Re: feeding

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Hi Juliann,

Keeping in mind that this is only my opinion (but that on the other
hand, I don't work for a feed company), your mare is getting excessive
protein and calcium.  Without calculating it out, my guess is she's
probably getting a ration around 16% protein, depending on the quality
of the alfalfa, and probably around 80 grams of calcium, more than three
times what she needs.  Your calcium-phosphorus ratio is technically
okay, in that it's not inverted, but it's also far outside the ideal
range of 1.2 - 2 grams of calcium to 1 gram of phosphorus.  Again
without knowing the exact quantities you're feeding, I'd guess your
ratio is around 3 to 1, and also that your protein levels are around
270% of her needs.

I know you're out around Redlands not too far from me, and sometimes
it's hard to convince ranch managers not to bury horses in alfalfa.  If
there's nothing you can do about the alfalfa, well, keep up with the oat
hay.  If you can, see if you can cut the alfalfa down to just one flake
a day---that's still plenty of protein and calcium without getting as
excessive as you are right now.  You can make up the difference with
more oat hay, or if you like, bermuda.  Bermuda is sometimes easier to
get in our area and I like it better than oat hay (and the horses
usually clean it up better).

If you'd like to continue with the 606 and oats, that's fine.  If she
starts to drop weight as you increase work, I'd start adding in some
oats, and some corn oil.  Personally, I don't think she needs the senior
feed, as she's only nine, seems to be in good health and there's an
awful lot of profit added into the senior feeds.  My suggestion would be
to switch her from the senior feed over to just some nice, clean oats,
but take a few weeks to make the changeover.

Hope this helps.  Let me know if you have any other questions.:-)

Susan G
juliann_ford@redlands.k12.ca.us wrote:
> 
> Help!  I need some advice on how I am feeding my mare.  I am getting some VERY
> conflicting info here at home.  I can't figure out if this advice is coming from
> knowledge base or profit base.  Since I know many of you are quite knowledgable
> about this topic, I turn to you. Right up front, please forgive my ignorance (I
> hope my mare does too).
> 
> She is a 9 yr Trekahner, training for her first ride.  Her weight is approx
> 1100-1200 lbs, you only see some rib when she is working.  She gets a good size
> flake of alfalfa 2x a day (ranch supplied - obtained in Southern Calif) and 2-3
> flakes of oat hay supplied by me a day.  I feed oat hay so that   a) She has
> some forage between feeding times
>                   b) an attempt to offset the alfalfa
> 
> For grain, she gets 1/2 lb of 606 and 1/2 lb of senior feed because this is what
> she was raised on and I didn't want to change EVERYTHING when I bought her.
> 
> I am mostly concerned with providing her forage (we have no grass pastures
> available) and keeping her clacium/phosphorous ration healthy.
> 
> What do you guys think?
> 
> Juliann