Feeding Oats (United States horse folks)

This is what I base all my feeding around besides my forage.
Equine Supplement-Triple Crown Pelleted 30% Equine Supplement

A ration balancer is just a name for a nutrient dense feed that delivers all the nutrients a horse on a forage based diet needs without alot of calories and sugars.

My Sr feed is not grain based like a traditional feed you might think of with corn and oats etc. I only use this when I need to add calories as it can be percentaged easily with my 30% balancer and not throw levels off. I try to keep all my horses on a low non structural carbohydrate program. Grains are usually quite high in those as a rule. Im not opposed to oats. I have fed them before but had to still buy a balancer to complete a nutrient profile.
Here is its page with ingredient listing.

Senior Horse Feed | Triple Crown Senior Horse Feed Formula Helps Keep Older Horses Healthier

I agree about having grains in the poo to encourage the birds to spread it. Sure helps with flies.

Btw I picked I don't feed grain because none of the other options were appropriate for me.

My article isn't focusing on horse nutrition. It's focusing on markets. I am always curious about what other horse owners think, but our subscribers aren't horse owners.

I am aware of Hoffmans. In fact, I'm planning to buy some of their minerals tomorrow to try out on my horses.

Thanks for that link, Trinity.

Right. I'm just saying that nutrition (and value) is what guides my purchasing. I want the most bang for my buck so completely balanced rations are usually more cost effective and less steps at feed time.

I buy oats in the summer because I can get 800 lbs for 67$ the TC senior I pay 23 dollars a 50lb bag. So I feed more oats in summer to cut feed cost our horses get riden hard 6 days a week. The oats make my horse more hot and ready to go go go we cover a lot of miles that way.

Wow. Oats here were 8 dollars for 50 lbs of "race horse oats" but that was 5 or 6 years ago. Im certain its higher now.

I buy them from a local farmer he's way cheaper then the feed stores. I bought 800 from feed store it was 126. Local fleet farm 50lbs of oats is 11 dollars a bag. I can get 1,100 pounds for 87 dollars from farmer so yeah that's why I feed more oats then TC senior. Mind you my horses get NO grain in winter months that's from NOV to March. I feed grain starting in april when we start riding. The feeding is forage based for the most part.

Sorry, I was responding to Anebel re: the article. What you're saying makes sense.

I don't use oats because my horses don't really need grain.

As to their safety, they are safer than most grains. I went to a farm several years ago. The owner had a lot of 2 year old colts that he was trying to get to gain weight. He had a giant feeder that was full of oats. These colts had oats in front of them 24/7. I almost had a heart attack, but none of the colts got sick.

I feed a small amount (3 cups) of whole oats mixed with a 1/2 cup of whole flax and a cup of a local mixed ration balancer (Northwest Horse Supplement for dry mares and stallions). It's a small amount of grain, has no sugar, and is all whole grain. The oats just make the meal a little bigger. The flax has improved coats and weight maintenance. The ration balancer (called supplement out here in Oregon) is made for our region to balance out our local grass and hay supplies. Otherwise, it's all grass hay or forage on our fields. I like how the birds help spread manure for me too!
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