What Do You Feed Your Horse?

What do you feed?

Lets play a game... who actually reads my blog? For the most part I write mainly to to document my life with my horse for myself, but occasionally it turns out to be a good way to get some feed back.

Todays topic? Equine Nutrition.

I've had horses in a variety of settings for 2/3'rds of my life... that's over 20 years for those who want to date me... I won't actually put out there how old I am getting... yikes. One major thing I've noticed since coming here to Central Florida is that compared to other states and even other areas of Florida, feeding a horse in Central Florida is particularly expensive, a lot of horse barns (unless you're at an $800 a month show barn and sadly sometimes even then) do one of two things to save money. One, they skimp on feed and are ok with a horse who has a body conditioning score of 3 or 4 (go here to see what I'm talking about with regards to a BC Score) OR they feed crappy feed. I've been in four barns in three years since moving here and been at both types of barns.

I've never had to worry about these problems until I moved to Sanford. When I had my horse on my own property in Colorado I fed close to a bale of T&A a day and grain if needed and kept my expenses to $150/horse roughly a month. At the bigger boarding barns you payed a fixed rate and the horse got what they needed regardless of how much or how little the amount was. I think the least I paid for boarding was $150 (pasture) $250 (stall) and the  most I ever paid was $350 for a stall with T&A, grain, shavings and full care.

Our most recent move has turned into a major headache, but at the moment I don't have an affordable alternative so here I sit trying to make the best out of the situation. Rio initially lost weight for a couple of reasons. One, he was put into heavier work being ridden 4-5 hours a week W/T/C and occasionally jumping as opposed to a weekly trail ride. 2. He was sharing his paddock with a food aggressive horse. And, 3. H went from eating 24/7 on a round bale or pasture his whole life to eating a fixed diet that was really not enough given his increased work load.

At his thinest I would have put him at a 3.5 BC. He's now what I would consider a 4 maybe a 4.5 after adding extra hay to his diet and increasing his grain intake. While he is maintaining at that level he's stalled in gaining, and I still see a difference in his energy levels so I'm now looking at further changing his feed. I'm looking for the most cost effective way to give him a quality diet long term and to help him gain a little more weight through his top line and neck.

Rio - working with my trainer

He's currently getting 2 good size flakes of T&A & 4 quarts of Safe Choice pelleted feed twice a day.

I would rather increase hay then grain, but T&A is so expensive here that its difficult to add too much more with out going well over my budget. Feeding coastal requires feeding so much more coastal then T&A to maintain his weight that it doesn't end up being that much more cost effective unless you're feeding round bales. Why not get a round bale? A. He is a big waister of hay when I feed off a round bale. B. most places won't deliver to where I'm at because its hard to get a big truck or trailer onto the property. C. A round bale won't fit through his current paddock gate and moving him to an alternate paddock means he looses shade and shelter that is ideal in his current paddock.

I've also looked at feeding alternative supplements like beat pulp or alfalfa cubes, but unless I want to be responsible for soaking and feeding the beat pulp or alfalfa cubes twice a day this is pretty much impossible. The Barn Owner doesn't want to take the time to soak feed, and my schedule is so hectic that I would be lucky to get there once a day.

So my current solution? Buy a few extra bales of coastal so that I can add a flake or two more hay to his diet and change to a feed with a higher get/protein content. Which is where you come in... if anybody takes the time to read and respond to the blog that is (which I would really appreciate!).

I'm looking at different feeds and trying to make a decision between them. I'm looking at content of the feeds hoping to find something that is not too much above a 12% protein content, but that has a high fat content. I'd prefer to stay away from high sugar/starch based feeds, and from anything that has corn as the number one ingredient.

So far I've narrowed it down to the following...

Purina Products

Ultium - currently my top pick I think

Southern States Products

Legends Performance
Triple Crown Senior
Triple Crown Training

Nutrina Products

XTN
Safe Choice Perform
Safe Choice Original - what he currently gets

My questions are many, but I'll try to keep it short. Has anybody used any of these with success for gaining/maintaining weight on a horse in moderate or above work? Are there any that I should know to stay away from for whatever reason? What's better, textured or pelleted? I like the TC feeds, but they are textured and I've heard that textured feeds are not as easily digestible??? Safe Choice Original that he's currently on has a protein content of 14% and a fat content of 7%. All the other feeds range between a 12-14% protein content & have an 8%-12% fat content. Should I look at adding weight builder or similar supplements into his diet or will bumping his fat content up by 5% really make that big of a difference? How do the different products compare price wise in this area?

Note that, yes, he had his teeth floated in April. Yes he had normal blood work panels done at that same time. Yes, he is wormed on a rotation on a regular basis. He has no known health problems. The one thing I have not ruled out, but will call a vet for if a change in feed doesn't help, are ulcers.

No he is not extremely thin, but my trainer, and vet do agree with me he does need some weight.

Suggestions that I haven't listed are more then welcome!

Check out the most awesome Fergus...