Which hay is best to feed...

An Oxymoron is an incongruous or self contradictory statement. That doesn't apply. Many Ration Balancers are not high in fat (they are high in protein); however, the particular RB I use is high in fat (22% vs. 5% in others roughly) because it is made for horses that tend to be hard keepers or in heavy work.

OP, for a mini you can call Smartpak and get a smaller 'pak' that fits the nutritional needs of the smaller horse, but, honestly, after shipping, you will be spending a lot more than buying just a vitamin - if you are really confused about what he needs I would recommend a 1 month membership to FeedXL.com. You can mess around with different diets, even plug in soaking hay and put in that your horse has laminitis, and try to come up with something that will be cost effective and nutritionally effective for your horse. I did it for my 3 horses, and I cut out about $400 per year in costs just figuring out what I did and did not need. If you have a scale of some sort, it does help because then you can weigh your hay. A bathroom scale works fine because you can just weigh yourself, get off and pick up the hay and then get back on and do the math - that's what I did for a really long time until my husband found an old mailing scale at a garage sale, but I have now gotten very good at judging the weight of hay! I still weigh for my easy keepers.

I would look for local grass hay that is for horses in your area and not go with Johnson grass.

Ok now how do I convince my dad that the hay we feed my horses is bad? Every time I confront him about it, he gives me the same lecture, "ive been around horses all my life and this is what we've always done! I've lived much longer than you so I know more than you! So don't act like a know it all...." and yaddah yaddah yaddah.
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lol lol lol lol lol The orchard grass part isn't bad, but the Johnson grass leaves a lot to be desired. Do your horses eat the Johnson Grass? Mine all nose it into a big pile, if there's any in their hay.

One of the hardest thing for us oldtimer/long timers is to change our spots - we just know the way we've been doing things has worked for years and we're not about to stop now

I had to learn that lesson the hard way when two of my horses developed metabolic issues. The way I feed today does not even remotely resemble how I fed a horse 10 - 20 - 30 - 40 years ago.

That's right. I am old enough to be retired, started riding the work horses when I was two; started breaking & training my granddad's horses when I was 12; bought and paid for my first horse at age 12 and haven't been without a horse since

I said all that to say:

Copy/paste this thread, including the Posters' names, to a word doc or just copy right from this screen, and print everything off. Highlight my screen name. He should read everyone's comments but I am probably older than your father, so he should respect his Elders and read what I wrote

Essentially, all your dad has to do is buy the Minis some orchard grass/mix hay that is free of Johnson Grass and free of alfalfa. All horses need 1.5% to 2% of their DESIRED body weight in forage (hay & pasture or just hay), so you won't be buying as much hay for the Mini's as you would for a standard sized horse

I sure don't profess to know everything and I never will but, please point out to your dad, that while I have the deepest understanding and respect of his mindset and yes that is how things should be, it just isn't that way anymore

I hope he doesn't say "why not" because I will then be forced to ask the nutrition gurus for help in writing an unbiased and boring "forum book" he doesn't want to read

Letting him read this thread is the most sensible way I can think of, to get your dad to try something different, and equally as important, keep you from getting grounded

Ill show my dad this wen I get home this wknd then! Funny thing is im too old to be grounded but to him im still his lil girl! Of course with all dads that wont change lol!

Oopsie, sorry - I was thinking you were younger

Yes, you will be "Daddy's Little Girl" until you're 65

"It is written" that Dads must magically have all the right answers for their daughters and nobody will be good marriage material for you - lol lol lol

Good luck with this

Doh, I always get those two mixed up. It always feels like steaming should dissolve the sugars or something

I generally think of ration balancers as "all of the nutrients of fortified grain without the calories" so to me, a "high fat ration balancer" does seem like a contradiction.

If you don't mind sharing, which ration balancer do you use?

Timothy is a grass hay and a good one to feed. It is cut during the hottest part of the day and when all growth has stopped so being high in sugars is not an issue. If you put the hay in several small mesh hay nets it will slow them down and because it does they will digest more nutrients from the hay. You have to watch they don't gain weight when using a small mesh net. You may have to feed a little less.

yea! Im a college student going into fine arts! Anyway I gave my dad a call and read ur post outloud and I think I finally got through to him! He said from now on we'll just cut the hay earlier in the yr where its just orchard grass!

my horses are overweight as it is lol! Im thinking this wknd ill put them on a lead rope and just walk them around for some excersize