| Archive for It's About The Horse The Free Forum for those Doing Parelli - and a whole lot More! "Anything forced and misunderstood can never be beautiful." Xenophon (430-355 B.C.), |
| kristenhorseluv |
What Are You Feeding?So, I've been through some major stuff over the past few months and am finally returning to this forum...I've definitely missed you guys!!!! I'll post some Jake pictures soon.I'm going through a divorce/separation whatever you want to call it when two lesbian gals that have been together for 4 years are parting ways. It's a nasty split too and I'm going to have to use a police escort to get the horses as soon as I get their a duplicate copy of their registration papers from the AQHA. That being said, I will be boarding them where my mom is now and she's reducing the rate for me as long as I buy my own feed and hay. I know what kind of hay I'll be getting (coastal) but I don't know what to feed them. I want to switch up their feeding program and I have to be economical about it. The lady that runs the place likes to have the horses out a lot, so they will get over 12 hours of turn out a day and will be stalled the rest of the time. The pasture that they will be on does have a plentiful supply of grass. I've not really re-evaluated their feed program in 2 years and I'm not 100% sure what they are getting right now since they are at my ex's. So I was wondering what everyone is feeding these days. 
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| thelmanelle |
I still feed oats, barley, BOSS, trace minerals, solitude for my area. Jesse, my skinny guy, get triple crown senior.
The whole group is on tift 85 pasture 24/7 and doing great except for the horseflies! They get very little food as they are well kept with the pasture. |
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| kristenhorseluv |
What trace minerals do u feed? | ||
| Chablis |
Re: What Are You Feeding?
Yikes!  I hope it all goes well for you!
Regarding cost, perhaps keep it as simple as possible ie hay & vitmain/minerals if they are good doers? Is there anyone you know who is looking to buy bulk to keep costs down? You could split the costs between you? 
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| kristenhorseluv |
What vitamin/minerals are most people using these days? I'm looking for a complete vitamin/mineral deal. | ||
| thelmanelle |
okay, wait until sunlight and I will tell you.
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| misstux |
Scout is on grass hay and gets California Trace as his supplement along with freshly ground flax and a joint supplement in a small amount of LMF low carb complete as a mash. | ||
| alexwein |
Sooo sorry to hear about the nasty breakup. I'm glad you are pursuing getting your horses back with you!!
My girl is 27 months and still growing, so she gets a supplement that helps add protein to her diet as well as other needed nutrients. I give her a good, solid supplement with no grain and very low sugar/simple starch content. Then I adjust the fat/calories she gets according to how well she is doing. Specifically, I feed 2-6 flakes of high quality, low sugar hay daily, depending on what pasture she is on that day. I supplement her diet with 1.5 lbs. of LMF super supplement (kind of similar to Triple Crown 30%). It is designed to compliment grass hay. She gets .5 lbs with her morning feed and 1 lb in the evening. She gets a mash 2X daily, AM consists of 1 scoop of beet pulp, 1 scoop stabilized rice bran, one small scoop ground flax seed, 1 smaller scoop of Cool Calories 100. I mix this with water the evening before and let it soak all night. PM she gets (all soaked) 2 scoops of beet pulp, 2 scoops of rice bran, small scoop ground flax, small scoop Cool Cal., 1 squirt probiotic (DynaPro). She used to get a scoop of MSM but ran out of that and haven't replaced it. Still debating on whether it's needed. I adjust the beet pulp, rice bran and flax according to where her weight is at the time. She gets the same amount of supplement no matter what, since that is not about calories but about covering her vitamin/mineral/protein needs. She is doing extremely well with this and has for a while. She's a fairly easy keeper, her coat is shiny, hooves are strong and overall she is growing well. Though she's still pretty downhill and I pray for her to balance out once she stops growing.  But her butt has grown about 3 inches in the past four or five months, so I'm betting her fore end will eventually catch up!
Hope that helps. And good luck with that break up. So painful and never fun! |
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| 4theloveofjake |
My horses don't do alot of work. They don't need calories so I feed one cup of grass pellets with warm water and put in their supplements. They get Big Sky which has every vitamin and mineral a horse needs.
