Help with treats

[Rhondaalaska]

I was told they are 50 lb bales and it looks like around 10 flakes per bale.

So must be at most 5 lbs a flake.

I was told 2% of thier weight is to be fed them right?

So she needed, 6 lbs a day.

A little more than a flake. I guess.

I will see if increasing her hay will help.

 

[chandab]

I was told they are 50 lb bales and it looks like around 10 flakes per bale.

So must be at most 5 lbs a flake.

I was told 2% of thier weight is to be fed them right?

So she needed, 6 lbs a day.

A little more than a flake. I guess.

I will see if increasing her hay will help.

Its a good place to start, but some need more to keep their weight. If your hay is straight grass, then perhaps some alfalfa or timothy/alfalfa mix cubes would be a good addition to her diet, they are higher in protein, and usually more digestible than baled hay, so she'll get more out of it.

I'm sure I way over feed hay to my horses, especially in winter when its cold out (I'm sure you are colder in AK, but I"m in NE Montana, so it gets quite cold here too); but they look pretty good (really good this year), so I'm not too worried about them.

 

[disneyhorse]

This horse looks underweight to me, I can see hip bones even with that thick winter coat.

Protein is needed to fill top line and calories are needed to fill in over ribs.

I'd up the feed all around.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

When I am able to get in to town again i am going to look for the alfalfa cubes. i think the store carried them.

if not i will look for some. im giving her 2 flakes a day starting today and she is getting the pellets as well.

i will add the alfalfa to her diet when i can find some.

thank you for helping me.

i feel bad that i didnt give her enough food.

we gave her more than what i was told to give her because she seemed huingry after eating .

i was told at first to give her 1/2 flake a day. i uped it to that twice aday. she was grazzing as well

but my grass is to short now so i took her off of it.

she loves her Kong wobble toy though. that is where i put her pellets , i go out a fill it up sevearal times a day

atleast 4 or 5 times. i fill it at meal times and twice inbetween,

thank you for your help.

i didnt realize that i wasnt giving her enough hay.

 

[chandab]

Don't feel bad. So many people say "minis are easy keepers, they stay fat on air", etc. So, its easy for those with less experience in minis to fall into that trap of not feeding them enough. And, many have the small minis, and don't realize just how much a B-size mini can eat (needs to eat). There is a big difference between what a 31" mini needs and 38" mini. [My 31" mini is 175# and looks good, he eats about 3-4# feed per day; my largest 38" mini is a bit chubby at 395# (she is nursing a foal right now) and gets about 10# feed per day. That's more than double what the little guy gets. Mine eat primarily hay, but do get the recommended minimum of the extruded feed I use.]

 

[Rhondaalaska]

Thank you Chanda

I am new to minis,

I knew big horses eat 4 flakes a day

But I didn't know what minis eat.

She is loving all the snack times she is getting.

She is basically eating all the time now.

I will keep everyone posted.

Thank you

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I would like to commend you on being willing to accept the advice so easily many struggle to see what seems so obvious to others. I don't think you need to feel bad either, you are not the first new mini owner to struggle with how much and what to feed (most of us did at one point) and it is an easy fix for you girl. Just upping her hay and adding the alfalfa cubes (I would advise soaking them) will put weight on her promptly so be careful that you don't over compensate and feed her into obesity.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

I can't soak the cubes , can she eat them with out being soaked.? I haul her water out every day but it has to be heated or it freezes .

If I soak the cubes it will freeze pretty fast, in the summer I can soak them , but that is only 3 months of the year,. I only have two seasons here 3 months Sumer 8 months winter and 1 month very wet and cold fall.

We have snow here now and freezing temps.

How much should I feed her so I don't feed to much.

I don't have a scale so I can't weight it

I was doing her pellets by cups.

 

[AngC]

I've been following this thread, Rhondaalaska, because I've been trying to figure out the right thing to feed to our three minis. ...especially since they seem able to get fat quick.

