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RE: [RC] Feeding Questions - Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.Essentially Beet Pulp (yeah!), flax, plain oats or barley and a chelated one-a-day vitamin/mineral supplement. No arguments there, assuming there's some forage being provided as well. This program states that horses are unable to digest grain...period. Totally untrue. The problems with grain arise because they digest it *too* well. To do so they said that any kind of grain fed (oats, fax and of course BP) should be soaked for up to 6-8 hours. I don't object to soaking grain, but beet pulp isn't a grain. A minor point which I hope is just something out of context, but I hope the lecturer isn't under the impression that beet pulp should be categorized anywhere close to a grain product. When asked about heat and humidity in the summer she said that as long as you don't make it ahead by more than one feeding that it should be fine (I kinda doubt this part). Me too. When I'm feeding beet pulp, it gets soaked overnight, and fed first thing in the morning. But I've also been in a time pinch and just soaked it for an hour or so, and it was fine. I'm not comfortable leaving it for more than about 10 hours, and would cut that down if I lived in the SE. Additionally, adding any supplements at all that are not chelated means they cancel one another out and does little if any good for the horse, aside from expensive manure. Oh, baloney. There are interactions between minerals to consider (calcium-phosphorus ratios are a good example), but they don't just automatically cancel each other out entirely. That's what ratios in formulations are for. Chelated minerals are better in a general sense, but most of the minerals ingested by horses in forage are NOT chelated, ie the calcium in beet pulp or alfalfa. The average absorption there is about 75%, which is a far cry from cancelled-out expensive manure. oats, flax, etc. They felt that flax should also be soaked vs ground as the centrifugal force of grinding (even if fed right away) destroys the essential enzymes. The primary value of flax seed is for the omega-3 fatty acids,not "enzymes", which are oxidized the longer they are exposed to air, light or heat. Nope, grinding is just fine. If you want to soak it for awhile instead, okay, but it's just not rocket science, folks. Centrifugal force is not the new evil to beware of in feeding horses. I don't have any objection to the supplement (though pretty darn pricey for nothing all *that* special), but a lot of what she told you in the seminar is just plain wrong. JMO. Susan Garlinghouse, DVM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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