Feeds - Preparing in advance & the correct type

[Bertie]

Hi all I have 2-questions -

1st - a couple of people have mentioned recently that happy hoof can make your horse spooky etc. My lami prone share pony is on 1-large round scoop twice a day and has in recent weeks been a little more spooky than normal. She is normally really bombproof - as much as you can they can be. NOw I was putting this down to the fact that she hasn't been out much - well probably been turned out twice in 2-weeks :( nothing I can do about it I'm afriad. I'm trying to ride as much as possible but it's limited to weekends only. And recently it's been blowing gale's up at the farm so I've put this into the equation for the spookiness as well.

Now when I say spooking it's not like really bad by any stretch of the imagination but it's not normal behaviour for her, she is really striding out home (not a bad thing) but won't stand still to let people pass etc.

So my question is could the happy hoof be contributing towards to the new spookiness?? If so what is a good replacement for the happy hoof feed wise??

2nd - How far in advance can you make feeds up, I want to help out my shares owner and was thinking about buying a few new buckets and making up about 3-days worth of feeds at a time - would this be ok?? Can you add the water at time of making and leave for 3-days or is this not advisable?? She only has 1-scoop of happy hoof and quarter scoop of economy mix with water added to it.

Thanks :)

[Bozzy]

I'm unsure of lami safe feeds and have no experience of happy hoof but I'd guess that being in 12 days in a fortnight with only being exercised at weekends could definitely be a reason for her behaviour as well as the weather. Mine has only just started to calm down again after a very spritely few weeks constantly on his toes!!

With preparing feeds, an easy, space saving way of making up a few days feed at a time would be to prepare and leave in plastic bags, then just pour into a bucket and add water when feeding. I personally wouldn't leave soaked for more than 12 hours or so.

[eventerbabe]

Happy hoof has a lot of sugar in it (5%), i certainly would never have fed it to my laminitic pony. It could be contributing, but i think most horses are a little more on edge with the colder weather and often limited turnout. Hi-fi lite is an excellent alternative. It's perfectly OK to feed to laminitic prone horses and ponies and it doesn't fire them up.

You can make feeds up a week in advance. Use sealable plastic freezer bags and pop all your dry feed/supplements into them. Much more space-saving than having lots of buckets made up. I wouldn't add any water/sugar beet though, only the dry components if it's going to be sitting a few days.

[Nookster]

i personally wouldn't make wet and dry feed up 3 days before.

I make my evening feed in the morning and wouldn't leave it any longer.

Maybe just make the dry and leave the wet out until the day?

[katieB]

I wouldnt have thought the HH alone would make her spooky, there isnt a great deal of energy in it. How come there is so little turnout?
I wouldnt add water to anything until you're about to feed it, the feed will just start to ferment. I will leave it overnight sometimes if someone else is giving Milly her breakfast but I wont leave it any longer.

[Bertie]

As the sharer I have little say it what's she's fed but my owner is very open to suggestions especially when it comes to feeds and helping prevent lami, so subtle suggestions and carefully placed literature about the right foods might be the way to go - I don't want to appear to be over stepping the mark.

I do think the main cause of her new found spookiness is the pure energy and excitement about being out and about, the wind is definitely not helping :(

As for lack of turn out - I don't honestly know the answer why, I think it's a mixture between the YO wanting to rest the field from several hours turn out a day and them getting churned up a lot in th wet weather we had a few weeks back.

I'm not riding this saturday due to other commitments and I was wondering if it woudl be cheeky to ask her owner if it would be OK if she was turned out for at least a couple of hours on Saturday - do you think it's cheeky?? I just wnat her to let off a bit of steam.

[puzzles]

I think it's a load of muckthat Happy hoof makes horses spooky - their horses may be spooky, but the blame cannot be soley laid upon a chaff which is one of the lowest-calorie, highest-fibre, lowest-starch and sugar feeds on the market
surely the health and happiness of your horse is priority here?
perhaps if she keeps getting worse you may have to move yards to where she'll be happier with at least daily turnout?
x

[Bertie]

Thanks Puzzle, I know very little about feeds so was really interested in the points raised about Happy hoof in various threads over the last couple of weeks. As I mentioned I do feel that the majority of her new spookiness - which is minimal in comparison to other ponies I know is down to lack of turnout and the wind when we're out.

I unfortunately cannot move yards as she is not mine and have to go with whatever the owner is happy with :)

[SarahC]

I had a major major problem with HH, but only when I fed it with a mix as well. Happy Hoof can be fed as a complete feed, so I think that if you are giving a mix or cube as well, you are perhaps providing too much energy etc and that could be a factor for increased behavioural problems.

As soon as I knocked off the HH, my horse returned to normal within a couple of days. I tried an experiment with just the HH and he was no where near as bad as he had been when he had the HH and mix together.

Feeds can have an enormous effect on *some* horses....particularly in respect of certain ingredients such as sugar, molasses, barley etc...so its always a useful starting point.

However if she is on extremely limited turnout and only being exercised at weekends, that could also be a factor. is she getting lunged or otherwise exercised during the week? anything to give her a chance to stretch her legs properly?

S

[puzzles]

That's 0k, hun, please PM me if still in doubt xx
:-D
feed companies online (try googling Dengie, Baileys or Spillers) give personal feeding evaluations and advice for free,a dn are really nice and helpful (espec. Dengie, who have helped me with all ofmy quereis so nicley and make fantastic products)
xx

[Mehitabel]

i think the lack of turnout is a much, much more likely reason for the spookiness. if you were confined to bed when you weren't ill, apart from the amount of exercise your horse is getting - wouldn't you be full of beans and looking for an excuse to leap about?
not all horses cope at all well with no turnout - i only have to keep petal in for one overnight and i can barely hang onto her the next day, she is high as a kite.

i wouldn't make them up that far in advance - they go musty after a while, and are more tempting for mice and rats. and it's not really any more work to scoop them out of the bag, especially with only 2 things, than it isd to pour a bagful into a bucket and wet it.

[Bertie]

Thanks Puzzle, I did mail debgie and baileys and they gave me some great advice bailey said lo-cal balancer with Dengie hi-fi lite to bulk out, dengie said Alfa-A Lite with dengie optimum supplement.

I will try and see if I can make some suggestions to her owner but I don't want to seem like I'm treading on anyones toes.

Sarah C - she has had the quarter scoop of mix since I've been riding her and it total maybe 500g a day max. Unfortunately she is getting very little in terms of exercises I can't lunge as our menage isn't finished and all fields are a boggy mess, I've tried in-hand walking with her on my day this week but her next door neighbour (pure bred arab :rolleyes: ) went ballistic, rearing and bucking in his stable, trying to get over the door and squealing like someone was trying kill him just cos she went out of sight. Anyway this caused her to nearly drag me up the lane so i decided as the lane's pitch black someone could get hurt so cut our stroll and hand grazing short :(

[SarahC]

Unfortunately she is getting very little in terms of exercises I can't lunge as our menage isn't finished and all fields are a boggy mess,
Aah...in that case, I really would think that this is causing the majority of your issue.
When my girl had to be in 24/7 for only a week...our menage was also not finished so I walked her in hand for at least half an hour 3 times a day...and that still wasn't enough.
As Mehitabel says...if you were confined to bed...or even just to your bedroom..you'd go stir crazy and would probably be ready to party your bum off!...and we aren't designed to be foraging about in the grass 24/7!

Hope you get things sorted soon.

S