ihorse
in
equestrian
Question about Feeds
Sooo, I'd like to pick your guys' brains about feed! I brought my mare, Andie, home from the boarding barn I had kept her at all spring and summer last year around December 31st, 2011. She was probably 50-100 lbs. underweight, which she has gained all back already and she is looking FANTASTIC. She gets a 5 quart bucket full of feed twice daily. It's filled about half way with soaked beet pulp, she gets Omega Horse Shine on top of that, and the past few weeks she's been getting two smartpak wells of Gleam & Gain Supreme 60 a day (one morning, one night) because I had her on it all summer and had leftover boxes since the barn stopped giving it to her (sketchy right?). I just want to use it up, and it's helped get her over the very last hill from looking pretty good to great! She then gets almost two quarts of Equis Complete and about a quart of Equis Rice Bran Pellet with added calcium. I love both feeds, it's great quality, the horses love it (they actually nose through the beet pulp, which they also love, in order to get to the feed), and it's obviously worked. So I hate to change their feed, simply because there's no need to "fix" what isn't broke, but I'm wondering a few things.
First off, I wouldn't really consider Andie a hard keeper, because it's been easy enough to get her gaining weight once she was on a good feed regimen, but she does need more than she was getting at the barn, which was really skimpy, maybe two scoops of beet pulp (if that) and a scoop of Del's Pleasure Horse Complete (which is 12-14% protein), plus her gleam and gain 60. My question is, should I continue to keep giving Andie the rice bran? Do you think she will need it in order to maintain her current weight, or would it be safe to wean her off it? I ask because it's pretty expensive for both feeds, and I've found I can get Purina Strategy Healthy Edge for cheaper. I'm wondering if this could be comparable to what she's getting now? I do have the labels cut off the Equis bags and handy if more info about her current feed is needed.
Thanks guys!
First off, I wouldn't really consider Andie a hard keeper, because it's been easy enough to get her gaining weight once she was on a good feed regimen, but she does need more than she was getting at the barn, which was really skimpy, maybe two scoops of beet pulp (if that) and a scoop of Del's Pleasure Horse Complete (which is 12-14% protein), plus her gleam and gain 60. My question is, should I continue to keep giving Andie the rice bran? Do you think she will need it in order to maintain her current weight, or would it be safe to wean her off it? I ask because it's pretty expensive for both feeds, and I've found I can get Purina Strategy Healthy Edge for cheaper. I'm wondering if this could be comparable to what she's getting now? I do have the labels cut off the Equis bags and handy if more info about her current feed is needed.
Thanks guys!