Your horse should be given free-choice access to a good quality pasture or hay supplemented with oats. The University of Illinois recommends feeding 2 to 2. Increase or decrease grain quantities depending on your horse's needs. If your horse is losing weight, add more grain. If he's gaining, lower his grain ration. If you're unsure how many pounds of oats your horse should get every day, ask your veterinarian for a recommendation. Oats can be purchased in several forms.
Whole oats haven't been processed and still have their husks, or the outer casing surrounding the oat. Crimped oats are made by taking whole oats and partially flattening them, damaging the husk and making them slightly easier for horses to consume. Rolled oats have been completely flattened and are considered easier for horses to eat. Hulled oats have been removed from the husks and are the most nutritious option because everything you're feeding is pure oat seed.
Crushed oats have had both the hull and the actual oat smashed into small particles. It may be difficult to get existing ulcers healed with diet and supplements. Best of luck, Roy. Forgot to mention, our discipline is Western Dressage, and she is in full training 5 days of week.
Hi, I have a Suffolk Punch draft, draft cx and an older ottb, I have them on 3 different feeds. I want to put them all on one feed. They have a ton of grass and hay.
Would oats be a good change?? Hi Karen, Thank you for your interesting question. I would expect that the off track TB might be the hardest keeper of the trio compared to the Suffolk Punch and the draft cross. If you have a lot of grass and have hay as indicated, then you might want to consider using a ration balancer product such as Empower Balance or a comparable product, for all 3 to provide the vitamins and minerals to supplement the grass and hay and to provide some essential amino acids for hair coat, hoof quality and muscle mass.
If you do this and they maintain body condition and muscle mass, you would be good to go. If you determine that the OTTB does not maintain body condition, you could then add oats as an energy source to maintain desired body condition.
All of them should have access to free choice salt and fresh clean water at all times along with regular dental care and vaccinations. I own a horse rescue and we get quite a few very thin and weak horses. My feed bill has been through the roof keeping these guys maintained. My equine dentist told me about the Hs supplement. He told me to mix this with oats. Is this a safe and effective way to get weight on thin and old horses?
I have heard a lot of mixed reviews about oats. First off, kudos to you with your work on rescue horses! It can be a tough job rehabbing older horses, and understandable that your costs are racking up. Although it seems more expensive to purchase a commercial senior feed up front, in the long run it typically is justified by quicker and safer results.
A senior horse is not going to be able to digest whole oats as efficiently compared to a senior feed, and especially not as well as one with NutriBloom, plus the increased risk of digestive upset with the volume you would have to feed to put condition back on. Your horses are going to get a balanced nutrient intake with a senior feed that is easier to chew and digest, as well as more calories per bite compared to oats.
Additionally, you may find the following suggestions helpful: 1. Make certain the horses have been brought up to date on dental care and parasite control. Heavily parasitized horses may require half dose initially to avoid trauma. Your veterinarian can recommend best protocol. Vaccinations frequently are put off until the horses make a certain level of recovery, again working with your veterinarian.
Fresh clean water needs to be available. Neglected horses are also frequently salt starved, so may want to start by putting limited quantity of loose salt out and gradually increase to having it available free choice.
Good quality forage needs to be introduced. Best to avoid high NDF neutral detergent fiber forages such as mature grass. Senior horse feeds work very well for neglected horses to help them safely gain weight and restore muscle mass. Well formulated senior horse feeds will contain controlled levels of starch and sugar to help reduce risk of digestive disturbances, pre and probiotics to help get gut function back to normal, essential amino acids to help restore muscle mass and appropriate trace mineral and vitamin levels.
Senior feeds are quite safe to feed and the amount fed can gradually be increased to produce desired weight gain and improvement in Body Condition. The senior feeds also provide adequate nutrition in case any of the mares are pregnant. It is important to remember that calories drive Body Condition Score and amino acid intakes, along with trace minerals and vitamins, are key to muscle mass, hair coat and hoof quality.
Joe Smith. Hi, this is great. I work with healing people and have my own Arabian mare 38 years and brindle mule. At that time pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, Monsanto, etc appeared. Chemicals were in. At that time also , strange new human diseases came on the scene. Food needs good soil — not chemicals. My mare always had crimped oats with something like Empower Balance, salt licks etc.
She just diagnosed with Cushings. This is her first health problem in 38 years! I am going natural with flax seed oil, himalayan salt, crimped oats from Canada their soil is really good , and Empower Balance. Look at research on laminitis — many feel it is from too rich feeds.
Still much to be understood. Processed foods not good for humans. New research on the way. Best to all and to all our loving animals, E.
What are the benefits of cooking oats for Mash. However if it well Cook Out is provided what are the nutrient values? Thank you for your question. Oat mash without any other added nutrients will not provide a balanced diet by itself.
The practice of preparing a mash is based on belief that it helps add water to the diet. Whole flax is one grain that does benefit from cooking as the process softens the hulls and neutralizes some anti-nutrition factors that are present in flax seed that is not heat processed.
If a high quality, nutritionally complete and balanced mash is desired, we recommend a senior feed such as Nutrena SafeChoice Senior. It soaks to a nice mash quickly, can be fed as the sole ration, and has balanced amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and calories, and is very palatable.
The best way to understand the nutrient content of the specific oat mash you have in mind would be to send a sample in for analysis. The nutritional value can vary depending on the specific breed of oat, and how they are processed. Equi-Analytical or Cargill labs can provide this service and help with interpreting the results. Please let us know if you have any further questions.
I rescued 3 wild horses in our local area. They were colts and I have trained all 3 to ride. The wild horse herd was basically healthy. I feed oats and grass hay and they have pasture during summer months. I purchase my oats in bulk from a local farmer and he uses Round up on this fields prior to planting. I also purchase my wheat for my chickens from him. He treats all fields with Round up as do most farmers.
I am an organic type person and I have concerns about the Round up. I think my horses digest it well as there is little to no undigested grain in their manure.
One filly of 4 years old has developed a hard knot on her head on the bone running from the eye to the nostril. It is not on the upper jaw bone but above that near the nasal passage. My concern is that the Round up could cause cancer.
But it is a hard knot. She has had it about one month. She still has good energy and it does not seem to hurt. And what is your experience with the farming methods of using Round up? Hi Linda, You have some very interesting questions. Our best advice would be to reach out to your local veterinarian, as they can give you a proper diagnosis of the issue your experiencing.
Hello Roxy, Thanks for the question. So, you can reduce the calories in — by reducing pasture access through either limited time on pasture or use of a grazing muzzle, or by reducing the timothy pellets, oats, or any other feed — or you can increase the calories used, by exercising them more.
If they are on free choice pasture, we would recommend skipping the oats and timothy pellets, and instead provide 1 lb per day of a ration balancer, which is specifically designed to give the protein, vitamins, and minerals they need in a very small amount, without the calories of a traditional feed or that oats provide.
When you cut a formulated feed with oats, you lose so much. So, when you take into account the lower feeding rate and figure out how much it actually costs to feed your horse, you may be surprised. So, it looks like oats are cheaper, right? Not really. What a deal. Better and more consistent nutrition, more diverse fuel sources, less chance of over- or under-supplementation of various nutrients, in an extremely palatable formula, all for less money.
Related Education Content. Carbohydrates in Horse Feed - Myths and Recommendations.
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