Colic/Bran Mash

[guest@endurance.net]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net

Jerri said:

> Could someone please send me the bran mash recipe.

1.  Put as much bran as you want your horse to eat in a bucket or feed
pan.

2.  Add as much water that your horse finds appetizing.

3. Add anything else that you think your horse will find appetizing or
that
you want him to have but won't make it so unappetizing that he won't
eat it.

4.  Feed it to your horse.

A bran mash is either a "treat" for your horse, or a way to get your horse
to
eat things that he is unwilling to eat plain (such as water, electrolytes,
drugs, etc.)
If you are giving it as a treat, put in as much bran as you would like him
to have.  If
you are giving it to get him to eat other things, put in as much bran as
it takes to
get him to eat (or drink) it.

Whichever reason you are giving it for, you can achieve the same thing
with pretty much
any kind of grain product (or beet pulp if you horse finds beet pulp
appetizing, soaked hay
pellets if it doesn't).  Depending on how much of the "filler" you have to
use to get the
horse to eat the things he is unwilling to eat plain.  If you have to use
lots of filler to
hide the yucky stuff, you would be better off substituting a lower
sugar/higher fiber
product (like beet pulp or hay pellets).

The "ingredients" of a "bran mash" change depending on the tastes of the
horse and the
reasons for giving it (technically, to be considered a bran mash, all it
needs is bran and
water).

kat
Orange County, Calif.

p.s.  If what I am doing it trying to get water into my horse, I generally
use carrots
rather than bran.  Being about 80% water, giving a horse a bucket of
carrots is like
giving a horse a bucket of water, and if you do as I do and add water to
the bucket of
carrots so the horse has to go "submarining" for them, I can increase the
percentage
to closer to 95%.