Re: [RC] what to feed during a ride - Cindy Stafford
Thanks everyone who've been chiming in with advise. Guess i need to clarify/add a couple things:
the horse is my friend's. I am head ride crew (meaning the only knucklehead that goes with them and doesn't ride lol), and not the owner, so i will pass on the suggestions about getting tested for ulcers and such.
The horse doesn't care for carrots (eats maybe 1 or 2) and is not voracious about hay. the hay we currently have he isn't interested in, at least during a ride. Grazing at teh vet checks could be an option, but not in our area right now, due to the drought. Everything is pretty burnt up and picked over.
I am curious about the idea of giving feed such as oats or sweet feed during the holds. They need water to be digested, is that right? So is there a risk for belly aches or metabolic problems if that's done? (which is why we were focusing on using beet pulp). I read about ultium after it was suggested and saw the ingredients used is beet pulp and other things (getting technical now...haha) that seem like they would be good - so is this safe to feed during a hold? and if so, is there a limit to teh quantity to feed?
sorry about the number of questions....educate me please :)
cindy
----- Original Message -----
From: Cindy Stafford
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 9:37 PM
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: what to feed during a ride
OK, have a nutrition/feed question for the experts...
I am chief research geek (meaning, i surf the net a lot) for a friend who does 50's and is hoping to move up to longer rides soon. Her horse is a finicky eater, and is on the lean side. Normal diet is grass pasture, with daily bucket of beet pulp with a concoction of oats, sweet feed, corn and the usual minerals/supplements mixed in, along with a lot of pleading to get him to finish it. He won't eat beet pulp alone, the other stuff is for the added fat and to get him to eat it.
So aside from teh daily adventure of trying to get him to finish his bucket, my question, as chief researcher, is what to feed him during the ride itself....
I should mention here that while it would be great to give him free choice tasty hay, any hay with alfalfa in it causes him metabolic problems, he's a bit sensitive to it. and because we board, our choices of hay is a bit limited to what they have on hand, which is suffering a bit from the drought we're having. so the grass hay we're offering him, he's turning his nose up at.
So back to what to feed him during teh vet hold...he won't eat straight beet pulp. He eagerly eats grain, but if i understand susan's nutrition articles correctly, grain during a ride would not be the best choice....Or is a limited amount OK? If so, what amount is safe?
Or is there a complete feed that would be OK to give him, that would be digested differently then corn or sweet feed?
am looking foward to the advice from you veterans and veterinarians out there! :)
