Feeding Bread Crumbs

[iluvpin]

hi,

ok some of you may think i am going made, but when i done w/e at the mounted section they fed some of the horses bread crumbs, im not mean a handful here and there but 1/2 or a full scoop (scoop was v.big) so i asked why they had them and they said to help with weight gain, so my question is has anyone ever heard of this and would it be ok to give to a lamminitic mare?

thank you in advance
loz an pinxx

ps apparently a tack shop near by sells them in sacks.

[Alfies-slave]

Bread contains a high amount of starch and sugar, being made out of cerials it is high in carbohydrates. Horses prone to lami should avoid anything cerial based, high starch & sugar.

As a general rule it is not advisable to feed bread to horses because there is a risk that it will impact and cause colic... did you ever make dough balls out of bread when you were a kid? Well imagine a large dough ball of squished up bread in the horses gut!

There are safer ways to add condition to a horse prone to lami. Try high fat conditioning feeds that are low sugar, low starch.

[KAB]

The trader I bought Taz off had a big bag of out of date buns and bagettes. They said they would go to sainsburys each evening late at night and pick them up for pennies. It is basically a very cheap way of feeding horses, or putting on the weight. I would not advise it as there is nothing benefical in the bread for the horse. My Taz was massive when I bought him, and I was ashamed to take him out for a while, in fact we had to have a horse lorry not a horse trailer to get him home because he was sooooooo fat. Not surprising to hear, he hasnt seen a slice of bread since. :D

[Daffy Dilly]

Speedibeet is the one that is safe for laminitics I think.