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Re: [RC] Grain At Rides - Typef

Ok, I'll ask a question ... I haven't taken the time to research it, but I give my horses Purina Equine Senior as a top dressing to their beet pulp soup. My reasoning was that if my 35-year-old guy lived on that stuff for 5 years with hardly any hay, it couldn't be like giving them grain as it's a complete pre-processed feed. But like I said I haven't asked or researched it. Just my thought. Any comments?
 
On feeding super web slurries, my thought on that is, I offer my horse water first and if she won't drink the water, at least she's getting water in her soup because she'll ALWAYS eat the soup. And there's usually a half a gallon of water in there minimum. It's better than nothing?
 
:) Jackie
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: [RC] Grain At Rides

I have heard the rule of thumb is no large grain meals within 8 hours of a ride. This comes out of KER research and was presented at the AERC convention in Lexingtion some number of years ago. Of course with the premixed high fat, high fiber commerical feeds available today, you are probably okay with a couple hours. I think it really gets back to the horse and learning what is best for your horse. We may be making this too difficult. I try to lay out grass hay, alfalfa hay, and my feed which is a commerical high fat/high fiber mix and let them eat what they want. If there is fresh grass around I will tell you they won't touch any of the stuff I brought and will stick their nose in the grass - but of course grass is the perfect food for a horse.

The mare I used to ride would eat her way through a 100 on alfalfa and grass - but she really perfered the alfalfa on ride day -  hay, grass if there was any around and cracked corn and rolled oats and never got a grade of less than B+ on gut sounds the whole time I rode her.

I'm not a big fan of realy super wet slurries, sloppy mashes or whatever you want to call them. It sounds good in theory but I'm not so sure in practice. The amount of water you can get in a horse this way is about as much as they would get by sticking their nose in a water bucket for 10 seconds. I'd rather have them drink then eat then drink ... than try to give it to them all in one step. Let the horse choose when to eat and when to drink.   At least for me the jury is still out on this one.

Truman


DVeritas@xxxxxxx wrote:
I need some input as to whether or not you feed grain while at rides.  I know some who feed no grain, even on hundreds.  I know others who feed grain darnnear free choice.
    Each horse I have campaigned, has been slightly different, particularly in how they each processed the enviromental stimulation at ridecamps, which can affect certain horses' drinking and eating habits.
    Normally, I don't grain, i.e., soaked beet pulp, whole oats, 3way, strategy, the night before the start of a fifty or a hundred.
    I had a vet tell me that that ration would not process well the next morning, and could actually affect gut motility negatively.
    So, anyway, I's wonderin' if everyone grains the night before, or if it might be better to give them their gruel, their slurry, their slop, whatever at the first vet check?
    Thanks for the feedback,
       Frank


Replies
[RC] Grain At Rides, DVeritas
Re: [RC] Grain At Rides, Truman Prevatt