Could pony nuts make a horse spooky?

[Lot1983]

I've fed Hens pony nuts for ages. This week we had lots of spare apples at the yard so for a few days he just got chaff (well, graze on) and apples, no pony nuts...

Yesterday I was doing his stable, emptied a bag of shavings in there and then came out and waved the bag all round the place including over his body... and he didn't bat an eyelid! (Very odd!)

Erm, so.. could the tiny miniscule amount of cereal contained within said pony nuts really make my horse spooky or has he just manned up?

 

[Yann]

They'll be bound with mollasses too, if he's a sensitive flower then it is possible. It might be that your grazing is on the way out too, and it's just a coincidence. Only way to find out is to stick him back on the nuts and see what happens

I don't feed Tess any mix or nuts, her former owner did at one point and soon changed their mind apparently.

 

[Lot1983]

I think he can stay off him until we have a saddle!

Will do some experiments going forward...

 

[domane]

But surely the sugar in the apples would replace the mollased-binding of the pony nuts? I know Roo couldn't have apples or carrots as they set him off (as well as mollasses, obviously). I agree that the only way to really know is to put him back on them... and then wave the bag around again :biggrin:

 

[popularfurball]

Lightly mollasses chaff created a meat eating human killing pony at our end

 

[tubby]

Yes PFB mines one of those too,have to watch the old git when grooming & tacking up or he'll have me .When ridden he's overeactive & spooks for England .Cut out the food & he goes back to my old boy again

 

[Shetlander]

When I bought Prince I was told to give him pony nuts and mollychaff which I dutifully did.... cure several months of problems, not least him becoming a bit of a challenge to say the least.

I had the sudden awakening while telling my youngest why I wouldn't buy Coco Pops for breakfast ("Sugar = short term energy high and no slow release to last til lunch) that I was feeding my horse sugar and cereal. No wonder he had all the symptoms of ADHD!

Quickly did my research and put him (gradually) onto a light balancer and chop. Hey presto - gorgeous, calm ponio :angel:

I felt bad that I had put so much consideration into my children's diets but hadn't thought about the effect of my horse's :frown:

 

[Lot1983]

I felt bad that I had put so much consideration into my children's diets but hadn't thought about the effect of my horse's :frown:

I'm the other way around, I had my friend's four year old to stay a few weeks ago and fed her OH's chocolate cereal for breakfast... and a fairy cake!


Domane, would apples be fructose though which is a more natural to the horse type of sugar? Carrots I know are high in something else that causes hyperactivity (one of the chaps in my office was banned from eating them as a child, could be E numbers?)

Either way he licked the bowl clean this morning with just Graze on with him supplements so no real need to replace the pony nuts with anything at the moment.

Plus will save me money!

 

[sjp1]

It may not only be mollasses (which everyone is very anti). Pony nuts/mix also contain a lot of by products, wheat chaff, oat chaff, barley, etc.

Tobes didn't do well on Allen and Page Fast Fibre which has no mollasses, and is very low starch and protein which a lot of horses react to. However, he didn't seem to do well on the oat feed and wheat feed that is contained in it - ie. the sweepings. Also remember, for any 'pony nuts' there are 'binding' products that may not agree with your horse.

I am now feeding just grass nuts. And that is all they have in them - grass. Yes, it is a higher protein and DE, but it is just grass and horses are designed to eat grass.