🥕 What Do You Feed…and Why? · Get Good With Horses Courses

Zoë Coade

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2d (edited) • 💬 General Discussion & Q&A

🥕 What Do You Feed…and Why?

✨ I’m always genuinely interested in this. It comes up weekly if not more in my work:

What people feed their horses and more importantly, why they choose it.

Because behind every feeding routine is a thought process, experience, and intention.

I’ll share mine first.

My boys get hay 24/7.

I feed the Ultimate Balancer by Dodson & Horrell, which I’ve used successfully for almost 10 years now.

To stimulate chewing, I add a handful of naked chaff and through the winter months I include soaked hay pellets (Hartog) for extra support (I’ve actually just dropped this this week).

Neither of my boys are go to grass. It is far to rich at our stables and causes more complications than anything.

Lenny can go out during the late season if he wants, but he prefers not to - he knows there’s shade and fewer flies in the paddock plus he is very happy there, so I support that choice but offer every year.

Benny had full blown laminitis when I got him, terrible hooves and pain. So I cannot allow this to happen again. Unless of course we ever move and have other options.

Even though the balancer is high in essential vitamins compared to most brands, for our environment - sand soil - it’s still not quite enough.

So I supplement (dope & sugar free):

• Selenium & Vitamin E (around 8 months of the year)

• Magnesium (Nov–March and during rough weather)

• A teaspoon of salt daily

• Natural Psyllium husks every 6 weeks for 1 week (due to sand ground)

• Benny prebiotics 3 of 4 weeks per month (has hind gut damage from former neglect)

• Lenny Prebiotics 1 week per month for hind gut maintenance although if he looks like he does not need I will skip.

Occasionally I’ll add a herbal detox after illness or medication.

And I always add water to feeds - I’ve done that since the late 80s.

Not soaking everything into soup (my absolute pet hate 😅 - it’s so frustrating for them), but just enough to bind powders and lightly dampen the feed.

Personally, I try to stay away from trends - yes, some supplements can support specific issues, but I always ask why the horse needs them in the first place. Often it comes back to something missing in the basics. I see many horses on 6-7 supplements a day simply because the owner heard it is good for them when in reality they can be counterproductive, unnecessary, or just money wasted.

Oh and I forgot to mention from now, March through to August I support their sugar balance.

As fructan levels don't just just change in grass, but in bailed hay too with weather changes - something we’re seeing now actually with horses gaining weight just on hay. This is often blamed on the quality of the hay itself, when it’s actually the bursts of sun and warmer temperatures more than anything else.

Lastly I must mention carrots, Bad, bad, bad - that is all I can say. One a day is fine but no more. I see some horses get 5-6 sometimes more, very large carrots in their feed and their owner wonders why their horses have loose stool all the time. It's just not healthy and a natural laxative. Sure they taste nice and the horses love them, but it does not meant they are good for them.

So that’s mine.

Now I’d love to hear yours 👇

What do you feed your horse(s)… and what’s the thinking behind it?

Let’s learn from each other.

When you like my advice please don't be shy to ask, my education includes graduating Equine Nutrition at the Royal School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh. Although a while back now, I am constantly updating my self and well educated via my wonderful sponsor team at Excellent Horse.

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