SD: Feed Blog Hop

Feed & Nutrition is something that has always been incredibly interesting to me... when it comes to horses anyway.  I often find myself curious what people feed their horses, and love to spend my [lack of] free time pondering how certain nutrients affect horses - more specifically their affects certain 'types' of horses.  For example, why can the majority of our race horses handle upwards of 3 gallons of oats per day, even in the off season, when Kidd gets loopy off a quarter of that?  As well, why is it that years ago when I fed Paprika to Kidd and a Quarab mare I had, did the mare get hot off it but Kidd didn't?  What is it about specific horses systems that allow nutrients to affect them differently than others?

Colour me a conspiracy-theorist, but I prefer to avoid 'chemicals', or processed feed, when I can.  I personally believe that the closer you can get to natural ingredients, the better it is our our systems.  I'm a bit of a herb-buff, and prefer to use them in leau of chemical compounds when I can.  Don't get me wrong, i'm not going to be frolicking in the forrest if a horse begins colicing, i'm heading straight to the medical cabinet for Banamine, but in terms of a lot of wound care, and daily feeding a lot of things can be replaced with a natural substitute.  I think this is why I was so drawn to Omega Alpha products, and i'm now a retailer for them.

Kidd is an incredibly easy keeper and in previous years I have concocted feed mixtures designed to aid all his 'problems'.  Let me be clear. While there are many things designed to help with body-related issues such as soreness, organ clarity, mineral deficiencies, etc, feed additives will typically not 'fix' your horse.  Finding a simple feed plan that works for you and your horses is paramount, but tailoring to specific requirements must come secondary to basic nutrition.

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Moving onto the intent of this Blog Hop...

What Do You Feed & Why?

This may be a bit confusing to some, because this year we are feeding off round bales and large (1500lb ish) bales of pure Alfalfa, so i'll post 'equivalents' to if they were standard size square bales to make it more universally understood.. As well, keep in mind this is for an average day.

Kai, 2013 TB Mare

- Low Quality Timothy, free fed
- 3 Flakes of pure Alfalfa
- 1 Gallon of Oats in the Morning
- Evening Mash includes:
1.5 Large Scoops of [soaked] Beet Pulp
.5 Large Scoop of [soaked] Alfalfa Cubes
1/2 Large Scoops of Step 8 (cutting back, was previously 1SC)
.5 Gallons of Oats
2 Small [provided] Scoop of Magnesium
2 [provided] Pumps of Canpressco Oil

Ignore everything gross looking, and admire her dapples & shiny winter coat

Kidd, 2010 Araloosa Gelding

Currently,

This is the current body of a strong, independent man who don't need no woman... So Cheeky!

- Free Fed Low Quality Timothy

- .5 Gallon Oats Morning & Night

When in Work,

This is the same body, of the same man, with a woman.. Look at the displeasure on his face because I shoo'd him away!

- 4 Flakes Grass Mix
- Evening Mash includes:
.5 Large Scoop of [soaked] Alfalfa Cubes
 2 Small [provided] Scoops of Magnesium
0.5 [provided] Pump of Canpressco Oil

Nikki, 1999 Thoroughbred Mare

Indefinitely,

- Free Fed Low Quality Timothy {winter}
- Brome Mix 100 Acre Pasutre {summer}
- 2 Flakes of pure Alfalfa {winter}
- 2 Gallons of Oats

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If you're like me, you're wondering what Canpressco Oil is.  In short form, it's a fabulously balanced oil made right here in Canada, from Camalina Seeds.

A good friend of mine is a retailer of Canpressco Oil, so I decided to support her and give it a try last spring.  When in full work, Kidd gets a very minimal dose because he's gets fat on air, but I was thrilled with the results last year.  He felt so much more fluid in his movement, and his coat was in-cred-ible. 

There is currently a bit of a turf-war in my area over both Canpressco and Hemp Oil.  Both retailers are friends of one another, and the Hemp retailer is an acquaintance of mine.  Many of my friends use Canpressco, and I know quite a few who use Hemp Oil as well.  While I haven't dug much into Hemp Oil because i'm really satisfied with Canpressco, I have heard and read some things that don't make me want to drop my jug of Canpressco in the garbage and run out and buy the Hemp Oil.  While i'm not here to bad-mouth Hemp Oil because I've never used it, everything I have read and heard stems around the fact that it's quite a 'heavy' oil and as such it is hard for the horses system to process.

I believe the Canpressco has put a nice, balanced amount of weight on Kai and it has seriously improved her coat condition.  Even with a filthy, winter coat she's got a gorgeous and dapply shine, and a nice coverage of fat.  She arrived still  'tucked up' from racing and the new coverage over her topline and ribs has been super.  While Step 8 is high in fat, I accredit a lot of it to the Canpressco Oil because she's continuing to put on weight even with cutting back the Step 8, and as such I give it 5 Gold Stars!  

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Looking forward to reading everyone's posts to satisfy my inner Feed Beast!

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