Re: [RC] what to feed during a ride - Cindy Stafford
Hi LIsa, thanks for your advice.
It's not that I feel feeding grain is bad, but in attempting to educate my feeble brain (and forgive my limited understanding of equine nutrition if I've got this wrong...), and reading about nutrition - especially Susan G's nutrition articles, it seems like ideally, to maintain a happy gut during the ride, the majority of what the horse should eat should be mainly forage based with a little bit of grain.... ? Like what it says in one of Susan's articles:
"Focus on green grass, long-stem hay and well-soaked beet pulp to provide bulk throughout the day, with additional grain sources to provide energy only if motility is being maintained."
So that's why i'm wondering, if the horse isn't chowing on the hay or the beet pulp, and there isn't anything to graze on, and you've got B's or C's on the gut scores, is it OK to give him oats/sweet feed/pellets...? or is it just OK in limited amounts?
I think i'll see if my friend wants to try ultium as a lot of people have been recommending that, and since it is has beet pulp as one of the main ingredients (?i think?), then that might be OK.
Cindy
----- Original Message -----
From: Lisa
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 10:11 AM
To: Cindy Stafford
Subject: Re: [RC] what to feed during a ride
i dont know any reason why it wouldnt be safe? of course i'm not a vetrinarian, but it is very common practice to feed at last some grain. is there a particular concern why you feel it isnt safe? i know in the rest of the horse industry, and i was always taught growing up, dont feed a hot horse grain or let them drink, etc. this is not what is taught in the endurance competitions.
now that said, my horse eats ultium for his daily diet, so he is used to it, and he only is given a couple cupfuls with his electrolytes and slightly dampened at the holds, so it is not by any stretch alot of grain. also, it is not a dry or dusty type of grain, more of a smooth pellet and seems just looking at it as though it would be safe to feed without water, which i have in small amounts.
the stable where i board feeds ultium to some of the horses, and these are show jumpers.
of course the ultium would still have to pass the "taste test" my horse loooves the stuff, but some horses dont.
Cindy Stafford <cjstaf@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks! I was wondering about ultium actually, as my friend's horse was scarfing down his neighbor's ultium during the vet hold at the last ride...but was curious if it was safe to eat or not.
good to hear others have had success with it.
cindy
----- Original Message -----
From: Lisa
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 9:28 AM
To: Cindy Stafford
Subject: Re: [RC] what to feed during a ride
Hi Cindy...i feed purina ultium grain, and just use a small amount at holds with his electrolytes. it is different from regular grain from my understanding, because it is beet pulp based, not grain based. also has a high fat content. my horse loves it the best of anything i've ever fed him.....from what i've read though horses have mixed responses to it. of course i am not an expert or veterinarian, so you might want to ask one of the pros what they think of it, i would imagine they've heard of it though. good luck in your research!
Cindy Stafford <cjstaf@xxxxxxx> wrote:
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! :)