I do give them loose trace mineral salt too to lick as they choose. They really like it. They are on timothy/brohme/orchard grass hay. |
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| ElaineC |
Break ups are never easy. Chin up and hang in there!
We feed plain oats with a mineral balancer/top dress. Its all my guy needs, I'm pretty sure most of the boarders are fed the same. There are a few on other feeds but they are particular cases, like babies or skinnies. |
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| whisperingwindfarms |
Chopped Timothy/Alfalfa from Lucerne Farms and Dynamite Free Choice Minerals plus basic Dynamite every day. All 3 just got perfect bills of health from the vet earlier this month with the exception of Bucky's carcinoma which we're injecting with bloodroot.
Sending good thoughts to you! Just remember: this too shall pass. 
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| thelmanelle |
It's just a loose trace mineral mix...no special name. The store changes the bag brand name on occasion. But it is a mineral mix to allow them to get what they need and encourage them to drink in the heat or cold.
On the barley and oats, I only get a cup or less because they have plenty of grass and hay for the winter. I just want to be sure they get the trace minerals down. I throw in 1/2 cup of the BOSS. Later, If I want I give a handful as a treat. Jesse, my skinny guy, gets a nice scoop of the triple crown senior.It would be about 4 cups. I hope that helps. |
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| kristenhorseluv |
Ok, questions..
Alex- can you define scoop? also, what do you feed the rice bran for? do you feed anything to stabilize the flax...i.e. omega 3's vs 6's (i can't remember which is in flax) 4theloveofjake- how much big sky do you feed? i was looking on the web site and couldn't figure out the feeding directions... Thanks everyone for your encouragment on the break up jazz. It sucks, but whatever. |
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| 4theloveofjake |
It comes with a plastic scoop and I divide three portions from one scoop. My horses are doing really well on it and are very healthy and shiny. They have been on it for about 18 months. I used to give the Dynamite supplement but it got to be too expensive and this has everything they need. Alot of my trusted horse people use it too.
So essentially 1/3 of the scoop. One bag lasts me 9 months for 3 horses ! 
The Big Sky owner says to feed it free choice but I was advised to put it in the feed and that has worked well. Funny, when I had my A/C reading I had run out and had a bag on order and Powder told the A/C he needed his magnesium 
http://www.bigskymineral.com/ |
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| thelmanelle |
I, too, do not feed free choice I put it in their food each day to encourage drinking all year around...on the trace minerals. FYI, I give about one ounce per horse per feeding. | ||
| kristenhorseluv |
How long does one bag of the Big Sky last you for 3 horses? | ||
| thelmanelle |
Hey, not an answer directly , but when I was in Mt. on the farm...farming with horses...they fed the ones that farmed three times a day...if that helps. They had the Nissen water system for all the pastures and paddocks. Man, I want to live there. It was so beautiful...yes, I know winters are cold. Got to chain up.
But, I'd be happy their on that farm in Paradise Valley...let the Swan Truck come order food every month and never leave. Just work with the horses and do the cattle drives. I give this place up easy. Minerals are easily peed out if too much is given. Just want to encourage the drinking of water all year around. |
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| 4theloveofjake |
9 months
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| kristenhorseluv |
Ok wow that seems like a really good deal! You said it comes with a scoop?
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| 4theloveofjake |
Yes, Kristin it has it's own scoop. It costs about $58 after tax or at least it did when I bought the last bag. Sometimes I use my hand and put one third of a handful in each bucket. After a while you know what amount looks like 1/3 of a scoop.
The owner Andy Miller is really nice and you can call and talk with him if you want. |
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| thelmanelle |
I just need to move to Mt. I can't stand it. I had the best time there. Quit saying Big Sky...your making me home sick and I am in Ga. We never had such a great vacation and I am off topic....
Yes, I guess it comes with a scoop! There back on... 
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| 4theloveofjake |
LOL @t Sonya !
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| kristenhorseluv |
Thanks! I'm really thinking I'll order some!
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| kristenhorseluv |
So, I wanted to let you guys know what I ended up going with. I'm doing Seminole Equalizer and Beet Pulp. I think I'll take some pics this weekend and keep taking them every month so I can monitor their progress. |