FEED QUESTION

[GAILS]

WHAT FEED IS MOST RECOMMENED FOR MINIS?

 

[wildoak]

Boy that's a loaded question LOL. You will get many different answers, and I think the correct answer is that there isn't one "best" feed. I have a hard time with a "one size fits all" feed - I have broodmares, babies, halter & driving horses, and pasture ornaments who hardly need feed. The same thing doesn't necessarily work for all of them.

Platform makes a feed especially formulated for minis & ponies - it's a good feed for most, I used it for about a year and was fairly happy with it. Safe Choice or Safe & Sound are good choices, similar pelleted 14% feeds.

What do you do with your horses - are they pets, working or breeding horses? Are they young or old? Easy keepers? What kind / quality forage do they have access to? Those things all impact the kind of nutrition they will need.

Jan

 

[albahurst]

I absolutely LOVE the Buckeye and Progressive products. I feed it to all my horses, young and old- there is something in the product line for about every need. I find that I only really need a couple of products to do my entire herd. Love it! Love it! Love it! (I use the Balancer for grass and alfalfa hay. Also, the starter and creep feed for the young un's) Check out their websites!

Peggy

 

[minih]

Jan said it right when she said you will get a bunch of different answers.

I use Omalene feeds and have looked into some other feeds, but I fall into the theory "if it isn't broke why fix it" , I really like to feed it and know what it does with my horses, but I do know there are some other good feeds out there. I would do some label reading and see what my horse needed most on which one to choose.

 

[The Simple Life Farm]

I fed Platform for over a year, but the constant price increase has forced my to feed differently now!

 

[Jetiki]

I'm now feeding Triple Crown Lite, its just too far gas wise to get the Progressive Nutrition. So far the horses have seemed to like it.

Karen

 

[Alex]

I feed platform. Both my horses are show horses, and it has beet pulp already in it. I am pretty happy w/ it.

The only down fall is I have to tons of it to get them where I want them!

 

[Bren]

I am new to all this and always looking for wisdom and experience in all of you. I have one mini mare I adopted less than a week ago. I bought Platform for minis, alfafa, timothy/orchard, apple treats, carrots and then turn her out 2 times a day on my fresh grass. I hope I am doing it right. She seems pretty chunky to me so I am only giving her about a cup of pellets in the morning and a handful at night with 1/2 flake of hay 2x a day. She acts like she will die if she is not fed constantly..LOL so I just want to be sure I am doing this right. I know minis need to be fed little bits more often but I work away from home full time so this is the best I can do. I have a vet coming out next week to look her over. I was told she was with a stallion before I bought her so we want to make sure her chub is not a baby!

Bren

 

[chandab]

I am new to all this and always looking for wisdom and experience in all of you. I have one mini mare I adopted less than a week ago. I bought Platform for minis, alfafa, timothy/orchard, apple treats, carrots and then turn her out 2 times a day on my fresh grass. I hope I am doing it right. She seems pretty chunky to me so I am only giving her about a cup of pellets in the morning and a handful at night with 1/2 flake of hay 2x a day. She acts like she will die if she is not fed constantly..LOL so I just want to be sure I am doing this right. I know minis need to be fed little bits more often but I work away from home full time so this is the best I can do. I have a vet coming out next week to look her over. I was told she was with a stallion before I bought her so we want to make sure her chub is not a baby!

Bren

If the alfalfa is separate from the timothy/orchardgrass, then you can either reduce it greatly (especially if you find out she's not pregnant) or eliminate it all together. If she's chubby, she doesn't really need the extra calories that alfalfa provides. [but, the Platform mini would be good to be sure she gets all the nutrients she needs. Be sure to weigh your feed, its better than feeding a cup of this and a cup of that.]

How big is your girl? I know you say she seems chubby, but how tall? And, her weight? [Weight tapes don't really work with minis, but there are a couple charts/formulas on the LB information pages that you can use to get a good guesstimate of her weight. http://www.lilbeginnings.com/info/misc/ Weight charts are about halfway done the page. And, here's the link to the whole info pages: http://www.lilbeginnings.com/info/

 

[lilmiraclesfarm]

I feed Platform. I used to feed my minis the strategy and then I switched to the platform. I loved the change in my horses, but as much as I love the feed It is more expensive and my feed store only carries 25lb bags of it. Becuase of costs I'm debateing on changeing my feed again.

 

[Basketmiss]

When I got my mini Giddy he was 14 months old and had been on Strategy, his topline was not good and he had a belly...

I changed him to Nutrena youth and his topline looks nice now. I just switched him to Nutrena Senior, its a complete feed, he will be 2 in July... He has alittle chubby belly but looks real good and still just weighs maybe 125 at the most...

My giddy is just a pet, I mean I dont show him, just love him to death!!

Good Luck

 

[spellcasterminis]

We like the Dynasty Pro and Dynasty Sr, although we have noticed the horses and rabbits do better if feed some alfalfa with it.