ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: Complete Feeds

Re: Complete Feeds

Tracy Stampke (zebella@idt.net)
Tue, 11 Feb 1997 15:33:48 -0700

Bonnie Snodgrass wrote:
>
> Patricia, you didn't specify whether you meant 1) fed complete feed
> pellets without additional hay or 2) fed complete feed pellets in
> place of grain and also fed hay.
>
> I have been in a situation (when stationed in Guam) where we had to do
> 1). No regular hay. The riding club I rode/taught at fed strickly
> complete pellets. There was no grazing available and the cost of hay
> versus pellets wasn't favourable. Most of the horses were terrible
> wood chewers and there was one bad cribber who regularly coliced till
> they finally lost him. The pellets are eaten way too fast leaving the
> grazers with nothing to do for hours except think of the next meal.
> Cubes take a little longer but you still have the time factor.
>
> It's not just that your horses get bored with nothing to eat, it is
> also potentially detrimental to their health. I read an excellent
> article a few months ago about ulcers in horses. They are suprisingly
> common although usually undiagnosed. One major cause is feeding
> infrequently (2-3 times a day) and feeding highly concentrated feed
> instead of roughage. Another article from the Marion Dupont Equine
> Clinic about the results of a research project on causes of colic also
> comes to my mind. Horses who have constant access to grass rarely
> colic. Stalled or padocked horses should have roughage round the clock
> and have their grain split into frequent small meals. It's the getting
> hungry and anticipating being fed that causes acid problems in the
> stomach without roughage to deal with the acid.
>
> If I lived where prices were very high for quality hay I would
> probably use a good pellet and a clean roughage of a poorer class of
> hay. As long as it wasn't dusty or moldy it will give the horse his
> roughage. You can even use straw. Better that then wood chewing,
> cribbing, weaving, pacing, colicing etc. Hey, I paid $18-$20 a bale
> for hay in Hawaii but my horse always had something to eat on. He ate
> 2-3 of these 130lb bales a week. Talk about eating you out of house
> and home!
>
> Bonnie Snodgrass
>
>

Yeah, we're paying $9 a bale for what mostly could be called 'bermuda
straw' still haven't convinced the suppliers that grass hay should be
green!

We feed the alf/bermuda pellets plus the 'hay'. When I was feeding
nothing but pellets, we had an old qh mare who went around eating all of
the poop....every drop from 3 horses. Made clean up easy, but I didn't
think it was too healthy. The addition of the hay did away with this
problem.

I do know of a friend here in town who has fed only pellets to her 8
horses for the last 9 years. She's had no problems whatsoever, they are
fed 2x a day. She's even had several perfectly healthy foals born and
raised on the pellets. They also travel all over the west with their
horses, and never provide any type of feed in the trailer. I should
add that she's never had any type of colic or health problem and her
horses are used for strenous trail riding and packing (week long trips)

Guess different things work for different folks...

tracy

Home Events Groups Rider Directory Market RideCamp Stuff