For those who think horses should not have oats

For years, since I was a kid, all I ever fed was oats and good hay and never had an issue. Then the pendulum swung to the "oats are bad" point of view and I stopped feeding the oats. My horses did not look as good (these were big horses, large ponies) on commercially mixed feeds except for one pony who has a oat allergy. I don't feed anythimg but hay and timothy pellets with a vitamin right now, but if I had to I would consider those plain old crimped oats again. And every horse loved them.

I found the part of the article concerning beet pulp to be interesting. I have had really bad luck feeding beet pulp. Many digestive issues. I know some swear by it but I never had a horse do well on it, or even like it.

I think modern farming methods are terribly destructive, but I'm not sure what choice farmers have if they want to survive economically. The No-Till method seems particularly suicidal. The ornamental cotton I grow has aphids, which I battle. There is a lot of cotton grown around me this year. I asked a cotton farmer if his cotton had aphids, but he said the seed is treated so it doesn't get aphids. That means the whole plant is systemically poisoned. No one wants boll weevils to return, of course, or to do expensive aerial spraying for aphids, so I don't know what the answer is.

The only oats grown around me is by a cattle producer who raises organic beef for Whole Foods. I buy oat groats from a company that does feed rations for exotic birds. I have no idea if the oats are GMO, organic, or whatever. I do know that oats + alfalfa is a nutritional pairing that has worked for horses for a long time. Generally, the alfalfa produced here is not heavily sprayed or fertilized.