Anyone feed mint?

Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins

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Oct 10, 2004
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I am constantly trying to get Ben to eat his supplements. He is supposed to be on a very low sugar diet which means that I have to find something low in sugar and high in fibre to fix mix it with. I have been opting for speedibeat and a few fibre nuts mixed together to make a mash. Sometimes he eats it all and sometimes he takes a few mouthfuls and then turns his nose up at it, which drives me crazy because it is such a waste of money for the supplements.

Someone suggested I try mint and I borrowed some from a friend which seemed to entice him more. So I have now ordered a big tub of dried mint and plan to sprinkle a couple of scoops over his feed to see if this makes any difference. Mint is supposed to be good for the digestive system which is an added bonus.

Does anyone else feed mint like this and have they found it successful?
 
Not tried mint but have you considered pink mash instead of speedibeet? It's very low sugar and starch and very high fibre and mine all love it. Speedibeet is one of the few things they leave. I guess because it's so bland? Plus it expands like mad so a small cup is enough and so very cheap.
 
KP nut said:
Not tried mint but have you considered pink mash instead of speedibeet? It's very low sugar and starch and very high fibre and mine all love it. Speedibeet is one of the few things they leave. I guess because it's so bland? Plus it expands like mad so a small cup is enough and so very cheap.
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No I have never heard of pink mash. I will go and look it up. Thank you.
 
I use spearmint and it covers up Torins supplement well. You can also use mint tea. Use hot water that is made with a mint tea bag and soak or add to your Speedibeet/nuts. Warm feeds sometimes tempt them as well :)
Alternativly have you looked at some of the meadow grass grass nuts? Emerald green do one and they can be tastier for alot of horses as opposed to Speedi beet and are below the 10%.
 
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Grass nuts are flash dried which I know the Barefoot Book advise against. Don't know why. Anyone else know?? But when planning my diet for transitioning Amber and Jenny, I had to exclude those products. Pink mash was fine though. Less than 2% sugar and starch, 40% fibre and no vits & mins added so no risk of imbalance when supplementing.
 
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I will look into the grass nuts, but I think that they are on the list of 'banned' feed I have been given. I think perhaps (I may be wrong) that it could be due to the same reason that ALFA A is not advised. This is due to the fungus which is produced when it is processed and this can make some horses footy.

There is only a very small number of feeds which I am allowed to try at the moment and I am trying to get Ben to love speedibeat. What does irritate me about though is that it turns very watery when he eats it (despite me only using exactly the amount of water needed to mix it), and he leaves some of it when it gets too watery to eat and he gets fed up of licking it. This leftover bit therefore still has some supplements in it .

The alternative to the speedibeat is Allen and Page Fast Fibre, but I have heard that this isn't particularly tasty either.
 
Mary Poppins said:
I will look into the grass nuts, but I think that they are on the list of 'banned' feed I have been given. I think perhaps (I may be wrong) that it could be due to the same reason that ALFA A is not advised. This is due to the fungus which is produced when it is processed and this can make some horses footy.

There is only a very small number of feeds which I am allowed to try at the moment and I am trying to get Ben to love speedibeat. What does irritate me about though is that it turns very watery when he eats it (despite me only using exactly the amount of water needed to mix it), and he leaves some of it when it gets too watery to eat and he gets fed up of licking it. This leftover bit therefore still has some supplements in it .

The alternative to the speedibeat is Allen and Page Fast Fibre, but I have heard that this isn't particularly tasty either.
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Fast fibre is what Belle has, initially she didn't much care for it, she would eat it if I left the bucket in her field all night, but she just picked at it, I used mint to give it some flavour, as time went on I gradually decreased the mint and now she will eat it without anything added.
 
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Kite_Rider said:
Fast fibre is what Belle has, initially she didn't much care for it, she would eat it if I left the bucket in her field all night, but she just picked at it, I used mint to give it some flavour, as time went on I gradually decreased the mint and now she will eat it without anything added.
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That is good to know. Do you have to mix the fibre cubes with water?
 
I bought pink mash from Millbry Hill online the first time then asked my local feed store to order it in for me which was cheaper.
 
