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Re: [RC] Endurance Equine Nutrition - rides2farHere in Florida, we don't have a steady hay supply, so it's kind of pointless to test our hay. However, we feed coastal, so I assume it has no nutritional value other than fiber and a good babysitter. Alpine gets hay free choice. Right now, he's on 3 pounds of Nutrena 12% pellets twice daily. We don't feed a molassas based grain cause he turns into a nut. On the days we ride him, he gets about 4 cups of beet pulp mash and some alfalfa cubes (he won't eat the beet pulp without the alfalfa). He also gets 2 cups of flax per day in his dinner, a selenium and vitamin e supplement, and whatever he can scrounge from the other boarders OK, here's where I see a problem. I'll admit, I know very little about equine nutrition, but there's this thing called a feed company that has people who work for them who do and they balance out a ration. I supplement that with a high quality coastal hay which is *far* more than "just a babysitter". When I was at the PNR convention in Portland they had a man with a computer program there for the 3-Day Eventer convention held in the same hotel. He would put in what you fed and tell you how all the different things interacted with one another. He nabbed me as I went by and asked me what I feed. I told him he wouldn't be impressed. I go for a commercial mix 10% protein 6% fat horse feed, coastal bermuda hay (all they'll clean up) and free choice salt. He said that was the smartest answer he'd gotten all day. He showed me some examples of people who were trying to do a better job than just feeding...god forbid...straight "horse feed". They would add one thing that threw the whole balance out of whack, then throw in some vitamins that were the same vitamins provided in another, and this would counteract that. If you want to do better than the feed mill's nutritionists, you'd better *really* know what everything has in it...and hay matters a LOT, it's the MAIN thing they're eating so you can't just blow over that part. Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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