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  Discussion on Need Advice on Feeding
Author Message
Member:
juliem

Posted on Friday, Feb 8, 2008 - 5:18 pm:

Toni, I copied and pasted your post here with a slightly different title as it wasn't showing up as a new discussion. The link kept taking it to an old one. Your post is below, but I will tell you that the first thing you need to do is go to the "horse care" section, "nutrition, an overview" and read the main article on Nutrition. Not only will it answer your questions, it will give you all the ammo you need to straighten out this barn owner! I don't know why your post got lost in cyberspace--keep trying! Julie
Posted by TONI SABELLA on Friday, Feb 8, 2008 - 9:32 am:

Dr. O
I have a morgan mare 10 yr old and she is an easy keeper and I usually
give her 1 scoop (2qt) of trotter in the am and flake of hay w/ 1
scoop in the evening w/ a flake and depending on the barn she's at she
gets an extra flake during the day. I thought she was a little too big
in her belly so we cut her grain but she ended up having low sugar so
we when back to her 1 scoop but put her on carb guard from blue seal.
That worked better. I now have her in a new location and she is losing
weight. I think their giving less hay so I asked to up her grain to
scoop and 1/2. Im not sure I like this plan. She looks good w/ the
weight loss (about 50lb) but I dont want any more of a loss. Im afraid
of problems giving more grain. The owner tries to say that hay will
give a hay belly but I say I dont want founder either. 1.whats your
opinion on this? 2. How can I maintain w/o anymor of a wt loss? 3.
what should i feed her? more hay or grain? The feeling I get is the
owner is full of **** and making decisions according to her budget or
personal circumstance in her barn management and Im not that dumb when
it comes to whats best for a horse. I prefer hay but how much? Any
help from you is great. She looks good and I want to keep her where
she's at.



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Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Feb 8, 2008 - 8:19 pm:

Toni are you there?
DrO
Member:
maggienm

Posted on Monday, Feb 11, 2008 - 12:06 am:

Julie, if you are paying for the feed and board and this is your horse it seems you should be able to make the feeding decisions.
That said, I will try to give you some questions to ask yourself to help make your decisions.
The first rule of feeding is to feed according to the horse's present condition, and work requirements(which includes weather).
So ask yourself if your horse is low on energy and or losing weight, or conversly, too heavy?
Has it been long enough since the last feed change to know if the mare is gaining or losing?

It is hard to know about the trotter you are feeding since every pelleted feed is different, are you feeding the maximum the directions suggest? I certainly wouldn't feed more than recommended.
How much work does your mare get?
What is the quality of the hay?
Why is the barn owner concerned about your horse hay belly?
Are you able to frankly discuss your concerns with the barn owner?
You said reducing her pellet ration caused her to have high blood sugar? How do you know that?
Hope this helps you make some choices.
Member:
tonijo

Posted on Monday, Feb 11, 2008 - 9:24 am:

Julie thank you for posting here. I was wondering why I got no response? Im not that computer savvy that I know how to do all this.
Member:
tonijo

Posted on Monday, Feb 11, 2008 - 9:25 am:

Dr O
could you read my above concern on my morgan mare thats 10 yo and make a suggestion or request more info to make a suggestion? thanks
Member:
tonijo

Posted on Monday, Feb 11, 2008 - 9:32 am:

Lori
the sugar level went down when we cut her grain last time. I noticed she had no energy and so i had her blood work done to see what was up and it came back w/ those results. The barn owner is all about whats good for her horses but its a situation where I can keep my eye on my horse daily and I just add my own extras like extra shav and maybe now extra hay until i find a better situation for both of us. Shes well cared for from me. There are parts of the year she goes to my trainer for show season and I have no problem then.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 - 7:23 am:

Hello Toni,
Taking your questions in order:
1) No one can accurately answer your questions without looking at your horse and answering dozens of questions some of which are particular to you. You need to study "Nutrition Overview" to understand equine nutrition and answer the questions you are asking.

2) This question is backwards Toni. There is NOT a prescribed amount of food that is guaranteed to keep a horse in a particular condition, in fact this is changing all the time in response to environment, work load, age, etc. Instead you adjust feeding to achieve a desired condition. The horse tells you when they are fed correctly by maintaining the desired condition. The article Nutrition Explains how to do this while feeding healthy feeds.

3) The amount of forage a horse should have in their diet and what are excessive amounts of concentrate are explained in the article also Toni.
DrO

PS I believe the staff deleted the earlier post because it was placed at the bottom of another discussion and because of the profanity. I have adjusted the profanity above but Toni you do need to learn to start new discussions when asking questions about your horse and please keep the language appropriate for all people including kids. You will find the start a new discussion button at the bottom of the articles and list of already existing discussions. If you need help finding this let me know.
Member:
tonijo

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 - 6:41 pm:

Dr. O
Thanks for your reply and I am sorry for the language as I didnt even realize what I wrote. I apologize again. I do also thanks for the directive of how to post as I wasnt too familiar w/ that and I will read into the topic you mentioned.
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