Re: RC: Re: Nutrition questions (rice bran, soy, etc.)

[Maggie Mieske <mmieske@netonecom.net>]

I agree with Susan...your program sounds similar to ours with the beet
pulp and oil, grass hay (when there's no pasture) and some grain.  I
tend to increase oil before increasing grain and my gelding, when he's
working hard gets up to 3 cups a day.  I am constantly fiddling with the
diet to accomodate work load, weight (he's actually almost too pudgy
compared to how lean he was last year), etc.  One thing I wished to add
to Susan's admonition about not believing the old wives' tales was not
to let people tell you that beet pulp is going to make your horse's
choke... or their stomach swell up and colic... I have had a couple of
"chokers" this year.  I worried slightly about the beet pulp being the
culprit (I had fed it dry) but discovered that since they had all been
turned out to pasture and I was only feeding them intermittently in tubs
in the pasture for a treat and some added vitamins, the two lowest in
the pecking order were rushing and bolting their feed...when I fed only
grain without the beet pulp, I STILL had one bolting who choked.  So,
they come in when they're fed all the time and no choking!  Good luck
and give the probiotics a try.  In the last 6 months I have seen some
ugly ducklings turn into some beautiful swans and I give all the credit
to beet pulp, oil and probiotics...no matter what kind of probiotic.
Maggie


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=