Dr. Mike Foss DVM had a discussion with me on the hays we feed and how for the majority of horses (backyard) they are all being so severely overfed that he's seeing higher and higher incidences of cushings and obesity. He recommends bluegrass straw as a feed for those types of horses. I'd think the backyard horses that get ridden on a poker ride 3 times per year could also use a feeding a day+ of the same as a preventative measure.
. o o o o . o_ \ \____ o_ \_\ . (*)~(*)\_______/ . / \ . \______/ / . \_______/\ /- . o-- /_/ \ / . / \ / / . o o o-- / . / \ . o o heidi larson
--- On Tue, 12/16/08, Lisa Douglass <lisa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Lisa Douglass <lisa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [RC] Feeding for Less To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2008, 7:27 PM
I apologize if this is repeat information . . .
We have found feeding from 3x3x8 square bales is much less expensive than
small bales. The hard part was finding someone who would deliver the big
bales, but luckily a little perseverance paid off there since we found one
farm that would. There is also one hay farm an hour away that still allows
people to buy directly from them, so that also really helps on cost since
there is no middle-man-mark-up.
Anyone read the John Lyon's article published a year or so ago, which spoke
of feeding straw as an alternative? We tried that, and the horses did eat
it, though there was quite a bit of initial waste at first. A local vet
here in Colorado, who's big into nutrition, recommended wheat straw over
any
of the other straws, as it fulfills the same nutritional need of horses in
the wild when they eat dead forage out on the range. I never could find
wheat straw around here, just barley. We always feed a high quality
vitamin/mineral supplement, so fed that with the straw, along with soaked
beet pulp and one cup of Ultium. We found this scenario the cheapest way to
go in our area, while still keeping the horses healthy and fit.
Lisa Douglass
Moss Rock Endurance
www.mossrockendurance.com
(719)439-2472
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