To Sweet Feed Or Not To Sweet Feed

[Brandi*]

I had to take Miss Melody off sweet feed because it was upsetting her little tummy. She seems to feel much better now. But I do know that some horses are just fine with it.

 

[SammyL]

[SIZE=8pt]I feed sweet feed, 14%. It is good stuff for my horses, at least. They do fabulous on it. I add in beet pulp, and a weight builder. [/SIZE]

The weight builder because for reasons three of my four horses are underweight. I am in the process of getting them back to their correct weight. One has cleft palate, she is never 'fat'. One gelding needs dental work done, which is being done soon, and the other used to eat out of the same tub as his brother, but his brother ate all the food!

So I seperated them.

I have been having so many problems with weight this year, it is nuts! OH! But thankfully, everyone is healthy otherwise, and on the right track.

But I trailed off there...Yes, I feed sweet feed here. My horses have been on it their entire lives, and do wonderful. They also have free choice mineral and salt. Usually in the summer, graze on the good grass too. When grass is sparce I feed hay that is about 40% alfalfa and 60% grass I believe. I'll have to take a look again though. They also do well on that type of hay also.

Again though, that is just my experiences with my OWN horses. You can do whatever is best for your little guy.

 

[bingo]

The same ingredients are in both feeds, sweet and pellet. Its the same thing! The ONLY difference is the molasses holding things together is different (less, but NOT none, in the pellets) and the corn is whole in the sweet, ground in the pellets. Corn is and always has been a staple of horse feed. It is hard to digest whole, but not impossible. It is more

I totally agree wit this. If you read your labels you will see there is not much difference at all in the ingredients.

I do feed on a schedule and a rather exact one at that I find my horses seem to do better and they do not stress at all when we are at a show and there schedule is off a bit.

 

[dannigirl]

We do not feed sweet feed because we have had a couple of our minis get loose stools when fed molassis. I don't like to feed something different to each one, but would rather use the same throughout the barn and just vary the amount or add weight builder or what ever they need. Since we have about 30 in our barn at a time--this includes our work geldings, our show herd and the ones we have for sale--it is too hard to have too many base feeds. I think that each owner knows what works best for their horses. My farrier has made some suggestions to us, but many of them are based on his knowledge of the larger horses. I know he means well, but treat your farrier's advice as just that--suggestions. As said before--your barn, your choices.

As for feeding on a tight schedule, i do not. I have many reasons. Mainly, my horses know that I will get there to feed them sometime. They don't fret if I have to be even up to 2 hours late. Also, we have others feed and it is easier if they can work around their schedule a bit and not have to follow mine exactly. I usually give them an hour time frame and I know they will feed close to that. Also, with my show horses, they don't fret if we have a longer day or and early start or even a bit later start (after some of those late nights) I have seen some get really upset if they aren't fed close to what they are used to.

 

[Sterling]

I have in the past fed sweet, pellets, and complete. Out of all of them (for my big horses and minis) the one I did'nt like most was the dry pellets. My guys were on Omolene 200 and did very well on it...the only reason we changed was because the suppliers seem to get further and further away so I chose to put them on something else. Right now they are on Triple Crown Senior and love it. It took a few months but I am now seeing a nice bloom on them, and soft velvety coats. They both have good weights on them too. Supplement that with a good quality hay and pasture and we're good to go.

Oh forgot to add....We mostly stay on a schedule. We give a bit here and there for times when schedules and situations change from day to day and the boys are good with that.

 

[_minihorses4ever_]

I am another Omolene 200 feeder. I have not had an issue with it, and have been feeding it about 8 months.

We also do not have a set feeding time, our horses don't worry about when food is coming, they know it will get there. During a show, you can't always depend on being able to feed at certain times, and I sure don't want a horse in the ring more worried about where their dinner is instead of showing. They know as soon as they are done and cleaned off, they will get dinner. We won't feed to close to a class because they lose their edge if they have a full belly. They won't bait as well. So what we practice at a show we do the same at home, if I make it out to feed at 6 am, fine. If I don't get out there until 8 am, they are usually standing there dozing until they hear me come out.

This is exactly what we do too!

 

[wc minis]

I also feed sweet feed. I have a special recipe that my mill mixes that an older horseman gave to me when we bought our Arabian from quite a few years ago. My big horses look great, and I think my minis do too. In the winter I also add beet pulp to their diets, and alfalfa pellets if my hay isnt that great. I really dont ever notice the "energy" difference

 

[Miniv]

I do not like sweet feed for horses, and feel a good complete pellet is a better and much safer choice. BUT, there are some with horses who look beyond amazing who do feed sweet feed. So, it does work well for some. For my horses, foals - adults, I choose to give them a complete senior pellet, grass hay and free choice minerals but NO sweet feed.

We manage feeding much like Jill (and agree with her about sweet feed.).......but instead of free choice minerals, we have available a Selenium/Salt and Mineral Block in each paddock or pasture. The complete feed includes vitamins, minerals, probiotics, beet pulp in it.......LOVE the stuff, and the horses do too! They also are fed a grass hay, the amount varies upon whether they are on dry lot or if they are on pasture.

The timing is a GENERAL time morning and evening. It can range anywhere between 8 to 9:30 a.m. and from 5 to 7 pm.........If it's very hot (for example) we feed earlier in the morning and later in the evening.

 

[Valentino]

So did you get your question answered?

Rule of thumb don't ask for advice on anything here, you will receive answers that are in total agreeance with you question and completely opposite.

Best bet is to follow your instincts and do what you do.

I feed sweet feed in combination with other stuff, and if I asked for advice on my feeding program, the answers would run the gammut.

 

[wildoak]

I fed Omolene for many years with my big horses, and for the first several years we had minis. Good feed, I never had any particular problems with it but in the course of trying to tweak my feed program and get most of them on the same feed I have been through a few different feeds in the last 2-3 years. Tried the Platform mini feed - good overall results but I wasn't satisfied with it for babies & nursing mares. Switched over to Safe & Sound or Safe Choice, has worked well for almost everyone including the big mares, and it's readily available. My boarders got sold on a relatively new feed, Kalm & Kool by Aussie Logic, so I agreed to experiment and put a few horses on it. After a trial period of about 2 months and going to their seminar, I'm moving most of the minis onto it. Seems to be a very safe feed, no need to feed alfalfa with it which saves me a little money, and the horses on it look great. The only drawback is availability - no dealers within 40 miles or so. It also comes in a 40# bag so I have to remind myself that it's not such a bargain compared with a 50# bag of something else for the same price.

We did have more colic issues in years past than we do now, I think due to more careful feed management. Adding beet pulp into the mix seemed to make a big difference.

Jan