Coolstance Copra, any experience?

[Jane&Ziggy]

My friend Catherine recommended Coolstance Copra to me the other day. She is using it as a winter feed for her native ponies. She says it is safe for laminitics and they all look fantastic on it.

Her ponies live out in a herd, like ours. They are all pretty good doers. I had a look at the Coolstance info and thought that it probably offered more calories than Ziggy needs (though I think Mattie would benefit from some) but Catherine suggested that it was such a good source of Omega 3, essential fatty acids and micronutrients that she would feed it even to a good doer.

Her little herd (2 New Forests and a Shetland) do look very glossy and happy at present. Does anyone have any views on this feed?

 

[mystiquemalaika]

Neala is fed coolstance with her thunderbrooks feed,she loves it her feet,digestion,skin etc all looking great. It's highly recomennded in the bf groups and is friendly to lami,ppid etc horses as like micronised linseed it's safe fats. Neala gets 1/3rd a scoop am and pm alongside her other bits,she is looking well but not fat. You can feed less or more for desired effects. It swells to around 4x so goes a good way. Snack and tack is where I get mine from.

 

[sjp1]

I fed my TB this. Was absolutely fantastic for him - wish I had found it sooner for him. For Tobes who is reactive to feeds, too high a protein for him, but a very good feed for my TB and would highly recommend.

 

[Cortrasna]

A friend gave me a couple of scoops of this to see would Dolly eat it to get her supplements into her. She wouldn't touch it, not even a mouthful, fussy mare!

 

[mystiquemalaika]

That's not unusual it seems cortrasna, they do recommend introducing very slowly as a lot of horses seem to think yucky, Neala did and it took around 3 weeks to get her to eat it without looking,now she won't eat her feed without it!

 

[sjp1]

Smells delicious - of all the horse feeds i would definitely eat this!!

 

[domane]

I bought two bags for poor doer Jack and he took a mouthful and flatly refused to touch it ever again! I was surprised because it smelled yummy. I picked up a trial pack of Thunderbrook's last weekend at YHL and the herd are currently divided in opinion

 

[mystiquemalaika]

Thunderbrooks is great feed and what Neala has but she won't eat the base mix without the coolstance copra.
SJP it does smell delicious,I love going in my shed in the morning as it smells of coconut

 

[popularfurball]

For the good do er element, the added calories are so little in comparison to what they consume from grass/hay as the portion required is so small, that for me nutritional benefits outweigh the calorie issue - the same as micronised linseed. They are oil based, and therefore long chain molecules and it takes a long time to break down into short chains (sugars) so there aren't concerns about a fast sugar rush either for laminitics

 

[sjp1]

I agree with PFB and was upset that Tobes turned into raving lunatic being brought in from the field on it.

Now whether that was because he had his raving lunatic head on that day, or whether it was the Copra I can't say. But off he came from that feed PDQ. Having said that, he has had a raving lunatic head on being fed Fast Fibre - this I put down to copious amounds of wheat feed and oat feed and soya.

At the mo he is on Speedibeet - not a lot, but enough to get minerals down him. He is also on Egusin SLH which has a high oil and oat content, and seems MUCH better behaved - so possibly not the Copra, just his head on the days he was on it!