What do you put in Your Feed?

@ThatDraftGirl-- I am completely aware that corn has high starch, which is why I feed such a small quantity. What people also don't realize is a 1/4 lb of corn is actually little over a handful because it weighs much more than oats and other grains. I have NEVER found oats or corn in his manure, if I did I would have changed his diet. I work with a very qualified vet who helps me personally balance my horses diet. As he is an endurance horse in training I have to avoid excess protein, and alfalfa is very high in protein, hence why I don't feed alfalfa pellets. Yes Oat and Corn are still protein rich, but much less than Alfalfa. This excess protein makes a horse in intense training work much harder to digest creating stress on the kidneys during processing. The beet pulp and min-a-vite alone do not provide enough digestible energy and without some sort of energy & fat based grain he would drop weight quickly. You have to remember, he is not a Quarter Horse, or a Draft, and although the corn is not the "best" choice it works for what I need it to do for his performance and diet and he is not as sensitive to it as other breeds tend to be. Anything can be bad for a horse in large amounts. When this diet is balanced out he has 99.6% Digestible Energy and is only getting 2lbs of grain a day with 20 lbs of Forage.

Yes, the Strategy healthy Edge or even the regular strategy is less hot than molasses feeds and higher in fat. It is also very balanced so you don't have to supplement for most types of riding, unless you are doing something extreme that has long-haul wear and tear over months and months, like endurance.

My horses love their strategy. I've been feeding it for years with excellent results and don't have to supplement anything with it when I'm just trail riding/4H programs, doing shows and dressage (again, the only exception being endurance conditioning).

JJ is getting fed Purina Equine Sr. And Rice Bran, for supplements he gets the following...

-Silver Lining Respiratory (Helps with sensitivity and coughing problems)
-Silver Lining Immune
-Silver Lining Kidney Support (time of year we run a bag through the performance horses to flush everything out of the kidneys.)
-Electrolytes
-POUNDS (testing it out, has a bunch of good things to keep the coat and weight good)
-Paprika
-2 pumps ACV

Scrat is also on Sr. And Rice Bran

-Silver Lining Foot and Bone
-Silver Lining Immune
-Silver Lining Kidney Support
-Biotin
-Electrolytes
-Paprika
-1 Pump ACV

Polly gets Sr. And Rice Bran

-Silver Lining Foot and Bone (helps keeps joints, tendons, ect healthy)
-Silver Lining Immune (keeps the immune system strong)
-Silver Lining Kidney
-Biotin (crappy feet)
-Electrolytes (added minerals and salts to put back in the body after hard workouts)
-Paprika (Keeps the coat from sun bleaching)
-1 Pump ACV (helps with the dry coughs they get)

My horses are all breeds that are 'laminitis/insulin resistance' high risks - they are good doers but I still want condition and energy from them. I'm currently feeding Sentinel senior as they seem to do best on that balance and it also contains all of the vitamins & minerals they need to the right balance. I add non molassed chaff & a small amount of wheat bran to that as it slows them down when they're eating (they are all greedy) and unmolassed sugar beet according to how much work they're doing and what their weight looks like. I add rice bran in the winter if I think they are dropping off condition at all.

Agree with you, to a large degree(especially the last bit hehe). I do think that there are many nutrients missing or imbalanced in the diet & that a balanced diet & therefore*appropriate* supps help tho. Apparently while bloods do show various imbalances, they're not as accurate as a diet analysis for working out what a horse may or may not need.

Interested if you've ever tested/treated him for ulcers? Being a 'hard keeper' & 'colicky' and getting a fair bit of grain, there's a fair chance that could be his problem. Good that he's off the grain IMO & especially considering colic, if/when he needs more calories, I'd consider a healthier, low starch alternative to grain. Such as more beet pulp or such.

Re the wheat bran, the grain probably would have done it for balancing an otherwise too high Ca diet. While beet pulp is reasonably high Ca(not as high as alfalfa for eg.), I wouldn't think you'd need the wheat to balance just half a cup. Have you ever done a diet analysis?

We have a very large and diverse herd, and many are thoroughbreds (7 to be exact) so we have to tailor our feeding to each horse's needs. Generally speaking though, for the full sized horses we start them all out on:

free choice 2/3 timothy 1/3 alfalfa hay
(they generally eat 10-15 pounds each)

limited grazing
(about two hours a day, simply because we have little pasture that is actually worth using for grazing)

psyllium
(to help with the dust in our area)

For those with special needs that can't maintain their weight on just that, we use varied amounts of

Purina Strategy
Rice Bran
Beet Pulp
Corn Oil

Two of the thoroughbreds are also on SmartPak and a home mixture of Aloe plant and Slippery Elm for ulcer treatment, but that's about it.

For the miniature horses, almost all of them are fine on Alfalfa/Timothy hay as well, with no grain. They all get psyllium. Our studs and broodmares however, get a cup to a cup and a half of Purina Miniature Horse and Pony year round to maintain their healthy weights.

My 15 year old grade gelding and 5 year old Clyde mare eat hay.

I've always tried to feed 12 parts crimped oats, 1 part soybean meal, 1 part linseed or sunflower meal and added a good daily supplement. I use Lampley's A-Z on a daily basis. Sometimes if I couldn't get linseed or sunflower meal I substituted a little extra soybean meal. Beet pulp can be added also.

Harley gets
Sweet feed 1 scoop and 1/4 plain oats
Flax for coats
Biotin for hoofs
Yucca Saponin for joints
His-granules for alergies

Flash gets
MSM for joints
Vitamin B1 for focus (he tends to get distracted easy)
Flax
Biotin
And 1 and a half scoops sweet feed and 1/4 oats

Cody gets
Probios for ulcers
Flax
Biotin
Sweetfeed 1/2 scoop oats 1/2 scoop