his mash of choice). Unfortunately they're not operating business right now so I was looking into other companies that sold bran mash mixes and home recipes, etc. and also came across the hundreds of articles and threads about how bran isn't something horses need/doesn't help their health/etc. etc. So naturally my paranoid self is trying to cross check all the articles and sources and see who's telling the truth and who isn't, because I don't want him to eat anything to further deteriorate his health or give him another episode like we just had.
I definitely wouldn't be feeding him bran mash daily, once a week at most if not once every few weeks with some chopped up carrots/apples/etc., just as a special soft treat for him since he's my spoiled old man. He can be quite a piggy if it's soft enough for him to eat and loves treats, he can't eat much of the hard nugget treats the rest of our horses enjoy unless I find REALLY small ones in the bucket, so I'm trying to find something to whip up just for him. If kept in LIGHT moderation like that, is a bran mash mix that detrimental to his health?
His typical diet is Purina senior, beet pulp and/or hay squares, mixed together with warm water (we usually even leave it to soak overnight and during the day after breakfast, he has to eat twice otherwise he starts slimming down because he can hardly eat hay due to his dental issues). He has pasture turnout in the day and at night he stays shut in the gated area by our barn with the rest of our horses. I was at dinner with my family and we were talking about his diet, because we just had a bit of a scare this Easter weekend when he had a colic episode. We actually all feared we'd have to put him down and I was nearly heartbroken, but after a visit from the vet and some of that mineral oil in his system he bounced back, but we're being especially cautious about what he eats and how much he eats in one sitting now.
Long backstory I know, but I'm trying to be detailed here so that I can get an informed response. While we were at dinner I recalled this bran mash mix I used to feed him as a kid from time to time that maybe some of you heard of, Equine Edibles Candy Cane Recipe bran mash (they have other flavors but this was his mash of choice). Unfortunately they're not operating business right now so I was looking into other companies that sold bran mash mixes and home recipes, etc. and also came across the hundreds of articles and threads about how bran isn't something horses need/doesn't help their health/etc. etc. So naturally my paranoid self is trying to cross check all the articles and sources and see who's telling the truth and who isn't, because I don't want him to eat anything to further deteriorate his health or give him another episode like we just had.
I definitely wouldn't be feeding him bran mash daily, once a week at most if not once every few weeks with some chopped up carrots/apples/etc., just as a special soft treat for him since he's my spoiled old man. He can be quite a piggy if it's soft enough for him to eat and loves treats, he can't eat much of the hard nugget treats the rest of our horses enjoy unless I find REALLY small ones in the bucket, so I'm trying to find something to whip up just for him. If kept in LIGHT moderation like that, is a bran mash mix that detrimental to his health?