Anyone Feed that isn't processed and what do you feed

[Ann knight]

I finally have my miniature horse colt home ( and his 16 yr old friend) and they are great ...I've waited 30 years for a mini

I am not keen on processed food for myself or my animals ( I have 7 shelties )and have been making my own dog food for 10 years . I am feeding a Purina product( Intregra T) and to be honest would not feed Purina to my dogs . I don't like the fact they are so reluctant to disclose what is in the feed , actually I have found that with most of the horse feeds. Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it . I have checked the archives and most posts are about processed feeds.

BTW, I have learned so much from this group. I have also been so lucky to have found a breeder/friend who has been a wonderful mentor .

Ann

 

[disneyhorse]

You could always just feed hay and a vitamin/mineral supplement.

Andrea

 

[Ann knight]

Your right ....it just doesn't seem like enough, especially when he is growing !

I am giving a mineral supplement , alfalfa/timothy cubes, BOSS and hay ....maybe that's enough .......Ann

 

[ruffian]

If you know what you want, talk to your local elevator and see if they can do a custom mix. May be too small an order though. They may have a sweet feed that would be mixed, not processed.

 

[Ann knight]

I am not actually sure what I would want to mix , so any suggestions would be appreciated

!

 

[Pipsqueak Paddocks]

I make my own mix... two parts oats, one part barley and one part BOSS. I add in flax and a high quality vitamin powder.

I add various other things (like Magnesium Oxide, vitamin E, or extra BOSS) if I have an emaciated or sick Mini come in.

I like making my own mix so that I can adjust the amount of vitamins in accordance to each horse's needs and not have it directly linked to how much grain the horse is getting.

 

[Minimor]

We rarely feed processed feed; usually the only ones that get it are newly weaned foals that need a little extra, or sometimes the nursing mares that are getting dragged down by the foal or sometimes a new horse that arrives a little down in weight.

Otherwise we just feed plain oats (would prefer whole if they were easier to get right around here, but mostly we feed rolled oats because they are readily available--no driving 50 miles to get them and no do-it-myself bagging them from a farmer's grain bin!) hay and a mineral supplement (free choice horse blocks in most cases--bred mares on grass hay get a top dressed mineral, a PMU premix that is essentially a ration balancer to be fed to horses that are on grass hay).

This is what our two yearlings have been on all winter--in the fall they were getting a 14% pelleted feed as well but they got to the point where they weren't eating it; they'd pick out the oats and leave the pellets behind. So, for 3 or 4 months now they've been getting only the rolled oats, and they look great. Good coats, good weight, plenty of bloom--a little bit of muscling up this spring and they will be show ready. We will start them on BOSS shortly--they don't really need it, but I like to believe that it gives them a bit of extra shine!

So, my suggestion would be to go with just plain oats!!

 

[Ann knight]

Thank you both for your reply ....that's what I wanted to know . I don't think the pellets are very high value as he flings them all over

to get to the other stuff . Now, my last question for this time is how much ? I know it will vary per horse but just a guideline . Thank you so much ...Ann

 

[krissy3]

I come from the land of natural remedies, products. my water is a direct run off from a glacier above, and the grass is cut by the farmer below. We use pig poop as a growth enhancer for the grass and thats it. I do use a feed in the winter, made of mixed things, but all Bio... not processed or with chemicels. The extream shetty owners here feed 10 kilos a week of organic carrots with ALp hay and straw, and Hymalian salt block. I add selineium and more minerals -vitamins . My horses fur is healthy , hooves are strong. So I do believe that they can live and thrive on a natural non processed diet.

good luck

 

[raine]

http://www.allenandpage.com/

Along with good quality hay and or alfafa i only feed the above feeds, they are all very natural ....

I have to import it fom the UK . Not sure if you can get it in the US but if you can , try it ......

 

[Pipsqueak Paddocks]

My mix ratio is mentioned on the first page... two parts oats (rolled or flatted), one part barley (rolled or flatted), one part BOSS.

The average, healthy, non-working, non-spastic, non-showing 30" Mini would get one cup per day, with two tablespoons of flax and the appropriate amount of vitamin powder depending on your brand. I add some water to get the powder and flax seeds to stick.

The average, healthy, working or self-exercising, or show horse over 31" would get two cups per day with 4 tablespoons of flax with vitamins.

A stallion in breeding season, or a high-strung horse... take out some of the oats and put in more BOSS.

It goes up from there the bigger they are, or if they drive, if they self-exercise a lot, if they show, or if they need to gain weight. The ratio of BOSS and flax would increase in some cases. The most that I have ever fed a Mini was four cups per day, divided into two meals. That was an underweight B-size Mini. For a working or unhealthy A-size, the most I would likely feed would be three cups per day... maybe with an additional cup of BOSS if it was a severely emaciated horse.

I have a dwarf here (about 24") who gets 2 cups per day (one in the morning and one at night) and all the hay he can eat - because he has the metabolism of a chipmunk! It is hard to keep the weight on that little guy, but this amount seems to work great! He stays within five pounds of his target weight and keeps his topline, no matter the season.

I feed a minimum of 1 cup per day, no matter what. I had a Mini come in who was terribly obese (he'd been locked in a stall for at least a year)... however, he still needed all of the nutrition provided by the grain to get healthy. He still got his 1 cup per day, plus his hay rations and has lost over seventy pounds so far, over the past six months. He's got another thirty to go. He was 320 when he arrived and should weigh about 220. We have shipping scales here, so we can tell exactly. He is 31".

I had an emaciated Mini come in four months ago. He was getting three cups of the mix per day (slowly increased up to that amount at first.) He started at 193 pounds, and as of last week, he was 228. He is now where he should be with a nice topline and proportions. He is now maintained on two cups per day (one in the morning and one at night) as he is quite energetic/playful and would likely lose condition on less. He is 31.5".

You can see pictures of these guys in our "Mini Blog" if you go back a little ways. www.PipsqueakPaddocks.com/available

So, it really depends on the horse and the situation. I mix up each horse's daily ration kind of by instinct (how they are doing, the temperature/weather and what I am asking of them) but based on the above guidelines.

That's what I've been feeding for about five years and it seems to work for us. There are so many opinions on feeding... I just go with what works for me, but I'm always open to new theories/research/ideas. As far as hay, we feed a high quality second or third cut local or orchard grass with up to 20% alfalfa. Timothy is nice too, but I'm allergic to it! LOL

 

[Ann knight]

Thank you again . I saw your mix ratio in your original post and really appreciate you expanding on your feeding program . I really want to steer clear of processed feed and this really helps alot