While some people avoid feeding their horse’s oats, others couldn’t image a feed bowl without them. Oats, by many, are seen as the equine equivalent to rocket fuel, but this tag is not always accurate. Indeed, oats do provide the horse with energy, and some horses can become excitable but, when the horse’s workload is balanced with the feed they receive, many people feed oats in mixes or as a straight without any issues. It should be noted that, if oats are being fed as a stand alone straight feed (without any vitamins and minerals included in the bag), the horse will require a balancer, as oats are not a complete feed.

Here are some examples of how to feed oats…and there’s also a link to an oat balancer for those who feed this cereal alone:

GWF Nutrition Tiger Oats

Micronized Food Products- Bruised Oats

Dodson & Horrell Microfeed

Baileys No. 10 Racehorse Mix 

Allen & Page Competition Extra Mix

Baileys Best British Oats

TopSpec Turbo Flakes  

To help balance… 

Baileys Oat Balancer Mix 

This is just a snapshot of the products available through Efeed that contain oats (or that can be used to help balance oat based diets)- type ‘oat’ into search for more…

 

During the Christmas period orders may take longer than expected to arrive due to increased demand on the courier companies. Sorry if there are any delays, these should be no longer than 24hours except in the case of heavy snow.

Orders placed up to Wednesday 19th will be delivered before Christmas. The couriers are working on the 27th and 28th December for orders placed on Thursday 20th and Friday 21st. Orders placed over the holidays will be delivered in January.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We find out more about Dengie’s Hi-Fi Molasses Free from the brand’s senior nutritionist, Katie Williams.

Q: Why did you create Hi-Fi Molasses Free?
                 
We were receiving an increasing number of requests for molasses-free products, as molasses is viewed negatively by many horse owners, who think it provides lots of sugar. In reality, pasture and hay provide more sugar than the levels of molasses found in most feeds, but we still produce molasses-free products because we always aim to produce what our customers want.

Q: Why would people opt for Hi-Fi Molasses Free over other Hi-Fi products? Is it as palatable, despite the lack of molasses?

We add mint and fenugreek to aid palatability and we receive lots of positive feedback about this. People choose this feed if they are worried about molasses and sugar levels, so it tends to be fed to horses and ponies with laminitis, Equine Metabolic Syndrome or Cushing’s syndrome, or those that are prone to over-excitable behaviour. 

Q: Can it be used as a complete feed (when fed with balancer) and/or partial/full hay replacer, or is it best used as chaff substitute? Can it do all three?
                 
Hi-Fi Molasses Free can be fed with a supplement or balancer alongside forage to provide a balanced ration. It can also be fed with a mix or cubes if someone really wants to give a mix or cubes (!). I would suggest that it would be best as a partial hay replacer rather than a full hay replacer, mainly because horses can become bored of oil if it is fed at higher levels over a prolonged period of time.

Q: Have you been pleased with the response since Hi-Fi Molasses Free’s launch?
                 
We have been very pleased with the response – we’ve had lots of positive feedback about the improved condition and good health of horses and ponies since changing to Hi-Fi Molasses Free. We’ve even had reports of horses on medication that have gone on to eat it more readily after adding it to Hi-Fi Molasses Free, which is particularly pleasing.

We asked Keyflow’s Managing Director, Cam Price, a few Q and As about new feed Mark Todd Stay Cool

Why did you create Stay Cool?
We felt that all horses and ponies deserve the very best nutrition regardless of the type of horse they are or the stage they’re at. Typically a low energy cool mix will be made with cheaper, low nutritional value ingredients. Stay Cool is not only made with the highest quality ingredients, it is made using advanced processes that make it much more digestible than normal cubes and mixes.  

Why would people opt for Stay Cool over ‘normal’ leisure feeds?
Because their horse or pony will change in the way they look, and feel to ride.  Feeding rates are less than other feeds so they’ll be helping their horse or pony from the inside by only feeding highly digestible concentrate.     

How would you feed Stay Cool? With chaff or on its own? Can you add other supplements/do you need a balancer if the full ration isn’t fed?
We don’t put chaff in the bag like lots of companies are doing now, we specialise in the concentrate and recommend you always feed it with a simple high quality chaff or chop. Fibre is undoubtedly the most important component in a horse’s diet but they have a whole range of different sources, be it hay, grass, haylage, chop or chaff.  Fibre doesn’t have to be in the expensive bag you buy from the feed store.

Vitamins and minerals have complex interactions, our feeds are scientifically formulated to provide all that the horse needs when fed up to recommended levels. Specialist supplements are fine to add such as a joint or hoof supplements but a general or broad-spectrum vit & min supplement is a big no no. It is worth bearing in mind that Stay Cool also already contains Protexin® probiotic and a pre-biotic.

We recommend you add Mark Todd Perfect Balance to Stay Cool if you are not feeding up to the suggested rates. We advise against adding another brand balancer to our feeds.

Another consideration is adding Keyflow® Key-Plus (Steam Extruded Stabilized Rice Bran Concentrate) to Stay Cool as a source of superior condition or cool calories.  

Have you been pleased with the response since launch?
Very pleased. It was unknown whether the public would grasp the concept of the co-branding with the riders, but as hoped people just seem to ‘get it’.
Those that are using Stay Cool think it is a fantastic product and their horses or ponies really go for it, they love it!

Do you have any case studies?
Mark Todd’s four star horse Major Milestone (Milo) went onto Stay Cool about 6 weeks before Pau. He is a notoriously difficult horse in the dressage and really struggles to ‘keep his head’; as such Mark feeds him on a very low energy feed.

Mark said he did one of the best tests he has ever done and felt like a different horse. He was of course being fed Key-Plus Stabilized Rice Bran as well to top-up cool energy but when Mark Todd says something like that with so much conviction; it gives you a lot of confidence in the product.