oats for all horses?

^^that!

I had horses who couldn't have oats, they'd go absolutely nuts with just a pound a day, but did fine on barley and corn. Others could eat 10lbs of oats without ever doing a step too fast.
And, oats used to be cheap. Not no more, since they're out of fashion and are not being grown much .

Whole oats around here cost the same as cracked corn or wet cob and less than any kind of "complete" feed (read strategy, etc.). So i'm not so sure it's a cost thing everywhere. My horse gets oats but no where near the recommended amounts per that article linked here. It's all fascinating though.

Loosie - I had heard something once about trimming to exact angles but had never seen it in person nor met a farrier who would do that so I didn't know it was a named method, etc. I think i'm rather glad I hadn't! :P

Funny how things change, back in the day the feed shed at the stables I used to work was a fascinating place of endless metal dustbins each containing a separate feed.

In the corner was a huge dome topped bin that held the bran, a scoop was added to every bucket to start with, and then every horse had an individual ration made up from rolled oats, brusied barley, flaked maize. Then there were bins of shredded beet, some fancy boarders had the latest thing a pre mix food, silly them fancy paying all that money for what we were already mixing at home, pony nuts, and sometimes steamed squashed peas.

The ponies were never given oats as it was considered to make them to hot, that was reserved for the bigger guys, although we did up the oat ration for everyone prior to hunting days. Barley and or maize were the standard weight gain staples, and the bran was used mainly as a mixer, everything was fed damp and the bran bound it, or held anything that was added to the ration, I can't remember what was fed as supplements, apart from making linseed (flax) jelly. Bran mashes were always set up on hunting mornings and then fed for supper when the horses got home.

I now feed whole oats during the winter, mixed with a little soaked beet and their loose minerals.

I guess the oat price depends on the area. Obviously when they're grown close by they're cheaper. Here oats cost about like strategy, but more than cob, straight corn or barley. When you then take into consideration the feed value in calories, oats get even more expensive. Oats have 12 MJ/kg, corn has 14, barley 13.7 I believe, cob, if mixed in equal amounts somewhere around 13......about the same as low calorie feed for horses to slim down, with less, way less energy costing at least 50% more than normal feed.....if it's not highly fortified with other stuff I wouldn't buy it...why pay more for less