There's been some good advice, but also some advice that seems to be location-specific. For example, I'm not sure why someone would feed alfalfa pellets or compressed bales or beet pulp, OR.... etc. unless there was nothing better, afforadably available? (By the way, I really don't get the beet pulp thing.)

For our goobs, I settled on feeding Eastern WA orchard grass since it is available, supplemented by a bit (really small bits) of alfalfa also from Eastern WA. It is interesting the difference in how our goobs react to first cutting vice second cutting, etc. as in how much gets thrown out the barn and wasted.

 

[Minimor]

Rhonda--she can eat them without the cubes being soaked. However...

I would have to say that this depends on the cubes that you get. I've had some alfalfa cubes that were very, very hard. I now feed timothy alfalfa cubes--often they are softer and break apart easily. The last bag I bought was more like the alfalfa cubes we get here--very, very hard. (I don't feed many of them since we generally have an alfalfa mix hay and our horses really are not that keen on the cubes--plus they are more expensive & harder to feed). I don't soak them--I can't be bothered, the horses don't like them soaked & in summer if they don't eat them up right away they go really nasty if they sit around in the hot weather for a few hours, and of course in winter if they don't eat them up right away they are frozen. I do not feel safe giving whole, dry cubes to the minis, so I break them up first. Not a problem at all with the softer timothy alfalfa cubes I've had in the past, one tap with a hammer & they break up nicely. These really hard cubes--well, some of them take some pounding. to break them into small "flakes". I

I do know a couple people who feed dry cubes to their minis without chopping them up but I don't feel safe doing it--they could choke on the dry cubes & I prefer not to take that chance.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

I will try to brake the cubes up when I get them , I buy our local hay here which is Timothy hay mostly, some grow bromine hay.

I don't have beet pulp , we don't have alfalfa bales here, unless you get it from town and then it is extremely expensive.

So I buy what we have here. The alfalfa may have to wait till I can go into town to find some. That may be a few weeks.

Thanks for all the advice, it has helped me and I hope it has helped others.

 

[chandab]

I will try to brake the cubes up when I get them , I buy our local hay here which is Timothy hay mostly, some grow bromine hay.

I don't have beet pulp , we don't have alfalfa bales here, unless you get it from town and then it is extremely expensive.

So I buy what we have here. The alfalfa may have to wait till I can go into town to find some. That may be a few weeks.

Thanks for all the advice, it has helped me and I hope it has helped others.

Good cubes, should break easily by hand, but even with those some cubes are harder than others. I've used a manual can crusher to break them, its hard on the can crusher, but at least its getting used and it does a pretty good job of crushing those really hard cubes.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

I had to share,

I gave diva a flake of hay this morning, as well as her pellets.

She still had a little left when I gave her , her evening flake,

When I went out a few hours later she still had half of it left.

She was lazily grazing on it, like she had all the time in the world to eat.

She has never took this long on a meal before.

It just showed me how hungry she was, and that now she has plenty she is not

Trying to gobble her food. I'm sure now that I will figure out the amount she needs

Thank you everyone.

 

[AdkMtn]

We have an IR Spotted Horse mare and her treats are salted roasted peanuts in the shell and cellery sticks. she loves them both. These were approved by her vets.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

Oh I will have to try the peanuts, I bet she will love them,

I tried the celery and she loves that.

Has any one tried green peppers, I give some to my guinea pigs

And was wondering if diva might like a piece next time.

 

[chandab]

I'd probably skip the peppers, its in the same family as nightshade, which isn't good for horses. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

I didn't know that thanks Chanda

I will have to look night shade up to see if it is in Alaska

I have never heard of it except in stories.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

Wow there are a lot of foods in this group.

 

[chandab]

I didn't know that thanks Chanda

I will have to look night shade up to see if it is in Alaska

I have never heard of it except in stories.

I knew potatoes and tomatoes were in the family, but not peppers; and I've read its mostly the green growing plant that's an issue, rather than the fruit, but why risk it. I read on one site that a bite or two of peppers would be fine, but I wouldn't chance it when there are so many safe fruits and veggies to try.