Feeding Mini's

[stano40]

Since getting my girls I have been given a lot of different advise from "BEWARE OF FOUNDERING". Among the advise is to only feed one flake of hay for the two mares I have and be careful of fresh grass's and not to let them get too much.

I know buttercups are not good for horses and I even found some info about safe veggies to give, such as: rutabaga, carrots, broccoli, beetroot, celery, cabbage leaves, pumpkin, squash, parsnips, peas and green beans.

But what does everyone feed to prevent foundering and obesity with Mini's. Are veggies safe to use as a treat? What amounts of hay should be given and/or does this depend on the mini's condition. Is it safe to let them forage for themselves in their paddock?

bob

 

[chandab]

Ask 100 horseman, you are likely to get 100 answers to how to feed a horse, and maybe more answers when talking about minis.

Do you have previous horse experience? They are still horses, so in general should be treated as such with a few caveats: be extremely careful using bute, minis are more sensitive to it (know their weight, don't guess); don't use Quest dewormer (any dewormer with active ingredient Moxidectin); feed them less than full-size horses. Depending on the size of the mini, they generally get about 1/4-1/3 the amount of feed that a saddle horse would get in the same amount/type of work. Know your horse's weight, and feed based on weight, general rule of thumb is about 2% of bodyweight in feed daily, mostly forage (pasture or hay); so a 250# mini would get about 5# feed daily, this is a starting place, some will need more, some will need less. Until you get to know what a flake of hay weighs, get a scale and weigh it; or a decent estimate, if you know the weight of the whole bale would be to count the number of flakes in a bale and divide into the total bale weight (70# bale with 20 flakes, each flake is then about 3.5# - all bales are a bit different, so this is just an example).

Mine do get out for some grazing, but just a few hours a day. I feed the adults a vit/min supplement and the growing horses get a growth formula, and my senior horse gets a senior formula; all is plus forage (mostly hay, but some pasture).

And, welcome to the group.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

As Chanda said there will be so many different responses to this question. My Minis live on grass hay & Clover and Grass hay & sometimes a Lucerne (Alfalfa) Blend. The Lucerne blend is great for an upset stomach.

As my little mare had a Laminitis bout recently, if she needed to be on any grain it would be Higain Zero as there is no sugar in it. She has also been limited to carrots , Apples etc

My Thoroughbreds are on Founder guard come spring for the first 1-2 months. My Minis graze for a few hours a day then they are locked up of a night. You would be surprised how much they can pig out on over a 2-3 hour period

Prepare yourself now and take as much precaution as you can. After seeing my little mare go thru Laminitis recently , I wouldn't wish it on any Horse or owner.

As a snack for the little ones I reckon Pumpkin brings out the best in their coats and not as much sugar as in an Apple or Carrot.

Best of luck

 

[Marty]

Monitor their time on grass and when they aren't on grass feed some good quality hay. Provide a salt and mineral block and clean fresh water.

Safe Choice has a good line of feeds that helps guard against too much starch and sugars.

I feed treats like maybe fresh chopped up carrots or peppermints.

I wouldn't do any of this kind of thing with the exception of carrots

I know buttercups are not good for horses and I even found some info about safe veggies to give, such as: rutabaga, carrots, broccoli, beetroot, celery, cabbage leaves, pumpkin, squash, parsnips, peas and green beans.

 

[Minimor]

Nothing wrong with the pumpkin; apparently some horses love pumpkin.

 

[wingnut]

I don't give treats. There's really no need. That's my philosophy though. I apply it to my dogs too

What I'm learning now is that instead of being so hyper focused on feed/hay (intake), I need to focus MORE on exercise. Just like us humans, we wouldn't have to be so diligent about how many calories we eat every day if we would just move more. And it doesn't have to be hours upon hours of exercise. Just consistent, regular exercise.

Feeding is also horse specific. I have 5 horses and 3 different feeding "plans". I have a hard keeper (rare in minis, to be sure) who is also a picky eater. I have a yearling who needs to be fed like the growing horse she is. The last three are all easy keepers, including one who gains weight on air! They all get a small amount of ration balancer (basically a supplement only feed, no calories). I do this mainly to make them happy when the other two are getting their buckets.

Finally, getting a good idea of how much they truly weigh could help you know if what you're doing is working. I'm lucky in that my mill's equine nutrition specialist will bring out their portable scale for me once a year. This information is valuable for so many things. If I didn't have this option anymore, I'd be finding a scale somewhere that I could take my horses to...that's how important I think it is to know this for my horses.

Good luck. I was in your shoes myself in 2009/2010 when we brought our first girls home (4 of the 5 we have now). I've tried a bunch of different things. After 5+ years, I think I have finally found the "recipe" that works for us.

 

[AngC]

uhhh, one thing struck me in your question: i.e. beetroot.

Do you mean sugar beets? I fell into that one when we first got ours. Apparently people feed beet pulp pellets (sugar removed.) And I knew I could grow some awesome sugar beets in this climate. ..not too sure about sugar content of regular beets.

Another thing I've noticed is that (and I weigh our hay) none of ours can eat nearly as much as the recommendations (except NIcky who has an off-switch and will save some for later.)

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Mine, and a number of other people's I know, are out on grass all the time. The only concessions I make are that I do keep the field grazed down in spring (only we actually never had a "Spring"! this year!!) I do not use muzzles, although I would rather see a horse muzzled and out with the herd than shut away on it's own. Turning a horse out for two hours and then bringing it in on to a dry lot is, IMO, a recipe for disaster, The horses cram as much as they possibly can down their necks in that two hours and this is NOT good for their systems. If you really have a problem with loads of rich grass why not strip graze with a hot wire? This is what I do on the hay filed in winter- they move across the field slowly, leaving their poop behind them( so I do very limited poop picking in winter as they always have "fresh" grass ahead of them). I hate dry lots with a vengeance, horses are grazing animals and they should, when ever possible (and I do appreciate that it is not possible in some cases) they should be out, grazing. I have ten mares and four foals on 3 acres of very good, river bottom, land at present, but, because I have kept them on there (intensive poop picking!! 250 one day, I counted!!) all !summer" (did not get much of that either!) they have kept it grazed down short, and scavenged round the edges, eating nettles and thistles - all good for them. I would be very, very careful of feeding anything other than hay in any regular or large amounts. A pumpkin or two, the occasional water melon, fine. Anything else, like carrots and other root veggies (and beetroot is a simple root veggie) all go in their feed. If at all possible you should be looking at having them out on their grazing all the time, unless it is very rich or very long (cut it!) I am sure there is a farmer round your way who could advise you on this?

 

[stano40]

Thank You everyone for your wonderful insights to feeding mini's. It gives me much more than what I found on the internet.

The veggies I posted here were from a site that had safe and unsafe veggies and fruits for horses so I used that as an example.

Always looking forward to others who feed their mini's and what they do. It's been a little tough trying to figure out what their past has been and what was done for them. I'm not giving up either.

bob