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 Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:26 am
I give my horses a cup of roasted soybeans a day and they're noticeably shinier and have more dapples, even with their winter coats. Has anyone ever used paprika, rice bran, or flax seed, and did you have good results? Also, do they make horses gain weight? My guys tend to be little chunky monkeys and the last thing they need is to gain more weight. rofl My trainer teases me all the time for having "pregnant geldings".
Next question: Do horses on grain also need a multi-vitamin? How do I know if my horses are getting the vitamins they need?
I know they need electrolytes all year round. I live in a really deficient area but my horses have free-choice salt (a salt lick outside and loose salt with selenium in their stalls). How do I know they're getting as much as they need? My trainer told me she had a friend that put powdered Gatorade mix in her horse's water for electrolytes and the horse loved it. Has anyone here ever done that?
Does Knox gelatin really help strengthen their hooves? Could I give them flavored Jello instead to make it more palatable? I tried unflavored gelatin with my picky TB but that didn't last long.
*phew*
That was a lot. sweatdrop
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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:49 pm
Most of this opinion and personal experience, so take it with the appropriate grain of salt biggrin
I haven't fed anything for the sole purpose of improving the coat, but I did feed rice bran for weight gain in my TB and it was the most effective thing that we tried. All of our therapy horses also get rice bran right now, I think it's supposed to aid with digestion and they're mostly geriatric, so that makes sense. Anyway, with one exception, they're all quite pudgy. So, I'd say that rice bran definitely puts weight on. I did have a mare on flax seed once (though I didn't know why, it was what the previous owner told me she fed her) and she had a lovely coat, and I didn't have trouble controling her weight up or down.
Mineral and vitamin needs will depend on the vitamin and mineral content in their hay. Good hay should contain all the essential vitamins that a horse needs, and most of the minerals. Some places are deficient in certain minerals though, like where I live is highly selenium deficient. You can contact your local extension office to find out about the quality of the soil in your area, or where your hay is grown. If you really want to know, you could probably bring in a sample of your hay and they could test it, but I don't know for sure about that. Honestly, I don't think the majority of horses need any kind of vitamins or mineral supplements if they're generally healthy and getting good quality hay. It's very situationally dependent though.
The only time we gave our horses electrolytes was when it was extremely hot, or when we were traveling to encourage them to drink more water. If you are putting electrolytes in the water, they should always have access to pure water as well, so one bucket of electrolytes and one bucket of just water. The salt and selenium that you provide should be enough for their daily needs. I'd be wary of using gatorade because of how much SUGAR is in gatorade. I won't even drink the crap myself unless I'm sick or severely dehydrated (which happens) and even then I dilute it until you almost can't taste it. Yuck.
As for the gelatin and the hooves... I don't know really, but I'm really skeptical. It's possible, but I'm skeptical.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 8:52 am
Thank you, this was very helpful. smile
I'm kind of skeptical about the gelatin as well. I couldn't get my horse to eat it long enough to see if it worked. It was worth a shot, though.
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