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Re: [RC] Feeding Corn - Beth Gunn

I am not happy with corn feeds for endurance horses either.  My 19 yr
mare,DeeDee, came up cronically? lame 2 years ago.  Very ouchy in the front
end.  I have no pasture, dry lots and mixed grass hays 24 7s.  The feed I
was using had a lot of corn.  Chiro/acupucture vet goet DeeDee fixed up.
Took 3 months, 6 visits, and close to a $1000....
She has been sound since then until now.  I mixed a few handfuls of Nutrena
Safe Choice with her regular Nutrena XTN and beet pulp, with the idea to get
her off the high energy food to Safe Choice which has vegetable oil for
energy.  She came up lame the next day.  Safe Choice first ingredient is
corn.  And I bet the veg oil also si corn based.  Anyway, stopped feeding
the SC and she is still lame a week later.  Ugh!
Starch dump overload into the stomach is never a good idea.  And that is
what high starch/low fiber corn is as compared to oats, which has good fiber
ansd decent protein levels.
There is also the mycotoxin problem with corn.  We feed it to the deer
around here.
Beth Gunn
SoCar.  where Spring has Sprung!!!

----- Original Message -----
From: <heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <slchast@xxxxxxxx>
Cc: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 7:01 PM
Subject: Re: [RC] Feeding Corn




I friend of mine is getting a new horse tomorrow a very large TWH 16.2
hands. This horse is being fed free choice grass hay and 12 pounds of
corn a day.

Yikes!

Corn is the one feed I have never see discussed on this
forum. So what are the good, bad and ugly facts about feeding corn to a
horse that is going to start conditioning for CTR in a few days.
Shannon

It's a huge source of starch, which breaks right down into simple carbs.
Corn was the big culprit in work horses that used to get "Monday Morning
Disease"--which was basically just tying up from being fed a high corn
ration 7 days a week, and not working on Sunday.  Corn would be about my
LAST choice for a grain for an equine athlete--would far rather feed oats
or something with some fiber in it.  My thought about this horse would be
to get him weaned OFF the corn BEFORE you start to condition, and maybe
substitute a part of it with a non-grain supplement like beet pulp, with
just a few handfuls of grain in it for flavor.

Heidi

Heidi



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