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I tried mint and every (or it felt like it) low sugar option to get Jess to eat pro hoof, battled for over a year having to change feeds and add things every 5 minutes or shut her up with no other food to try and force her to eat it :( I gave up in the end, she just hates powdered pure mineral supps unless there is something sugary to mix it with :( I do still use mint occasionally to hide short term additions like meds, never had a problem with it causing footyness
 
Never heard that about flash drying @KP nut so will have a read/research thank you.
I can't use any grass nut that is rye based but the meadow nuts are different grasses ,for Torin who has had Lami. I also feed Timothy haylage to him as opposed to hay as can't get meadow hay here.
 
Mary Poppins said:
I am constantly trying to get Ben to eat his supplements. He is supposed to be on a very low sugar diet which means that I have to find something low in sugar and high in fibre to fix mix it with. I have been opting for speedibeat and a few fibre nuts mixed together to make a mash. Sometimes he eats it all and sometimes he takes a few mouthfuls and then turns his nose up at it, which drives me crazy because it is such a waste of money for the supplements.

Someone suggested I try mint and I borrowed some from a friend which seemed to entice him more. So I have now ordered a big tub of dried mint and plan to sprinkle a couple of scoops over his feed to see if this makes any difference. Mint is supposed to be good for the digestive system which is an added bonus.

Does anyone else feed mint like this and have they found it successful?
Click to expand...

Where did you buy the mint please? I am thinking of buying some for Storm as she's been turning her nose up at her feed and I have to get her supplements down her.
 
Yes I have.
But I have been there and fed it supplement wise with the Barefoot trimmer suggesting xyz as well. I ended up questioning the need for all of it. Because I had to feed the horse to get the supplements in at all.

Not suggesting people do not feed things, but I scratch my head that a farrier can come out shoe a horse and nobody supplements the horse in the same way as what happens if you take that shoe off.
I don't know the list of supplements you are buying, but we feed 5g of magnesium suggested by the farrier and it sticks to half a carrot with a sprinkle of balancer which I won't replace because she isn't licking the bowl anymore.
 
newforest said:
Yes I have.
But I have been there and fed it supplement wise with the Barefoot trimmer suggesting xyz as well. I ended up questioning the need for all of it. Because I had to feed the horse to get the supplements in at all.

Not suggesting people do not feed things, but I scratch my head that a farrier can come out shoe a horse and nobody supplements the horse in the same way as what happens if you take that shoe off.
I don't know the list of supplements you are buying, but we feed 5g of magnesium suggested by the farrier and it sticks to half a carrot with a sprinkle of balancer which I won't replace because she isn't licking the bowl anymore.
Click to expand...

Many horses are ‘footy’ when they come out of shoes and can not cope without shoes. The theory is that their diet is wrong, their sugar content is too high and they do not have the necessary vitamins in their body to be able to grow a hoof which can support their body. By removing sugar and providing them with the necessary feed required, the hoof grows in a much tighter and stronger way. The top of Ben’s feet is much tighter and is growing at a slightly different angle since I have been feeding the supplements. The real benefit won’t be seen until he grows a completely new hoof wall but he is already moving better and much more sure footed. Part of the process is to also increase fibre in the diet. So I am not only looking for a feed to mix the supplements, I am looking for a feed which is high in fibre but with no sugar. It would be much easier to simply add some molasses to his feed, but I am determined to find a way to get him to enjoy eating fibre and supplements without adding sugar.

Farrier’s won’t need to recommend supplements because they make money out of putting shoes on horses.
 
I feed low sugar low starch high fibre to both boys. Had done for about five years they are on good grazing and the only supplement they get is turmeric.

Removed chanters back shoes years ago his feet are ok but very footy on stones ground discussed removing his fronts was a complete no go.

What are these supplements
 
The theory is that domesticated horses eat a limited range of grasses/forage so lack biodiversity in their diets. They also eat richer pasture instesd of lots of poorer more stemmy plants. So their diet is higher in sugar and lower in fibre than the diet they evolved to eat. This means the diet is generally both unbalanced in terms of sugar/fibre etc and lacking in minerals. The supplements are forage based supplements that replace this lack. To be fed with a very low sugar, very high fibre base feed. At least that is my understanding! @Mary Poppins knows more though so can correct me I am sure. She's in direct contact with Rockley Farm. I've just read the book!
 
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