March 20, 2014

Blog Hop: Whats In Your Bucket?


So, What supplements and other feeds does your horse vacuum down everyday? 

LOVE. As a lot of you know, I'm a neurotic, obsessed horse owner when it comes to feed. I could talk about nutrition enough to run it's own blog. So this week's subject of Lyssette's Blog Hop is hands down going to be my favorite of her series. My # 1 necessity in the feed room is my digital scale. Everything gets measured on a daily basis. The only think I don't measure (which has it's own scale for when I do) is hay. I've pretty much mastered the 'feel' of how much a flake weighs and when I do measure it's weight I'm usually within a 1/4 of pound so I draw my neurosis there at weighing hay daily. 

Echo's rice bran pellets being measured out.
I've talked extensively about Echo's diet in recent weeks with her poor condition after moving back from Texas. Here is my post detailing out her diet. While there have been a few changes since with her hoof injury, it has relatively remained unchanged. She now only gets 14 ounces of Rice Bran pellets since shes put a good deal of weight on and now gets a different calming supplement in the morning. 

Dakota's diet on the other hand is something I haven't really discussed so here it goes! His main grain is a mix of two feeds from our wonderful local mill, Hallway. Fiberenergy is a low NSC sweet feed. With his founder history and slight rotation, NSC % is the very first thing I look at when selecting his grain. Low and 'safe' is considered anything in the 12-15% range, but this stuff is 7%! You're suppose to feed it at a minimum of 6 pounds a day, but Dakota is such an easy keeper he would be a potbellied pig at this rate. So, to counter the amount and make sure he gets the proper amount of nutrients, he gets Stamm 30 added. Some feed Stamm 30 straight to their easy keepers but Dakota being picky, isn't a fan of a pellet only feed like Stamm 30. Stamm 30 is also low in NSC so no complaints from me there. Neither grain has made him hot either, double bonus. 

AM
10 ounces of Fiberenergy
1/2 lb of Stamm 30

PM
10 ounces of Fiberenergy
1/2 lb of Stamm 30
1/2 ounce of MSM (14,000mg)
1/2 ounce of Remission

Remission is a supplement that AniMed produces for metabolism. It's for horses prone to dietary founder/laminitis or those that have had it before. MSM is for a little bit of everything. So far in the 9 months he's been on this regime I haven't had a problem, he's fat, happy and his hooves are great. 

So there it is! Can't wait to see what everyone else does nutrition / feed wise.




6 comments:

  1. Pretty much this Blog Hop was made for you!

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  2. Fascinating, I am terrible at keeping track of dietary needs...my girls get hay & muesli from barn & supplements as and when needed/recommended by professionals. I have been very slow to get on nutrition bandwagon :/

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    1. I wish I knew more about the feed types you had there. I'd love to be able to help / study it more!

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  3. I need to be more proactive about Houston's actual grain/ hay. I'm pretty sure the amount of food he's getting can't be consistent with different people doing the feeding.

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    1. Let me know if you ever want any help! I live for this stuff.

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