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[RC] Feed question - Easy Answer - Barbara ReevesThere is a very simple answer to the feed balancing dilema... TEST YOUR HAY, and pasture. You can have your hay, grass, and soil lab tested FOR FREE by your local cooperative extension service. Every state has a Cooperative Extension and almost every county in the nation has a local office. Just google your state's name plus: extension service, and you will find the state web site. Call up your local office and tell them you want your hay and/or pasture analyzed for nutritional content for your horses. They will give you instructions on what to bring in. After a week or so, you will get a report back with all of the nutritional content. If you have any horse specialists (and every state should have at least one in the main state office), they can tell you what mineral or nutrients your hay or pasture is missing. Then you go to the feed store, read the tags, and find the best feed, cubed or pelleted hay, or supplement to balance your horse's diet. Of course, this won't work if you buy hay more than twice a year, as by the time your report comes back, you're likely out buying more hay... For our hay, the best way to balance their diet is with alfalfa pellets, stabalized rice bran, and a mineral salt block (which they do eat as needed). I could have feed a grain or pelleted feed, but this is simpler and more natural for a horse's gut. My horses are calmer, healthier, and thier athleticism has improved since switching off sweet feeds or pellets. Horse nutriton is only as complicated as one wants to make it. ~Barbara Little Rock, Arkansas ________________________________________ http://EquineFriends.com http://AreteSaddlery.com http://2HotToTrot.com "To be an equestrian in the classical sense is not just to be a rider. It is a position in life." --Charles de Kunffy Learn more about the fight against Horse Slaughter for Human Consumption in the USA. http://www.StopHorseSlaughter.com The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity. -George Bernard Shaw =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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